A Ride Around Key West Island

We were having some down time and relaxing after a bike ride down Duval.  Troy asked for someone to play with.  Joey volunteered.

Troy has been practicing and reading a book on chess.  Joey hasn't played in years.  The battle started.  Cutthroat chess is vicious.   Soon the game was more than a game.  Joey is VERY competitive!  Game after game Joey fought back after making a wrong move.  He surged ahead only to fail to keep an eye on the Queen or Rook.  Joey played 7-8 games in two days.  Each took about an hour!  Troy ended up the champ but Joey was the ping pong champ.

When we moved our car from in front of our house we place the garbage can in place in order to save our spot.  Parking is very tight on the island.  Our neighbor is from NY and has a small baby.  As she was leaving in her car, we moved her garbage can to protect her spot.  The next day we received a thank you.

These beautiful roses were from a workshop she was teaching and she gave them to us! She is renting the next door house for 5 months.  It sounds tempting.  Maybe in a year or two we can stay longer.

The final morning for Troy and Rider's visit we rode the bikes down to Mel Fisher's Museum.

Mel Fisher's museum has rare gold and silver treasures from authentic shipwrecks.  It also tells how his wife broke the World's record for a woman underwater in scuba gear.  She lasted 55 hours or so.

                                                       http://www.melfisher.com/

Then the gang rode back to the Butterfly Museum and Troy had one butterfly land on his elbow.  Almost on cue!  Then Troy treated us to special crepes right before we had to take them to the airport to return to L.A.

 The next day we decided to take a bike ride around the 2 mile wide and 4 mile long island of Key West. We head north up along Alantic Blvd.  It is nice to ride along the Alantic Ocean and see the sights next to the water.  We stopped just before White Street Pier to see the African Cemetery.

Remember you can click on a picture to enlarge it!

There is a lot of history on the island.  We try to find something new each visit. We continue on our ride.  The water is very clean and clear today.  We will go to the beach when we finish our ride.

We ride past the entrance to the Key West airport.  It has a new departure deck since last year. The airport is right by the Alantic Ocean off Roosevelt Blvd on the NE side of Key West.

Here we stop for our water break.  We are looking across the water to to next island up from Key West.  It is called Stock Island.

There are a few house boats in the channel between the two islands.  I wonder how it would be to live on a houseboat?

As we come to the Gulf side of Key West we stop at Garrison Bight to take our second water break.  It is about 6 miles into our ride.  You can see some of the charter fishing boats ready for today's fishing trip.  Someone else's fishing trip,  as it is about $500 for a 1/2 day charter!  I'm going to start playing the lottery or find a rich older lady with a bad ticker and a houseboat.

We start back to the house and it is about an 1 1/2 hour trip so far.  As we pass down a lovely neighborhood, Molly spots a picture for my blog.  So I take one last shot.

Yes, we are parrot-heads in many ways!

It is going on our 3rd week of our winter vacation and Molly & Joey leave around the 20th of December. I'll hang around for a few days and then pack up the bikes for the trip home.  OK, time to stop whining and go to the beach.  The weather is here, wish you were..........

More Key Stories!

We have been on a whirlwind and the activity level has reached new heights!  We found out that son, Troy and wife, Rider, enjoy biking as the main activity. We aren't going to do tourist stuff - let's go for a ride.

I know, we can bike from the Alantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico!  Here we are at the end of Duval on the South side of the island.

When we get near the Gulf, we get distracted.  Something about this lovely site is a sight to behold!

One of the obligatory fish photos.  See the tarpon.

There were about three baby 30-40# tarpon swimming near the dock.

Riding by the library we come upon the first monthly Book Sale of the winter season!

Molly and Troy each buy about 8 books.  Now they each have to get another suitcase to ship them home.

Everyone has to have their picture taken here.  It is the rule!  Once you step foot on the Island of Key West, you have to go to the Southermost Point and have your picture taken.

Then you have to immediately go and stop in front of the Hemingway House!  I guess we have to do a few of the tourist things!    Keep your eyes open for those 6 toed cats.  Hemingway had a few and now Key West has many!

Across from the Hemingway House is the Light House and Light House Inn.  Great place to see an aerial view of Key West.

