What is this place?

I want to take Kate to see the sunset. I agree with him, because it feels like it's been forever since I've stopped to see one of those. Kitchens have a funny way of pulling you into the fire just as the sun dips below the horizon. Tan faces with sandy blond hair stroll by, warm strawberry daiquiri smiles and full bellies. I can see a man breathing fire and the circle of tourists that surround him ooing and awing. We walk by a cart of painted conch shells that say "Christmas in Key West 2008" or "Your name here". My dad and I pass by the brick buildings that have withstood the named storms and those that crumbled under it's power. We are the brick buildings. He takes me to the top of a hotel on Duval Street and I buy him a cup of coffee. The sun slips lower in below the red and purple clouds. We stand there to wish it well. Earlier he told me that he wasn't surprised that I was back, that I just had too much sand in my shoes. I told him he was right. I've returned as a different person than when I left. For the first time in my life I can feel an actual shift in my heart, I think about how I feel about myself and I am embarrassed. Maybe I'll never gain that confidence back, it might be lost forever. I may forever second guess myself or never forget those names I was called in that car. I still fall into the thinking that they are all true. But now I'm back in a place where one is not judged by the price tag on your t-shirt or the fancy sports car you leave in the garage. Here the time you spend on tire swings is worth more than the time spent at salon. The sunsets are what count. And this one I am watching with my dad.