The drive from Ft. Lauderdale to Key West was not something I had experienced before.  The anticipation of driving along the ridiculously long bridges, such amazing feats of engineering, excited me like a little kid, and I found myself just laughing out loud over seemingly nothing.  Good thing Doug knows me or he might have been concerned.  Because there were so many fun things during the day, I’ll focus on just a few that stood out.

First, can’t say enough about the Island Time Diner and Ice Cream in Marathon.  We just wanted a local place to stop to have something simple and get on our way, but also someplace that wasn’t a total dive.  We found this little hole in the wall, that from the outside was not so impressive.  On the inside however, was a colorful little place, benches and simple patio tables where not only did they have 24 flavors of ice cream and sorbet, but burgers, sandwiches and homemade fries as well.  It was a father/daughter team working, with her working the counter and dad in the kitchen with his granddaughter in her little baby swing in the corner.  The 1/2 pound, hand formed teriyaki and fresh pineapple burger was ridiculous and he just stood around like a proud papa asking “so, was the burger good?”  Again, American small business at its best.  Can you tell I love burgers?

We hopped back in the red mustang convertible and made our way down to Key West to our home away from home.  We hadn’t even unpacked anything before we decided to go for a walk and see what there was.  Our first stop was a great little art gallery where the gentleman was from – you guessed it – Grand Island, Nebraska!  He had lived other places as well, but seriously,  what were the chances? After that we just kept walking down the street because in old town, shops, houses, restaurants and bars are sprinkled all together.  We hadn’t had dinner yet and had no real idea of where we were going, but I had looked at the info the realtor had given us and had read about this southern restaurant called The Firefly.  Southern food done with a twist, both small and large plates.  So, as we’re walking down what looks like a residential street, I look up and there it is!  I had read a little article about this woman who had moved from New York where she had been in investment banking, and while on vacation had also stopped at this restaurant.  She was so impressed with the quality of the restaurant that she quit her job and now serves/bartends at The Firefly.  There are a lot of those stories, people who came to get away and decided to stay away.  Makes you think, hmmmm….

After dinner Doug says, the beach can’t be too far, let’s just walk down and see it.  We should know better – we tend to do this a lot.  The sun has just about set and we’re walking, and walking, and walking until we see signs to BEACH and think yay – we’re almost there!  We have to walk around parts of a naval base to get there where we discover the park where the beach is closes at sunset.  Seriously?!? So now, we’ve got to WALK all the way back to the house.  The island is only 4 miles by 3 miles, so how can it feel like a million?!?  Well, let’s just say that the next time one of my dear friends in Nebraska fusses about the humidity there, I’m shipping them off to Key West, where the temp today was 87 and it felt like 100.  Now THAT’S humidity.  The great thing about walking somewhere however, is that you really get to know the place, you start recognizing storefronts and figuring out where things are in relation to each other.  You stop and hi to people, you pop up to outdoor counters and order fresh fruit smoothies just because you can, or you stop in to check out estate sale art pieces worth tens of thousands and you WALK.

Today we walked to some other really cool things and places to eat, but that’s another story for tomorrow.  We’re resting up to walk again tonight to dinner and then do a walking ghost tour.  Yep, the walking adventure continues!