March 21, 2009
Posted by Wyatt
Day 1: Key West
When the alarm went off at 3:30 AM I had one of those moments of disillusionment. “Really? Already? It must be set wrong.” But no, it was right, and half an hour later we were on our way to Philadelphia International Airport.
The satellite parking was mundane, the check-in even less thrilling, and the breakfast sandwich at the only available location perhaps the least inspiring of all. But, we boarded on time, were only delayed twenty minutes for de-icing (an affirmation that we were headed in the right direction–south) and two hours and forty five minutes later we landed in sunny Fort Lauderdale.
The grand scheme was to have Dan’s flight arrive the same time as ours, meet in baggage claim, grab the car and go. We landed, I texted Dan and told him to meet us at baggage claim number six. That is when the problems began. He began to inform me that the baggage claim carousels only went up to five. Yes, we were in separate terminals. So, twenty minutes later Dan managed to take a shuttle from terminal two to terminal one and we were off.
Kristin secured our car rental reservation with Sunshine Rent-a-Car, and it was an off site location so we took a shuttle. The driver was bitter and unfriendly. I considered stiffing him, but decided everyone’s gotta make a buck. It’s amazing what a couple singles can do to lift someone’s spirits. It makes me think how happy strippers must be.
We loaded our Nissan Sentra, I hooked up the GPS I brought from home, and we headed south. A quick hour from the city proper things began to thin out, palm trees more plentiful, and traffic corralled into a two line road. The Keys, you see, are a string of islands off the southern coast of Florida headed in a southeasterly direction. Dan was searching for something to listen to on the radio, we were looking for any signs of clear blue water, and then it happened: Jimmy Buffet welcomed us to Margaritaville. We had arrived.
Our first stop was in Key Largo for lunch. Turns out they had the largest bottle selection in the Keys, so we each tried something new, none of which was worth noting. The fish, however, was fresh and tasty. This was bound to be the best vacation ever.
Route 1 takes you all the way through the Keys. Yes, the same Route 1 that runs northward all the way into Northern Virginia. We had decided early on to work our way from the southern tip of the Keys, Key West, back north. This proved to be a brilliant plan. The entire trip down was a series of pineapple groves, palm trees, lengthy bridges (the longest one being 6.8 miles) and the bluest water I’ve ever seen. You should remember that Kristin and I honeymooned in St. Lucia and I thought that was the bluest of waters. Wrong. The Florida Keys has the kind of blue water you only read about in books or see in enhanced travel magazines. There was no botox or silicon here, this was all-natural and gorgeous. Also worth noting is the weather. Partly cloudy, 75, and gentle breeze. All the time. If there was weather to be had every day for the rest of my life, this would be it.
Just before 5:00 PM we arrived at Author’s Guest House in Key West. It used to be the home of a cigar making operation and comprises of a main house which lodged the families of rollers, and two smaller guesthouses which housed the owners. We are staying in the Hemingway house (Ernest Hemingway is a legendary resident of Key West–there will be more on his history here to come). It’s a quaint little cottage with a porch, seating area with day-bed (now, the Dan-bed), a small kitchen, bedroom and bath. Mounted on the wall are antelope horns and some other dead things, and scattered throughout are copies of Hemingway’s works, including multiple copies of “For Whom the Bell Tolls”.
Key West, much to our surprise, is a party town. Knowing this, we decided a power nap would be enough to get us through the night. We napped, dressed, and headed for the harbor – a popular spot for watching the sun set. And yes, it was gorgeous. The mix of people here is wide. There are the senior travelers soaking up some sun, doing some fishing, and enjoying the fruits of their life-long labor. Undoubtedly, they are also enjoying the scenery. True to errant form, we have scheduled our Florida island vacation during college Spring Break (our last big trip I managed to schedule our arrival on St. Patrick’s Day in Dublin). Fortunately, Key West isn’t exactly a price point destination so it has kept much of the rowdy debauchery to a minimum. In addition, the beach near the historic section of Key West, South Beach, does not allow drinking, a definite no-no for college hook-ups, so they all tend to keep to the eastern beach, much too far for us to walk anyway.
After a couple drinks we decided to walk a bit and we ended up on Duval Street. This is where all the action happens at night (and we hear during the day as well). The later we stayed out, the more crowded it got and the more interesting the crowds became. Key West is well known for being supportive of alternative lifestyles, and I think we saw just about every alternative you can think of, right down to transgender or transsexual men dressed in skin tight leopard print tights and bleach blond Marilyn Monroe style wigs. We managed to sample three or four bars, but were tired and mostly just scouting for Saturday. We did go to Captain Tony’s which is worth noting. Captain Tony’s is the oldest active bar in all of Florida, opened when Prohibition ended in 1933 by a friend of Ernest Hemingway. This bar was described in his novel “To Have and to Have Not”. We sat at the bar and posted on every rafter and wall were people’s business cards. When in Rome…so my business card is now a part of Key West lore.
