Editor's Notebook: Drag Shows, Naked Bar Patrons and Turtle Races. My Vacation in Key West

Everyone needs a vacation, right?

After running around covering Green Days festivities I hopped a plane straight to Key West for a week of relaxation with my boyfriend's family.

Okay, I'm sure that sounds like torture to some people, but they really are a fun, friendly bunch.

After a 3 a.m. wake-up Sunday call we were on our way to sunny Florida.

Right…

Have you ever been to Key West? It's an experience, one I thoroughly enjoyed.

But you've heard of Debby, right? That pesky tropical depression, or is it a storm?

Either way we felt Debby's looming presence for five of the six days were were in sunny…er drizzly…Florida.

None the less, we took the bull by the horns and explored all that Key West has to offer, which included a drag show, clothing-optional bar and turtle races.

On Monday, after a day at the beach and a few nearly vacation ending blisters we headed to Duval Street for the show of the week.

Oh those blisters? I love shoes, but apparently Old Navy flip flops don't love me.

Thankfully, you can have bikes delivered in Key West.

We started out at 801 Bourbon for a Cabaret Show. The show, also known as a Drag Show, happens twice a night. We attended the 9 p.m. showing.

So there I am sitting with my boyfriend, Grady, his brother, Cooper, and his parents, Mary and Dennis. Did I mention there was an open tab at the bar? I don't know what it ended up totaling, but it wasn't small.

I loved this show. It was fabulous. We were greeted by big hair, outrageous outfits and some stellar lip-syncing. Deja, Josie, Raquel and Diamonique put on a great show.

When Raquel serenaded Cooper, I about lost it, we all did. It's too bad his wife, Sandy, wasn't around to see it.

I highly recommend this experience.

Next we continued our exploration of Key West nightlife by heading to a bar that Mary and Dennis said we just had to go to. But before we got there, we spotted a few scantily clad men on a bar. Mary and I took a quick detour inside to give them a few bills.

Back to our final destination. After climbing stairs for what seemed like an hour we finally reached the bar.

The first thing I saw was "Clothing Optional" plastered on a sign.

What? Why are we here? Why did you take us here?

Just to see our reaction, that's why. Our reaction? Keep drinking.

It took a few minutes to find someone who was actually going with the clothing optional mantra. But once you found one, there were two more.

This bar had rules which included no cameras and no sex. That makes sense right?

Well, patrons could also get their, ahem, packages painted for a small fee. The room where you get painted allows for photos.

Don't worry, I'm not that free, no painting here.

But I did meet a nice gentleman, recently returned from Afghanistan, who was taking his time out of uniform seriously, as serious as a devil.

We had a great chat as I waited to refill all our drink orders.

Such a great chat that I talked him into taking a photo with Mary.

So forever, Mary's trip to Garden of Eden - that's the real name of the bar- will be captured next to a naked man with a devil painted on.

All in all, it was a great night on the town and a true introduction to Key West.

The rest of the week wasn't quite as adventurous.

It was still fun, although filled with rain.

We toured Fort Zachary Taylor, saw Ernest Hemingway's house and Harry Truman's Little White House.

We spent evenings eating all kinds of seafood and listening to a variety of live music and just taking in the city.

On Friday, we were supposed to take a two-hour ferry ride to Dry Tortugas. Unfortunately, Debby forced us to cancel that particular trip.

Instead, we hit up a local bar for a turtle race. It is exactly like it sounds. Four little turtles race down a long, stratight track. Everyone gets a number and the patrons with the winning turtles get a chance to unlock a treasure chest for $400.

After a little coaxing, the turtles finally went in the right direction. Grady and Cooper's turtle won, but they lost out on the big prize.

Oh, funny story. I hate, I mean hate, reptiles, spiders, all those things.

Entering the pool one afternoon, I grabbed the railing, no biggie, right?

Wrong.

I felt something move... a gecko.

What came out of my mouth was a scream "like bloody murder" according to Dennis.

Everyone thought this was the funniest part of the trip.

Not me, nope, not me.