Florida Keys - Day One

We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale about 1:30 P.M. on Friday (11/18/11). By the time we got the rental car (long line at the counter) and got on the road it was about 3:00. The first stop was at a Wal-Mart in Homestead, Fl. Even though we took the tollway, it still took us about an hour to get to the Wal-Mart. We were back on the road about 4:30. Highway 1, also known as the Overseas Highway is a very good mostly two lane road. However the speed limit runs from 35 MPH to 55 MPH. Since it was Friday, and we found out after we got here, there was a speed boat race in Key West, thus there was quite a bit of traffic. We arrived at our hotel in Marathon (which is about 50 miles from Key West) about 6:10 P.M.

After checking in it was off to dinner at a place called the Castaway.
It was recommended by the hotel staff. Though it looks like a dive on the outside (and a little bit the same on the inside), it turned out to have very acceptable food.

When we are around the gulf, we always go for the shrimp. Seems we can never get enough. Well the Castaway did not disappoint. We had shrimp boiled in beer and Bay seasoning. Very good flavor and cook just right so they were not mushy. Looking at the name of the establishment, you would thing Castaway, the movie with Tom Hanks - the menu however had offering with title like "The Skipper", "Mary Ann", "Ginger" and the like.  Definitely a place we would recommend to others. Then it was back to the hotel, Holiday Inn Express, a fairly new property that is in good repair, clean and we had a spacious room. Our only complaint is the "thinnest" of the walls. Lots of sounds heard from the neighboring room.