Sunday Walk

Dorothy and I did about 8 or 9 miles this morning. A nice 2 and an half hour walk from the hotel to the nothern end of the island then back down the center and across to the hotel. It was hot and I got a lot of sun but I am recovering. It didn't help that I was a little hung over this morning. My night of revelry had a price. We made it fine and saw some sites. We met 2 teenage girls who had been walking the opposite direction for half hour looking for Smathers beach. They were a little disappointed to discover they still had about another mile or more to go. I think mom and dad may have gotten a rescue call.

Tommorow will be a quick bike ride and recovery from today's efforts. Then Tues. is snorkiling day. I am getting excited. I think tonight will be sunset at Mallory Sq. night then maybe some music at Hogs Breath (saloon).

Here is a quick slide show:

My cute young models.

While walking on Duval after dinner I stopped I a hat shop. 3 very cute young women came in as I was leaving (I think they were swimsuit models tying to travel incognito). One complimented me on my camera. Long story short here are the 3 photos. I gave them a card and we went our separate way. I will let you know if I hear from them. The retouched photos are going on Flickr. One commented that she was on Flickr a lot and the card had my bobxnc user name.

Betsy and Ed Arrive for Sat. nigth

The gang is all here. My younger sister Betsy and her husband Ed flew in from Boston late Sat. afternoon. They were in their room before we realized they had arrived. We gathered at the tiki bar for a celebratory beverage before setting out for Mango's on Duval for dinner.

We had a great meal, sitting outside right on Duval St, watching the free show walking by. Dinner was very good. I had yellowtail snapper with veggies and mashed tators. All in all a very satisfactory evening. The rest of the crew headed back to the hotel after dinner by I lingered and stopped by the Green Parrot to hear a 3 piece blues combo. I lasted for one set, about 80 minutes worth. They were good but not outstanding. Still this was the first live music I have heard in KW this year. It was a good treat. I made it home safely around midnight, none the worse for wear for a couple KW Sunset ales. Very nice beer.

Sat. walk and pool photos

Shots from our adventures on Sat.
You can see the individual shots and a better slideshow at the Picassa Web Album.

Sat. Morning walk, pool and sushi

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Sat. morning

Egg sand-wiches on Cuban bread with my cafe con leche this morning. Carole decided to have one as well. Dorothy and I set off on a 4 mile tune up for our big 8 miler tomorrow. We went down past the Hemingway house to Mallory Sq. Saw 2 cruise ships coming in. One was in the process of tieing up. Very interesting. Around the waterfront then back up Simonton just in time to meet Jeff at Camille's. They decided to try Cuban instead so we went back up the street and they had breakfast.

Carole and I returned to the quiet pool for a while. You can see some shots in the Sat. walk photos. Not so many pictures today. More Clapton then off to the sushi place for some tuna and a spider roll. The waitress, Adrienne, explained grades of sake and brought me a very nice glass of fairly dry sake. It was served chilled in a large shot glass. Very good. The sushi was as well. I will be back for more.

While we were at the pool Carole called George and Vicki Barnes. They are in Chapel Hill for a UNC ball game. We sent them a photo from my phone. We got a fairly polite reply considering it is exactly twice as warm here as there (4o in NC - 80 in KW). Life is tough. They would really enjoy this place. Hell who wouldn't. Mark maybe but thats about it.

Betsy and Ed are on the way. They want to go to the Dry Tortugas on Tues so I made reservations. I am really excited about this trip. It should be great fun.

Carole is napping. When she gets up its time to go shopping. Then welcome Betsy and Ed. It just keeps getting better and better.

Friday Afternon and the Cavlary arrives

Dorothy and Jeff arrive
Friday afternoon
Carole and I spent most of the afternoon by the second pool. This is a quieter spot. We read and swam and swam and read. Very relaxing.
I spent some time eavesdropping on a group of women who reminded me very much of "the Girls". Boy would we have fun here. Maybe, sometime.... we will try it.
Back to the room around 4:30 to await the arrival of the first family members to make the trip.
My older sister Dorothy and her husband Jeff finally arrived around 5:30. They had a good flight from LaGuardia to Miami then the quick hop down to Key West. This is their first trip. Once we got them settled in their room we got them oriented on the property: this is the pool, this is the tiki bar, this is the other pool, this is the tiki bar, this is the grocery store, this is the tiki bar, this is the tiki... Well you get the point. We had a cocktail at, yeah you guessed it, the tiki bar then dinner at the beach cafe. Carole and I figured they would enjoy a beachside meal. They did. Everyone seemed satisified with their meals. Jeff, Dorothy and I decided to take a Duval crawl.
They wanted to get a sense of what they had wandered into. We made it as far west as Sloppy Joe's before we headed back. They saw it all. Friday night was just getting rolling but it looked like it would be a good one. We stopped by the Green Parrot on the way back and agreed that we might try to catch a sound check (pre dinner) on night.
We discussed my proposed Dry Tortugas trip on Tuesday. I had also asked Betsy and Ed to consider this so I could book it on Sat.
After discussing our morning plans we all turned in.
I was still up so I started a new book. Eric Clapton's autobiography. It is excellent. Very revealing and very cleanly written. I am enjoying it enough to put aside the Revolutionary war for a while,

Friday ride photos

Starting at the Southernmost point in the USA a little ride around Key West.
For individual shots and a larger slide show go to my Picasa Web Album