Mark & Lyndon's Key West / Ft. Lauderdale excursion

Key West

Our adventure started in Ft. Lauderdale, where we flew into, on a Wednesday afternoon. We left the airport around 4pm and started driving to Key West. The trip along the Keys was nice and with the sun waning toward the west it was, at times, very picturesque. I have to admit that, at least on the way down, we didn't see what we expected in the way of lush, beautiful and tropical vegetation. The road to Key West is a two lane highway most of the way and, since we planned the drive down on a Wednesday and the trip back to the mainland on a Saturday, we didn't expect to run into too much traffic. We were right.

Our bed and breakfast in Key West was a lovely place called Alexanders. The place had several resident cats, one of which was named "Matilda", and the others all pretty much kept a safe distance when madame Matilda was nearby. There was no mistaking that Matilda was in charge and when she tired of you petting her there was no misunderstanding.

We absolutely loved our room, which was on the second floor and had a balcony that overlooked the pool, hot tub and bar area. The bed was wonderful, wonderful, wonderful and came with 6 pillows! Our hosts took exceptional care of us and provided us with a morning continental style breakfast, although I would say this is not just any continental breakfast! In the evening we attended the social hour from 5:30 - 7:00 with our favorite bartender Ronnie (aka: Monkey Head). I can't say how much we enjoyed our stay at Alexanders! There was nothing that we didn't like. Some afternoons, after a day out, we'd come back and enjoy lounging at the pool, chatting with other guests. We enjoyed sitting on the front porch watching the world go by or swimming in the pool (especially at night) was always nice because the water temperature is almost like bath water. If you ever want a calm, relaxing & very clean place to stay, then Alexanders is for you when visiting Key West!

We were only on Key West for almost 3 days but we made the best of it! During the day we rented bikes and rode around the island which is exceptionally easy since the island is very flat. There are mopeds everywhere but in our opinion, park your rental car, and rent a bike for around 12$ a day!

We visited as many places as we could during our adventures out, but here are some of the places we recommend. There is an old cemetary, dating back to the mid 1800's that is very interesting to walk or ride through. I'd plan on at least 1 hour to get a quick look at some of the really old graves and some of the interesting tombstones with very interesting sayings on them! I hear the more interesting epitaphs are in the Jewish section. Here is a good website to explain more...

There really aren't any good beaches on Key West though; however, there is a nice beach park at Fort Zachary Taylor. This is an old fort which is now part of a military installation and park. You can walk some trails through the park and some of the trails are designated for bikes. The beach is decent but it's not the best because some parts are rocky. Here is a nice shot of the water beyond a fallen tree and another shot of Lyndon with some rocks as a backdrop. It's well worth the visit and the entrance fee is about $2 per person.

Again, getting around in Key West is very easy; however, in our opinion, it's not worth doing it in a car. If you are fit enough to ride a bike, we really recommend seeing Key West this way! Here is a shot of us on the boardwalk (east side). During this venture out we stopped by the "southermost" point of the continental US. We also stopped in for a drink at the Atlantic Shores Resort and Lyndon took some time to catch a few rays. There was a small "wedding" going on and we chatted with the happy couple for a bit. After we "rested" up a bit, we continued our travels and stopped by the Hemingway home to learn more about the famous writer and to see the legendary Hemingway (six toed) cats. The home was very interesting, including the kitchen area, a bathroom and his bedroom. After the visit we rode to the nearby "mile marker 0", and further down the road we stopped in at the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum which boasts some very interesting shipwreck treasures.

Another popular place is Mallory Square. This is where all of the cruise ships dock and where the majority of the tourist "traps" including local artists, performers, etc., gather at the end of each day for beautiful sunsets. Lyndon and I both took some great sunset shots, one in particular of a sailboat against the sunset. There is even a man that has trained cats doing circus acts but he wasn't there the weekend we were in Key West.

I rounded up my last evening by relaxing in the hot tub for awhile and then "cooling" down in a lounge chair on the top deck just mesmerized by a beautiful moon and the fluffy white clouds slowly moving across a beautiful Key West sky. This part of the trip was a major de-stresser for me!

We left on Saturday and drove back up the Keys to Ft. Lauderdale. The traffic was very manageable and we arrived in the Miami area around 1pm so we found a brewpub called "Titanic" and stopped in for some brews and some pub grub. The beer was pretty decent actually.

Our next stop was our destination, The Worthington Guest House, in Ft. Lauderdale. The Worthington was a nice enough hotel, very clean; however, it seems this place is better suited for finding "dates" more than anything else. Many of the local guest houses/hotels are clothing-optional and I know Lyndon and I can be a bit prude, but there was definitly some people selling while we stayed there. One guy kept his blinds open all evening while he was chatting on the phone and casually walking around naked with his room door slightly ajar. But, for some, this may be their perfect place. The pool area was nice and staff was equally nice. We were happy enough there and we were only about 2 blocks from the beach so it worked out ok for us.

We walked down to Sebastian beach (the "gay" beach) early that afternoon and took advantage of the nice day to swim a bit and lay out. Here's a pic of Lyndon lounging on the beach (ok, so that wasn't his best picture). Here is a northwest shot of the beach, one southeast shot and one water shot. As I was taking a few snapshots I was interrupted by a snittly young'un who crowed "no pictures!"... I was a bit taken aback by his vanity in that he thought I might be snapping a picture of him. I guess it didn't occur to him that the beach itself was what I was after. I did consider secretly snapping a picture of him and trying my hand at some unflattering digital artwork to post here, but that sounded too mean.

Early in the evening we found our way over to Florida's Tap Room and our very friendly and vivacious barperson, Jenny, took excellent care of us. Jenny graciously snapped a shot of us before we went on our merry way to our next adventure.

The next day we ate lunch at a local Thai Restaurant in one of the gay areas called Wilton Manors. This is an area where gay businesses have become established and the area appears to have been renovated over the past few years. There are several bars in the area and, if in Ft. Lauderdale, definitly worth a visit.

The rest of the Ft. Lauderdale was a bit non-descript I'm afraid to say. I think we had our hearts broken by leaving Key West and Ft. Lauderdale was just a city on the sea like so many others and, although nice, it didn't hold a candle to the uniqueness and tranquility of Key West.