Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Life at the Southern Most Spot - Key West

Wow, the days are rolling along.  Monday, we went shopping at Publix  for groceries.  We spent $150 on getting stocked up for our visit.






Fresh Key Lime pie is one of the staples we always get when shopping.  Hold it, Joey did you get into the pie before dinner?


  Then we realized that we didn't have anything for supper!  No problem in Key West!  Molly and Joey took off on their bikes to explore the 'Happy Hour" options for this year and I packed up fishing gear and headed to the Ocean front.  I got there about 3:00 pm and started with some shrimp tossed out on one rod while I use a large surface popper on the other rod.





There were two cruise ships in town today.  They have to pay docking fees to the city to dock here for an afternoon.  You can always tell the visitors as they have on their boat pass and have a map in hand as they scramble around to see everything in Key West in 4-5 hours on foot!

I started having hits on the shrimp so I put the popper away and started catching Yellowtail Snappers.  Most were small and a large white Egrit (sp) bird kept creeping up closer and closer.  I tossed him several small fish and he became my instant fishing buddy.  I know...don't feed the wildlife, but I thought that met those strange souls on Duval Street. I was not keeping fish today but will starting tomorrow for our fish grill and fish chowder.


Getting a call from the kids that they found a bar serving Mango Coladas sent me packing up my fishing gear.  It was 4:15 pm and I headed back to the house (10 minutes), showered (10 minutes), and rode down to the Historical section to Dante's Bar in 10 minutes.   http://www.dantes-keywest.com/



 It has a pool in the outside bar where you can swim if you order something.  I'll get a picture!  We got our drinks and a dozen raw oysters.  Now it was time for dinner.  Easy choice for our first meal out in Key West.  Our favorite place is El Siboney's.  http://www.elsiboneyrestaurant.com/

It is a quiet little Cuban restaurant straight down our street (Catherine) about 5 blocks.  Molly and Joey ordered the 1/2 garlic chicken and I had the Cuban Pulled Pork.  You get a huge plate of yellow rice and black beans, Cuban bread, carmalized onions, and fried Plantain.  We brought back 1/2 of the meal for lunch the next day.
 
Tuesday AM I headed down to get the Key West Citizen to read.  http://www.keysnews.com/   It was about 7:30 and Joey came over to see the sports page.  We decided to ride around the island for the first time this trip.  We left the house at 7:42.   We have to get in shape!  Our legs needed this workout but our butts were getting sore by mid-way.  OK, first rest stop along the Alantic Ocean near the airport.





Joey started his 'gettin in shape' plan.  I keep track of how many push-ups he does and will be his support coach.  Nice job, Joey.








This is Smathers Beach and it is the longest beach on the Island.  We kept on biking and found our way home at 9:56 am.  An hour for a 8-9 mile ride.  Not too fast but a start to our fitness training.  Did I tell you how much gellato Joey and Molly ate in Italy?


We read the paper and Molly decided that we would go get some fresh lobsters and shrimp for dinner.  We walked about one block to a small side street stand run by an little old white haired Cuban woman.  Her husband get the fresh seafood and she runs her little stand at her house.  We got 6 whole FL lobsters (1 to 1 1/4#@) for $5 each!  $9 for a pound of fresh large shrimp.  It is now 10:30 am and what do we do with them?  Ah heck, put them in my refrigerator, it already smells from the fishing bait in it!



















We decide that for $5 per pound, we would each eat two lobsters tonight!  A problem arose when we discovered no big pot in the house.  We solved that problem!  We will cook 3 at a time!



The kids just got word that their bid on a larger Condo in Lafayette. LA  was accepted so they had to rush around to get things signed, notarized, and faxed back to the relator.  Ah well, it is just another day in Paradise.









This is the shot of the living room from the side door of the front half of the house.  I have the larger sitting room and TV.  The stairs leads up to my loft bedroom.





The whole house has the large dark red titles on the floor.  To the left is the bathrrom and a door between the two units.  Molly and Joey had a King size bed on the ground floor and two single beds in the loft.  My son, Troy and Rider, will stay there when they visit in Dec.  So the two units can be closed off or opened up as needed.  It works when there is family renting the whole house.




It is about $3500/month for the whole house but the rent goes up after the holidays in the busy season.  The location is great and fairly quiet.  I want to hit Sunset Celebration tonight before we eat.  You have to see the Catman to appreciate him!

www.catmankeywest.com/


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAx1Zthusn8



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyKxbua9miM


Well, what do you think?  Want to hear more from Key West?    

1 comment:

  1. Great job Don. I am so envious....wish I was there. I can't wait until Jane retires! You should be getting your Christmas present on Monday or Tuesday. I got my first Consumers Report yesterday.

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