Sunday, June 28, 2009
Key West weekend
So as I've mentioned before, Chris has this total scam going on. His work has a Key West office, and when the doctor from there needs time off or vacation or whatever, they have to find some other doc to cover. He could either fly there for the day, them paying of course, or drive there and they pay for the whole weekend of hotel PLUS gas. Needless to say, we take them up on it whenever it fits in our schedule, e.g. this past weekend.
We drove down on Thursday night after Chris got home from work. We took the truck so we could bring our bikes and way too much stuff. We didn't get to our bed & breakfast - The Mermaid & The Alligator - until almost 1 a.m. so poor Chris didn't get a very good night of sleep before having to go to work on Friday.
Taken on a previous trip to Key West.
I love this place. Pretty house, pretty grounds, and they have dogs too! They don't let US bring dogs, though, so we may be back at Ambrosia the next time we go to Key West...
Taken on a previous visit to The Cafe
As for myself, I slept in (when don't I?) and then got some stuff done online. Then I hopped on the bike and tooled around town for a while. Ate at my favorite vegetarian restaurant, The Cafe, ordering my usual: seitan peppersteak with sweet potato fries and an Izze pomegranate soda.
I don't know if I've ever eaten in a restaurant alone before, so I was glad I had my camera to keep me company.
Went shopping in a few stores, shelled out way too much money for a pair of jeans, bought myself an iced coffee, took some pictures, and made my way back to the hotel soon after Chris got done with work. Which was at 3:30. I told you it was a scam. ;)
Someone's driveway.
Here's Chris sipping on his post-work beverage, the scene I walked into our room to:
Our room was really funny. It was called the Sun Room, I guess because it had a great little balcony. However, the bed was very creaky and VERY HIGH. Chris had a few too many (whee - videos to follow) and FELL OUT OF BED when he went to get up late that night.. It really would be hard NOT to. They had a step-stool to get into the bed on one side, but if you were trying to get in from the other, it was a real challenge! I really cannot see the point.
Unsurprisingly, the place has lots of mermaid stuff around the house.
They also have lots of birds - lovebirds, parakeets, and finches. The finches had a baby in one of their nests, but I couldn't get a good picture of it, sadly. It was RIDICULOUSLY cute, though.
Also, the grounds are gorgeous. Lush and green with surprises everywhere, like these plumerias:
It had just rained; those are not planted rain droplets...
The bed & breakfasts we stay in make me wish I lived in an old Key West house so badly.
Right outside the M&A gate.
One thing Key West has a lot of is CATS. Lots of cats. Pet cats, stray cats, performing cats, everything. While trying to find the hotel, I saw this cat sleeping in a big patch of sunshine on someone's porch. I think it was a pet cat - she had a water bowl and a little hut-type thing to get out of the sun on the front porch. She was a mess, though - stinky and with tumors and stuff in her ears. Still seems to be living a happy kitty life, though, which mostly involves sleeping and the sun. :)
Oh yeah, Key West also has a lot of chickens. Everywhere. These guys were on Duval with their mama:
Oh yeah, Key West also has a lot of bikes.
That night we went out with Dean & Meredith, our friends from here who love Key West and were easily talked into going the same time us. Also, some young Russian doctor that was visiting Chris's office was there; Chris invited him last week to come visit the Key West office and spend the weekend. I was like UGH! People I don't know! But Chris has pretty good taste in folks (if I do say so myself) and the Russian (Alex) was super laid-back and lots of fun. I liked him even though he said he has three girlfriends in Russia and they're all 19. (He's 25, so at least the age is more forgivable.) I even invited him along with us the next day, to Bahia Honda.
Chris overdid it a bit that night and did THE MOST ROUSING RENDITION of "Thriller" that you've ever seen. Moonwalking and everything. Meredith got some video... I'll hopefully get it from her soon. At the end, a few chicks got up and were doing the Thriller dance in front of the stage. I was laughing so hard I was crying.
I only had a few since I wanted to ENJOY the next day at my favorite place.. BAHIA HONDA!
Taken on a previous visit to Bahia Honda
Only when we got there, we were told that the water was CONTAMINATED and we could swim at our own risk but, uh, it was fecal contamination so NO THANK YOU. There were a lot of wet people in the gift shop though. Hmm. More adventurous than me, it would seem.
So Chris called his friend Elizabeth, who has a weekend house 10 minutes or so from where we were. She and her husband took me, Chris, Alex and their two kids out on their boat to the reef so we could snorkel. It was a gorgeous day. The water was a little rough, so once we were done in the water it was time to head back in IMMEDIATELY since we were all turning a little green. It was really nice, though. Alex said he hadn't had such a nice weekend in as long as he could remember... Then we ate ice cream cake. :) It was so cute. I had told the little girl, about 7 years old, that we had brought her ice cream cake. I told her this while we were on the boat, and from then on it was ALL she could talk about. The second we pulled up to the dock at the house, she's like, "ICE CREAM CAKE!" Repeat, repeat, repeat. After we were done, she suddenly became very concerned about whether or not we would be taking the leftovers with us when we left. Hehe.
