I never posted a trip report? Shame on me!
We struck gold this trip. We tried AirBnB for the first time, and I describe it this way: "Ever call for an Uber, and a Mercedes comes to pick you up?" That's what this was: for barely half the price of a motel room, we got the guest quarters in a million-dollar house! It was an efficiency apartment with a private entrance: Queen bed with dresser, closets, and tv; fully stocked kitchen with stovetop, sink, fridge and coffee; and bathroom. All high-quality, nothing shabby. Step out onto enormous covered patio that ran around two sides of the house, with lounge chairs, dining table, and a gas grill (!).
Step off the patio and we have the in-ground swimming pool, all to ourselves! The folks who live upstairs think this is winter, they're not going swimming this time of year! It's "only" 78 degrees here (which is 82 degrees WARMER than the place we left!). We spent a week here, and almost all of it was by that pool, doing absolutely nothing. My kinda vacation!
OK, we did SOME other stuff:
--When my brother heard we were flying in/out of Ft Lauderdale, he suggested a burger place near the airport called Primante's (I think that was the name). They're a chain out of Pittsburgh, and serve their burgers Pittsburgh Style: They put a ton of cole slaw and french fries inside the sandwich, piled so high you can barely get your mouth around it. That sounded like fun, so we found this place. I do not recommend. It was a cole slaw sandwich, with a little meat about about three french fries. We each removed 7/8ths of the cole slaw, but the thing didn't have much taste. It occurred to me too late to add some ketchup to give it some taste. So because we ate there, we didn't get to try any of the places on the drive down you guys mentioned--but don't worry, there WILL be a next time! We told our AirBnB hosts, who are new at that game, that we really hope they're still doing this next winter, we wanna come back!
--Our hosts had a pair of bicycles set aside just for us to use, and we enjoyed pedalling around their fancy seaside neighborhood...and stored with the bikes was a kayak. "Hey, mind if I take that out sometime?" They acted like they forgot it was there. "Sure, why not?" So I went kayaking for the first time in my life. There was a boat ramp in a canal about a block away, so I launched it there. I just wanted to try this, I figured I'd be in-and-out in ten minutes. I dipped the oar, pulled....it took almost no effort at all, and what do you know? the other end of the oar is in perfect position for the next dip! I pulled again, and I'm already moving faster than I imagined! Again, it was so easy. Why didn't anyone ever tell me how easy this is??? Forget ten minutes, I spent two HOURS out there, just paddling down the coastline, looking at expensive homes, boats, docks, and resorts, enjoying the sun. We got 10,000 lakes up here, I've got a new hobby!
--We cooked most of our meals at home that week (breakfast on the stove, dinner on the grill), but usually ate out for lunch. I told her I really wanted to get a sub from Publix, the local grocery chain (they make subs in the deli section, and they're incredible, I've had them on previous trips to FLA). She could not understand why I was so excited to get a sub sandwich. No, she didn't want one. I brought it home to eat it, and offered her a bite. Her eyes went wide, she couldn't believe how good a sub sandwich could be. "Oh, NOW I understand!", she exclaimed. She made sure we hit Publix again at least one more time before leaving town (in fact, that's what we ate on a park bench while watching the sunset in Key West!).
--Ah, Key West! We booked a room for one night there. We drove straight through, admiring the overseas highway, and the flip-flop vibe of the middle Keys. We saw a lot of construction, and a few wiped-out trailer homes that no one seems to have touched yet. That was a bummer. One cashier in Marathon, prompted by a tourist who brought up the topic, groused, "Key West got none of the damage, and all of the money!", and the other locals within earshot nodded in agreement. "They always do!", chimed in a co-worker.
It was the middle of the week, and all the live music places we found seemed to be playing the same stuff: Alman Bros, Steve Miller...you know, stuff for the middle-aged crowd. Which was nice at first for an old goat like me, but it was mildly annoying to go bar-hopping and hear every band playing the same music. It was pretty funny at one place, tho--the band was all young guys, playing music older than they were. They'd get a request for Bruce or Van Halen, and they'd look up the song on their phones, which were attached to their mic stands (!!!), and try to fake it through songs they had clearly never heard before, lol. But whatevs, we were just happy to be outdoors in February.
We splurged for a room for the night, place was called Ibis Bay Resort. The ad said they had a pool and a beach, and we got a room right on the beach, which was very exciting--but their was so much brush and seaweed under the water, we didn't go in. Oh well, it was still a nice view, and the hammock on the palm trees was spectacular!
--One morning we ate at Waffle House, a first for my Iowa-raised gf. She liked it!
--At one point, I asked her, "Why don't we live HERE?" Usually, she responds to this question with the home she owns, the pension she's close to, her family...but this time, her answer was, "I have NO idea!" To be fair, we were told we got lucky with the weather: the week before, the highs were in the 50's! Every day we were there, highs were 78-80, lows were 70.
--I got pics, if you guys wanna see 'em. You'll have to tell me how to post them, tho. I used to host 'em at photobucket, but i guess they want money for that now. recently i've been using the twitter tags here, but there must be a less-clunky way. For now, here's a link to the AirBnB we stayed at, which I highly recommend if you need a place with one bed. Enjoy these pics, and the reviews posted, where amazingly, not a single person on the internet can find a nit to pick!
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2194630...-17&s=0uvA2MuY