weekend in the keys

My friends dan & natalie are getting married in Key West. They told us this and we got the invitation like a year ago. They lived together for 3+ years, bought a house and were talking about having a baby and the parents staged a marital intervention and said, we're going to have a wedding for you and you need to be there. So the wedding becomes this HUGE event with 9 bridesmaids, 500+ guests in Our Lady of the Seas in Key West. All our friends are going to be there...blah, blah, blah... ok, fine. I'll book a weekend in Key West for your wedding.

So in august, my roommate Edward starts bugging me about reserving the room. We finallly decide on this B&B called L'Habitation on Eaton street near Duval. We decide we don't want to drive so we book tickets on the Key West Ferry Friday before the wedding on sat. We plan to leave work and drive to Ft. Myers Beach, then roll out of bed the next morning and get on the boat.

I've never been to Key West before... lived in florida most of my life; never been there.



Thusday night, we drop the dogs with the Brandon Bears ... there's these two bear friends/coworkers of mine in brandon who have graciously agreed to watch our two doggies... God, do I owe them big!!!... and then we head down 75 with my friend Paul in tow.

We stay at this place called "The Lighthouse Resort" on Ft. Myers beach and I literally never see the staff. I reserved online. I call on the way down and explain it's going to be after midnight when we get there. She tells me it's room X, the room's unlocked and the key will be on the table. We get up in the morning and leave, there's nobody in the office so I call. Lady picks up and says, just leave the key on the table, I've got your credit card, i'll just charge the room to it. So I did the whole thing over the internet and never saw the staff... great new world we live in, hun?

So we get on the boat and it's a new boat, everything nice... p.s. It's the ONLY way to get to key west. Driving for me is no longer an option. The traffic is just too horrible to be believed. Three hours tour goes like this: Bloody Mary, Up to third floor observation, get too cold, back downstairs to the bar for another bloody mary, snack bar for some munchies, back observation deck, sit and watch satellite TV for a bit, Bloody Mary... well, you get the point. Little boring, but a great RELAXING ride as opposed to a 10 hour car drive in start/stop traffic... FABU... I highly recommend.



We dock, walk a few blocks to our B&B and by then, we're hungry again, so we have late lunch at the Grande Cafe which is right around the corner from our B&B. Great food and even greater Mojitos.

The B&B has this WIDE martha stewart-esque front porch in the style of the key west victorian with wicker furniture and as I walk up the steps...I feel it... this is home. This is the style house I want to live in. Whether it's key west or St. Pete, where ever, this is MY style. This is what I like. The weather is a perfect 72 degrees. The island breeze is blowing through the palms. It is a zen moment.



We walk to front street on duval, shop, eat, shop, walk, walk, shop. By 5PM we're exhausted. We go back to the B&B and all three of us CRASH. We have a wedding event at 9PM back at the grande cafe.

Duval Street is MOBBED. It's like New Orleans at Marti Gras, except without that "you could get stabbed at any moment" thing.



The wedding thing is nice, if crowded. Dan and Nat are totally a class act and all the events leading up to and including this have been done first-rate. Andreus does his best interpretation of an uncut penis. Brian passes out on one of the benches. Andraes wife Beka is very amused. The bride and groom look fabulous. Everyone is witty and urbane. Natalie, the bride, tells us that she's 3 months pregnant. I'm like, your kid gonna be a six month baby.... ahhhhhhhh..... she's like... i'm hormonal.... I will CUT you. I back off. Mental note: Binge eating partner for the next six months. Check.



It's midnight-ish when we get done with the str8 people so we hit the gay clubs on the south end of duval and it was just OK... nuthin special. I prefer Georgies, but when in Rome...

So the next morning I'm trolling for Breakfast because the B&B just has a continental breakfast and that's just not going to cut it. I find this FANTASTIC creparie at 512 duval. The smell coming out of the windows is wonderful. IF YOU EVER GO TO KEY WEST, YOU SIMPLY MUST HAVE SOME OF THESE CREPES. She makes them fresh with fresh fruit and they melt in your mouth. Anywho... Edward and paul aren't up yet, so I thought I'd just get this blog entry done then hit the shoppes we missed yesterday before the wedding at 3. More soon.