Key West, Miami and I'm not a gay Cuban

Post Orlando, we headed down to Key West for a couple of days.  Our 'home' was a small condo located 1/2 block off of Duval street.  Key West is just about one of the coolest places I have been.  Everybody there was mellow, friendly and the vibe was all about Chill'axin.

Key West is the Southern most point of the US and there are a couple of key notes:

First - this is the absolute end of HWY 1 - Mile 0:

Second - this is the Southern most point in the US and at this point and Cuba is actually closer then a Walmart:

In addition to the cartographic oddities, Key West is home to some of the most interesting folks you will ever see.  One of the street performances has trained a bunch of cats to perform various circus type stunts.  The cats are fun to watch, but the 'ring master' is absolutely crazy.

Words can not describe this guy, so here is a cat jumping through a flaming hoop:

After Key West, we packed our bags and stopped in Miami for a couple of nights.  Now I have been in a lot of hotels on this trip, and Miami has the dubious honor of having the absolute worst hotel I have ever stayed at.  The staff was nice enough, but there business systems and processes (remember I'm a mid level manager at Intel so I say things like "business processes") were very poor.  I absolutely do not recommend this place.

This picture best describes the Newport Hotel & Resort in Miami and the urine excursion in the baby pool:

The rest of Miami was fun and there is an amazing amount of money in that town: Maserati, Maybach, Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc...  You name it, we saw it.

Here is a picture of the night lights in the Art Deco district:

One of perhaps the absolute highlights of the trip so far was Jet Skiing with my daughter Brittany.  Try as I might, I simply could not shake her off the back of the Ski.  And when she drove, there wasn't a wave that she didn't jump.  Great fun and a memory I will always have:

Today Tracey and Britt headed back to Albuquerque and I cut across Florida and headed North to Tampa.  The cut across took me across the Everglades and it was really cool seeing the occasional alligator out in the water/fields.  I was also fortunate enough to meet up with some family friends that I have not seen for over 20 years.  It's fantastic being able to catch up with friends from years gone by.

The remainder of the trip will be a slow meander up the Gulf coast of Florida and then West...

Almost forgot - the "Gay Cuban" thing.  There is a running joke with friends, family, and some co-workers about me being somewhat of a pretty boy.  And over the years those friends, family, and co-workers have seen me being hit on by men.  Apparently I have a very approachable way about me; looking at the Jet Ski picture - it makes no sense to me.

Please note - in all seriousness I have no issues with anybody's lifestyle choices so please don't read anything negative in the last paragraph.