Ahh Key West

It's no secret that I love traveling to any and all places. I usually try to pick someplace new for vacations, with a few exceptions; Jackson, Wyoming (famous for an absolutely perfect family vacation), St. John, USVI and nearby Tortola, BVI (my wedding/honeymoon) and Key West.

I first went to Key West as another birthday surprise for Joe, this time his 35th. We were coming out of one of those years that was filled with more fights than fun and we needed a reset button. I had packed warm weather clothes, all our scuba gear, planned a few dive trips and a bunch of down time. The flight was delayed, we got down there 6 hours late to frigid temperatures (50s)for Key West. The elevator was broken so we lugged our 100 pounds of scuba gear up to our room and laughed at the comedy of errors that was the day but decided the next day would be better. We woke up early to get to the dive shop, lugged our scuba stuff down the stairs, caught a cab that dropped us off outside the shop. We waved goodbye to the cab as we heard the dive shop lady say..."dives are cancelled." Fantastic. We called for ANOTHER cab, lugged our scuba stuff back UP the stairs and then decided drinking was in order. It was COLD there and after a very chilly breakfast we went shopping for jeans and sweaters. We ended up having a fantastic time, despite all the things that went wrong. It was exactly what we needed.

After a 2009 week long stay in Key West with Shelia and Adrienne Wolf, I was even more in love with this adult playground. So Shelia and I planned a girls' weekend for August 12-15, 2010, inviting pretty much everyone. It ended up being just the two of us, but we were both fine with that. Vacationing with someone is actually a big deal and not everyone gels once away from home. I have friends that I have known for years that I would never go away with, but luckily, Shelia and I are great travel mates. To travel with me you need a certain mix of lazy and action and Shelia and I mesh very well. So on Thursday the 12th at 6AM we grabbed our backpacks and jumped on a plane.

If you haven't been to Key West and are an adult, you must go. The entire island is catered to adults having fun. I feel so badly for the kids who are there; they look miserable and bored stiff. I really think Key West's website should stop pretending and just say "NO KIDS."

There are a lot of reasons why I love Key West and a lot of those could be applied to any tropical location - sun, laid back attitude, sailing, diving, snorkeling, drinking and general relaxation. Where Key West really shines is in its acceptance. Known for a huge annual festival called Fantasy Fest, Key West truly is a come as you are kinda place. There are drag shows every night (my favorite is at Club Aqua), gay bars with guys dancing on the bar and this time I saw a man dressed in gold lame' with a plunger attached to his crotch. Not every night is wild and crazy though (or at least it doesn't have to be.) Friday night Shelia and I pulled out two chairs and sat on the beach and watched the Perseid Meteor Shower for almost 3 hours. We talked and then we didn't talk and then we talked some more. And that is what makes Shelia a perfect travel companion - neither of us have to be "on" all the time. We can have fun doing nothing....or what we ended up doing Saturday.

As Shelia says, "Aqua kicked my ass again." After spending Saturday afternoon on the beach, we got to Aqua for the early show, stayed for the late show, though to be fair I hardly remember the late show. I was too busing making friends. There was drunk Leslie who was there with her boss/lover who literally was so drunk he kept dropping wads of dollar bills. There was Pat, the most unfeminine girl I have ever seen, who groped me but then apologized, which I thought was mighty nice of her. Then there was Brigitte Nielson and her husband who were looking for a friend to take home. After declining their nice offer, I introduced them to Leslie and I think everyone went home happy. We left Aqua and walked back to our hotel, stopping and dancing in the streets when we were outside a bar playing a good song. We stopped and got Shelia a veggie dog, met a nice guy and talked with him about his son, whom he clearly loved. The walk home was just fun.

Shelia slept late and I went to get breakfast on the beach one last time. It was quiet and I was alone and that was OK. I think one of the best things about being in my 30s is a general acceptance of who I am and who I am not. I'm never going to be thin and that is OK. I am never going to be rich either and that is also OK. I am lucky to have a fantastic family that I am close with. I have a husband who loves me and friends who support me, lift me up and challenge me to be a better person. All of those things make it OK to just be me. And to be totally me in a place that is accepting of that is an oddly comfortable and joyous experience. It's OK to be happily dancing in the streets and there is a good chance that some stranger will come up and dance with you. And that is OK too.

Leaving is always sad. We were tired, Shelia was hungover and neither of us were looking forward to the long travel back home. But I wouldn't trade the weekend for anything. It would be nice to be skinny, rich and famous, but it's pretty great just being me.