The question gets asked, and I'm not helping by giving multiple answers.
We'll start with a quick geography lesson. The Florida Keys are a series of literally hundreds of islands off the southern tip of Florida. Not just a handful, and most of them aren't even close to Miami (thank goodness). At the end of US-1, you probably know, is Key West, some 120+ miles into the Atlantic. Let's illustrate that:
South Florida, by Google Maps
Yep, that big ole line is over 120 miles. If the speed limit were 55 or 60 (it isn't), it would still take over two hours to get from Key West to Homestead. There's a lot of 45 in there, and given that much of US-1 is two lanes, accidents and construction projects make the transit even longer. Plan on taking 3-4 hours to reach the mainland by car from Key West. But I digress.
The Keys tend to be divided into Upper, Middle, and Lower. Upper includes Key Largo, Tavernier, and Islamorada. Middle tends to be Marathon, Grassy Key, places that are, well, in the middle. Lower Keys are Big Pine Key to Key West (apologies to Ohio, Bahia Honda, and Spanish Harbor Keys, you are too small for this map). The Lower Keys are sharply divided from the Middle Keys by the Seven-Mile Bridge:
The Lower Keys, by Google Maps
There, you see towards the right, where the highway appears to have nothing under it but water? That's because there's nothing under it but water, that's the Seven-Mile Bridge. I live in the Lower Keys. But where in the Lower Keys? Not exactly Key West:
Bay Point, by Google Maps
Yep, there I am, a good 10 miles northeast of the Key West city limits, in a neighborhood called Bay Point, one of only two inhabited places in the Saddlebunch Keys, which themselves have less than 500 residents. It is worth noting that I have signed a two-year lease at a place just up the road near where the US-1 shield appears at right, on Cudjoe Key, and that's where I'll be after May 1, 2009 or thereabout.
So there we have it. If I tell you I live in Key West, it's for one (or both) of two reasons: I share a ZIP code with them and therefore tend to write it on envelopes, and nobody but locals have any idea where the hell Bay Point or Saddlebunch Key is. In fact, neither do a lot of Key Westers ("Duuude I haven't left The Rock in 2 years, where's Baypoint?").
If I tell you I live in the Lower Keys, well that's perfectly correct, but you'd have to know where the Lower Keys are. You do now.
If I tell you I live in the Florida Keys, that's correct too, but similar to saying "I live in Delaware." Small enough region, but big differences end-to-end. My day-to-day roaming radius tends to stay exactly within the Lower Keys, as far northeast as Big Pine, as far southwest as Key West. But I almost never cross the Seven-Mile bridge. I know very little about Marathon, and only visit when I'm buying something there. In fact, I've only been once. I've only been to Miami once, and I was in traffic for about 2 hours, and I hope to never visit again.
Finally, I must resolve one last question I get often enough, "Why don't you live in Key West?" Yeah, I have a great appreciation for that place, and as belgo.com readers know, I'm found often enough there, at least every weekend. That's just it. I appreciate the place and enjoy having it accessible. I also enjoy living waterfront, taking my boat (such as it is) out every day without paying for a marina or owning a truck. I enjoy not having a city police force. I enjoy not being at the epicenter of tourists and homeless people, and I particularly enjoy not being around the drunken partiers until I'm damn well in the mood to be one of them. And yeah, I enjoy what is still (to me, an Orlandoan) a very low crime rate. Key West is my metropolitan center, and proudly so. But I don't exactly live there, and I appreciate the amenities and decreased population density out here in the boonies of the Lower Keys.
There you have it, you know where to find me (just drive to Saddlebunch and ask around, it won't take long). And you know why I don't self-identify as a Key West blogger, despite many entries centered there. I'm just hangin out here in the saltwater marshes, enjoying the fresh air, trapping crabs, kayaking... you know, the things people drive right past on their way to get trashed on Duval Street.
Oh, and that reminds me...
-Chris