My goal in this blog is to document my travels for myself and then friends and family who are interested in following along. My secondary goal is to document how I experience the world in relation to my anxiety to validate or normalize it for others experiencing the same thing and to normalize therapists working hard at managing their own struggles. Yes, good therapists have their own mental health challenges – it might be why they chose this career and it might make them even better at it. Sometimes we all (myself included) need a reminder that heart surgeons can have heart problems and eye doctors can need glasses.
So Key West…. I was very anxious about driving down to Key West. I was worried about feeling claustrophobic on all the bridges and then the small island once I got there. My flight response gets worried that I will need to leave a place and then not have the ability to do it, i.e. be so petrified that I can’t turn around and drive myself home; that I will need someone to come get me.
Truth be told I had semi-planned to go the weekend prior to when I actually went but avoided booking a place due to my anxiety. The night before the drive down I was doing all the things I could think of to manage the overwhelming unease and dread I was experiencing: breathing exercises, essential oils, mindfulness, positive self talk, all the things. I slept horribly that night.
I felt less anxious waking up the next morning which I was very grateful for. I made a commitment to myself to be present and try to enjoy the ride which I did to the best of my ability. I felt like I was holding my breath at times waiting to get to the famous 7 Mile Bridge. I kept wondering “was that one it?!” but I assure you, when you finally reach it, you know. The views from the bridges were amazing- I have never seen the ocean look as beautiful or have as many different colors as I experienced in Florida and my drive to Key West.
Before I visit any of my planned stops, I research the top things to do and the first stop on my list was Smather’s Beach which was a bit overrated, to be honest. Yes, there are beautiful palm trees lining the beach but it was pretty small, there were large rocks in the water, and it felt like you were on the side of the road. It wouldn’t make my list of Key West recommendations especially because there were so many amazing spots.
I didn’t stay at the beach very long which meant I still had a few hours before I could check into my AirBnB so I looked at my apple map and found a place on the ocean to head to. For a place I randomly picked on a map, Louie’s Backyard was HEAVEN. There is indoor dining and an upper level porch but if you keep walking you will find a second porch with a small wrap around bar that sits right on the Dog Beach (named because it is the only dog friendly beach in Key West). The experience was absolutely incredible; sparkling aquamarine water, waves crashing, and adorable dogs playing- I told you- heaven. I had a delicious cocktail and then a glass of rosé with my lunch of bacon wrapped shrimp with honey glaze, avocado, and mango. I also had the pleasure of sitting a few stools down from a couple from South Carolina. We started talking about my trip and my work as a traveling virtual therapist and how they have children my age and their son has special needs and has adapted to all of his support services going virtual. We bonded over a shared favorite coffee place and exchanged emails. Meeting them was a treat for so many reasons- having a connection with strangers, realizing I might meet some amazing people on my journey even in this isolating pandemic, and that maybe I really should start the dang blog I’d been debating and order some cards to hand to people I meet along the way.
On to my AirBNB which was exceptional. I stayed at Andrew’s Inn and Garden Cottages – my very first bed and breakfast. I quickly checked in and then headed to the Hemingway House and Museum which actually backs up to Andrew’s Inn property. The Hemingway House was beautiful as were the grounds. I went on the guided 30 minute tour which I would highly recommend. The most fun part of the property are all the cats. Apparently Hemingway loved cats (especially those that are double-pawed), he adopted several and they continued breeding- most of the cats I saw on my visit were double-pawed. There are about 50 cats that live on the property today that wander in and out of the Hemingway House and their own little cat houses. The $16 for the tours goes to feeding and spay/neutering the current cats although, they explained, at least once a year a cat gets pregnant just before their appointment to get fixed and a litter of kittens is welcomed to the crew.
I headed back to my AirBnB to go for a swim in the courtyard pool and participate in happy hour. Not only are they a bed and breakfast but they have a free wine, beer, and snacks happy hour for guests from 4-6pm. The owners are a wonderful couple who met in Europe and decided they were over corporate and military life and moved to Key West to run the B&B. The husband, Michael, took care of the handful of guests at happy hour and nurtured the conversation to flow between everyone.
I realized I was about to miss the sunset and quickly got ready and headed west in search of a dinner spot with a view. I arrived just in time to see a breathtaking orange sun dip below the horizon line and hear the group of onlookers clap as it did. I had planned to go to a recommended tapas restaurant right where I watched the sunset but they refused to seat me as a party of 1- I was a bit shocked and bit hurt- my single status is a personal point of contention and reminders are unnecessary.
I ended up finding an amazing restaurant in an old house with a small outdoor bar that happened to empty out just as I arrived so I had the place to myself to enjoy my dinner of swordfish risotto with black bean and corn.
Fun fact about Key West: there are roosters EVERYWHERE. Apparently, they were brought over from Cuba and were used for both food and cockfighting. When cockfighting was outlawed people just let their roosters go and they have since bred and are all over the island. In my research I found that they are referred to as “Gypsy Chickens” by locals, it is illegal to harm or kill them, and there are so many the island hires professionals to relocate masses of them to farm sanctuaries throughout Florida (we’re talking 1000 roosters being rehomed). It made for very interesting walks and an ever more interesting morning when at around 4am they all start crowing/cock-a-doodling and they don’t stop for hours; there is no sleeping in when in Key West.
Getting woken up early wasn’t a problem because I wanted to get a picture at the famous Southernmost Point Buoy and hopefully avoid the midday lines. I brought the tripod I bought for my iPhone and was a little embarrassed as this was the first time I would be setting it up and using it in public. However mortified I am to be seen like the Influencers in the Wild handle I am more interested in not returning home after this road trip with an album full of selfies- I also don’t want to hand my phone to someone else because you never know if they’re going to do a good job, if there will be people around, and with COVID it feels like a non-option. Luckily, there was a group of 3 women behind me who were super supportive and joking with me as I set up to get my shot.
It was breakfast time when I got back to my room and I sat on the porch of my room and had a mimosa and wrote in my journal. The couple staying in the room next to me was also sitting on our adjoining porch and we got to talking about music and where we were all from; they were from NYC but spend a lot of time in Charleston because the man owns a restaurant there. The woman and I exchanged instagrams and hope to meet up again in Charleston when I am there in February.
To close out my trip, after checking out, I went to Fort Zachary State Park and beach. The Fort, I learned, was the longest running fort in the US, served in multiple wars, and was actually a Union fort in the Civil War working to keep Confederate Ships from getting to their forts throughout the south.
The views and the beach were breathtaking. There were jetties that many people were swimming out to with snorkel gear. The sand was pure white crushed coral and the water was crystal clear. The water was much colder than I expected but worth it- I could have stayed all day.
I did have some residual anxiety on the drive home because after all it is still 150 miles of 2 lane roads and bridges through the middle of the ocean and the Everglades but I am so grateful that I went to Key West, had the experience that I did and met the people I met.
Where My Feet Are 