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Two nights in Key West helps us "wind down" from all this vacationing

We left Saturday morning for Key West.  It took us 2 hours and 45 minutes to drive from our hotel in Florida City to our place in Key West... at least an hour less than we'd anticipated.  It was a nice drive, but if I'd have known you could take a ferry from Ft. Myers, I might have done that instead.

When we got to the Blue Skies Inn, which we booked on Orbitz, the innkeeper guy tells us he's been booked for months, and he never accepted the reservation (even though we got an email confirmation from Orbitz).  So we ended up staying in The Island Place Motel across the street, also owned by the Blue Skies innkeeper.  Scott liked the room, but Caroline thought it a bit creepy, and getting creepier the more time we spent there.  Perhaps it was that the sheets and towels were not white (they were blue), or the odor in the room (Caroline has a far more sensitive nose than Scott).  In any case, we spent as much time outside as possible.

After an early afternoon check-in, we walked down nearby Duval Street (tourists, restaurants, fat tourists, shops, bars, drunk tourists) until we found a place to grab lunch.  How can you pass up a sign for $1 Yuenglings on tap?  We ended up sitting at the bar next to a retired Michigan couple, which is fairly easy to do down here.  The fellow had a Spartan t-shirt on, and was also enjoying a $1 Yuengling.  Turns out they had sent 2 kids to MSU and 1 to U of M, and are now getting them back by trying to spend their kids inheritance.  After an hour or two of hanging at the open air-ish air bar, we walked further down the street only to see them again sitting on a patio having some food.  A few hours later, we ended up sitting next to them on another patio near Mallory Square where thousands of tourists flock to watch the sun set (which was quite beautiful, by the way... and I can say that since I've become somewhat of a sunset connoisseur).

Sunday, we woke up fairly early and went out for some Cuban coffee.  Did you know that Key West is just 90 miles from Havana?  Yet we couldn't see it, try as we might... even at night, the ocean and sky were just black to the south.  Anyway, had our coffee and walked around trying to find the pink hotel we both stayed at years ago (but not together).  I think we ended up finding it, although it didn't look quite like we remembered it.  The woman at the front desk says they had to rebuild after a fire, so we're guessing we did get to find the place.  But we probably put 5 miles on our sandals searching. 

It was Super Bowl Sunday, by the way, so there was a certain buzz in the air in anticipation of the big sporting event.  Caroline was on pins and needles, as anyone who knows her can imagine!  We ended up down by the harbor for happy hour getting, what else, oysters and beer, and watching the pre-game 'madness'.  By 6pm, everyone cleared out, the streets were quiet, as people found there way to their ultimate Super Football watching destinations.  We, on the other hand, were able to walk right in and grab a patio seat at a normally crowded restaurant, since the patio didn't really have a view of the game.  It was called Kelly's, which we believe is owned by superstar Kelly McGillis, bad-girl pilot bosslady in Top Gun.  We (Scott) did get to see the exciting 4th quarter action in our room after dinner.

Monday morning was set aside for breakfast at Blue Heaven, a must for anyone ever visiting Key West.  Their pancakes are legendary, so while Caroline played it safe to make sure she could get the walnut shortstack, Scott adventurously latched onto the lobster benedict special of the day (on homemade english muffins!).  Neither were disappointed.  A bit more walking about before setting off the island around 12:30 or so.  The plan was to drive to somewhere near Ft. Lauderdale and stay the night before setting west across the state to the Ft. Myers area (Pine Island, to be specific), to see the Vitellos.