The overseas highway, built in late 1930s, as the southernmost leg of US 1, is the most colorful way

The overseas highway, built in late 1930s, as the southernmost leg of US 1, is the most colorful way to get to Key West, that last remnant of civilization before hitting a string of uninhabited barrier keys that lay like a necklace dotting the Atlantic and parts of the Gulf of Mexico. For much of its 113 miles of roadway linked by 42 bridges, it's a one-lane affair where 55 mph is the recommended speed. Not that much goes by the book here. Built on coral bedrock, often atop remains of Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad, the highway itself is an engineering marvel. And the sights along the way to Key West give even the most jaded traveller a sense of freedom. From tiny Key Deer the size of small dogs to incredible Giant Heron with four-feet wingspans, this is a remarkably fertile seascape of color, form, vegetation and wildlife so active that there isn't a second that you won't find something shadowed against a sky so blue that not even the cotton candy clouds can compete.
It is somehow appropriate that after the 3 hour and 45-minute journey from Fort Lauderdale, leaving all this bounty of sea and nature behind for the rough-around-the-edges Bohemian rhapsody that is Key West would be a let down. And so it would be if it weren't for the oasis known as the Island House Resort (1129 Fleming St, Key West, FL 33040, 800-890-6284). Drive down the small alleyway streets of Key West, past the tourist vendors and T-shirt shops, the bars alongside the Conch Train with its tourists, cameras poised under oversized hats shielding from the heat, and arrive at this all-male, private compound of lush tropical gardens surrounding a large clothing-optional pool heated by the sun to the perfect walk in temperature that soothes as much as it invigorates.
You reach the front desk of this resort by a short brick path up an alleyway off of Fleming Street just west of White Street. The front desk is contained within a small comfortable lobby and populated with smiling faces that immediately nurture the road weary traveler in you. Just off the lobby is a complete, if petite, fitness center with all the essentials to keep you tight and toned, plus the additional features of a sauna, steam, and Jacuzzi where magic has been known to happen.
The rooms are all decorated in a chocolate brown, gold and beige theme that says masculine, sophisticated and luxurious in the same breath. The 300-count ironed linens, the thick towels, ace rental cars the flat screen TVs, the powerful showers, and the L'Occitane bath lotions and shampoos are standard ace rental cars whether you select the smallest accommodations, with shared bath priced at a low-end $99 during the summer months, to a standard room with queen bed and private bath at $259, to the grander double queen rooms with writing desk, sitting area, refrigerator, wet bar and deluxe walk-in closet priced at $359 during the off season.
We stayed ace rental cars in an immaculate one-bedroom apartment, with its own leather sectional sofa and large flatscreen TV, full kitchen, king size bed and full bath area, that tallies a sweet $359, or bring the whole family and occupy the two-bedroom apartment with its king and queen beds at $379. Either unit comes with private parking, always at a premium on the tight streets of the Key.