We left Alaska under a haze of forest fire smoke that extended from Fairbanks all the way down to Anchorage, making the last few hours in Alaska rather miserable. Everyone was staying inside.
Walking off the plane in Miami into the same Fairbanks temperature was a shock. The humidity in Alaska was hovering around 30%, but here it was like walking into a fishbowl of steam. That isn’t a bad thing when you are looking at Hibiscus flowers and palm trees.
Key West is touristy, but damn cute. They have good food here. Zagat has a special section for restaurants on the Keys, and we scored a cuban meal that was off the scale good. Gay culture is in. Two out of five people who live here are gay and the rainbow flags everywhere declare the state of mind of the business owners. The cruise ships stop here, adding a weird middle class, middle America overlay to the streets. The housing prices are up there with Santa Cruz and San Francisco. The place is damn cute.
We are sitting at a coffee shop with a good iced americano slurping up free wi-fi packets while watching a well-fed cat check us out on the porch as we lounge on the wicker chairs. Blue skies, tourist trains, foriegn accents on camera toting folks, very hot weather (too hot for the beach), gorgeous views, outdoor dining. For a tourist town, this place is the cats pajamas even off-season.