This shot is waiting for a table (35 minutes) at the Blue Heaven Restaurant.

http://blueheavenkw.homestead.com/Blue_Heaven_Restaurant_Key_West.html

Joey and Troy have a friendly game of cut-throat table tennis or ping pong!  They are just coming off cut-throat games of Chess! 

Blue Heaven is the best breakfast restaurant in KW.  The order is in - Eggs Benedict, fresh berry pancakes, pecan pancakes, and omelettes with banana bread.   We had a great brunch.  Just building memories!

Up in the tree (above the upper deck) were a few cats and roosters were on the ground.  The outdoor patio is an interesting place to eat. Joey moved Troy and Rider's bikes so when they came out, they thought their bikes were stolen!  Bad Joey!

Back to the house and a fast game of Bananagrams.  It is a fun game like Scrabble.  Key West is really about a different pace of life.  It really isn't hectic unless you only have one or two days here. 

These are my fishing buddies for today.  I rode out to White's Pier to fish the afternoon away.  It was fun  but only small yellowtails.  If I dropped any of them while taking them off the hook, they disappeared to the pelicans or egret.  A couple rode up and started talking to me.  "We didn't see you here last year".  Then I recognized them as the couple from Ocean City that I fished with a couple of years ago.  He flew down and didn't bring a fishing pole.  "Call me, I have an extra fishing pole".

OK, I have my calendar set for Tuesday - fishing with my friend!  Ah, Key West is good.  Now home to the food on the grill!

Key West and the Food Network Party

Ok, I have decided to take you on a walking/biking tour of Key West.  First off, we are located just off Duval.

From my Explorer North to the white car (75 feet) is the corner of Catherine and Duval.  Molly and I walked across Duval to Tomasita's.

Molly just rang the bell for Mrs. Tomasita.  We needed more lobsters. It is so close to our house.

We got some lobsters and Red Snapper. What good prices!

She doesn't speak English very well and always rounds off the price!  Now that dinner is planned I decide to take off on my bike.

This sign is on Kelly McGillis'old restaurant where we hit Happy Hour last night.

Molly and Joey have their Margaritas before we hit Alonzo's Oyster Bar.  I want to show a few pictures of the stores and sights in Key West.

A tourist town has to have lots of t-shirt shops and Key West has hundreds of shops like this one.

Some of the T-shirts are adult only versions.  But some are nice to have to take home.

What better place to start the 'Duval Crawl' than Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Cafe and Gift Shop.  Jimmy lived here in his younger and  misspent youth days.  You can hear his music everywhere.

The Sloppy Joe's Bar has large open windows and you can hear live music playing at all times of the day and night.

I went down to Captain Tony's to get out of the heat.  I heard a voice call out to me.  Son, come have a seat.

If you recognized those lines, you are a parrot-head!

You might recognize the Hog's Breath Saloon. It is better than no breath!  Think there are a lot of bars in Key West?  I haven't even gotten started yet!

The Key Lime Pie Factory is one of many such stores devoted to desserts.  We sometimes have our dessert first!  It's great to be an adult and make up your own rules!

I bike over to the Historic Waterfront area and find one of our favorite eating places.

Great margaritas and half shells!   Eat it raw!

This place is very much into sailing!  The harbor has some great looking boats.  This Saturday is the Lighting of the Ships festival.  Key West has many celebrations.  They even celebrated the end of the Hurricane Season by the burning of the Hurricane flags!

This is part of the old Key West Cemetery.  Lots of above ground graves and several tiers of graves on one site.

Some of the graves are very old.  I read one that said "See, I told you I was sick".

The afternoon was spent on the beach.  I noticed a pirate's flag in the corner.

The Food Network was filming on the edge of the beach and lots of pirates were around.  Robert Irvine was being filmed and he always wears a black t-shirt.  He has a body like a body builder.  They filmed all day and the director's assistant (?) came over and asked if we would like to join the cast in eating the food Irvine made during the filming.

The cast and crew got in line and we were at the end.

Talk about a great 'Happy Hour'....

Here are two shots of the serving line.

Since it was Pirates Week in Key West, the crew was dressed up and we were the local color for the various shots.

This is a picture of Molly's plate.  They had Bar-B-Qued Chicken, pork, beef, and a whole pig!  Plus lobster, shrimp, lots of salads and other food was available.

Here is Joey with Robert Irvine from the Food Network.  It will be aired in March or April.  Now we will have to watch it every week so we don't miss out on the big day at the Food Network filming.