On our drive to Elizabeth's, we saw KEY DEER! For those of you who have driven down to Key West, you've seen the signs: SPEED KILLS KEY DEER! The daytime speed limit is 45, the nighttime one is 35. These are probably the ONLY speed limits on earth that I strictly abide by.. oh, and school zones. But I had NEVER seen a key deer and was like, um, is this just made-up so we'll go slower? Apparently not! [Cue the key deer!]
If you don't know what a key deer is, just picture a normal deer. Then shrink it.
I'm pretty sure people feed him since he was pretty much walking towards me. Too bad all I had was the point & shoot. No good camera and no apples. The crazies thing is that we saw TWO MORE on our drive back through... One almost got hit by an SUV, but that speed limit allowed the driver to stop and the deer ran back to where it came from. Poor things. I dunno how they cross the road with the crazy non-stop Keys traffic. :( Maybe they gotta wait until weekdays..
We went back and I took a nap and Chris went for a jog - yeah, he never stops. Energizer bunny. Then we went out again with Dean, Meredith, and Alex, and this time I knew I had nothing to wake up for the next day, so....
I actually drank! A bunch! It was fun, though. Lots of mojitos. And I sang "Goodbye Earl" in karaoke. :)
This place has a webcam, so thankfully our friend Lally caught Chris's "Thriller" the night before. He was amazed. Or possibly disgusted.
Hehehehe. Bikes are a good thing, and so are bike baskets. I spilled half of this stuff riding back to our hotel, but hey.
Oh yeah, there's a clothing-optional bar we went to. Well, we went to the first two floors. It's the THIRD floor that's clothing optional. Not a pretty sight, from what I hear. It's all the people you DON'T want to see without clothes on... Like last time, everyone was wearing clothes except for a really old guy and a morbidly obese guy.. Anyway, this is the sign everywhere in the bar:
There was a scheduling issue with our room, so we didn't get to keep the same room the third night. What a blessing! We said goodbye to our giant bed and said hello to a private little cottage-type thing!
The Bamboo Room! They served us breakfast on the veranda. SO NICE, esp. when you consider the fact that I couldn't make it out of the room before the 10 a.m. breakfast's-over time. SO NICE!
So yeah, last night we went out to eat, walked around, visited a bunch of fine establishments, then rode bikes back to the B&B, making a pit stop at Walgreens so I could desperately try to find something to help soak up all the rum in my tummy (Chex mix & chocolate chunk cookies).
Today we had our breakfast and then drove home. Bless Chris's heart, he drove and I got to nap.
Overseas Highway is the PRETTIEST drive.
We stopped by our friends' house, Brian & Marcie. We brought them key lime pie and hung out to play with their kids for a while. Then we finally made it back to a houseful of SUPER happy-to-see-us pets. :) ¶ 11:56 PM
We drove down on Thursday night after Chris got home from work. We took the truck so we could bring our bikes and way too much stuff. We didn't get to our bed & breakfast - The Mermaid & The Alligator - until almost 1 a.m. so poor Chris didn't get a very good night of sleep before having to go to work on Friday.
Taken on a previous trip to Key West.
I love this place. Pretty house, pretty grounds, and they have dogs too! They don't let US bring dogs, though, so we may be back at Ambrosia the next time we go to Key West...
Taken on a previous visit to The Cafe
As for myself, I slept in (when don't I?) and then got some stuff done online. Then I hopped on the bike and tooled around town for a while. Ate at my favorite vegetarian restaurant, The Cafe, ordering my usual: seitan peppersteak with sweet potato fries and an Izze pomegranate soda.
I don't know if I've ever eaten in a restaurant alone before, so I was glad I had my camera to keep me company.
Went shopping in a few stores, shelled out way too much money for a pair of jeans, bought myself an iced coffee, took some pictures, and made my way back to the hotel soon after Chris got done with work. Which was at 3:30. I told you it was a scam. ;)
Someone's driveway.
Here's Chris sipping on his post-work beverage, the scene I walked into our room to:
Our room was really funny. It was called the Sun Room, I guess because it had a great little balcony. However, the bed was very creaky and VERY HIGH. Chris had a few too many (whee - videos to follow) and FELL OUT OF BED when he went to get up late that night.. It really would be hard NOT to. They had a step-stool to get into the bed on one side, but if you were trying to get in from the other, it was a real challenge! I really cannot see the point.
Unsurprisingly, the place has lots of mermaid stuff around the house.
They also have lots of birds - lovebirds, parakeets, and finches. The finches had a baby in one of their nests, but I couldn't get a good picture of it, sadly. It was RIDICULOUSLY cute, though.
Also, the grounds are gorgeous. Lush and green with surprises everywhere, like these plumerias:
It had just rained; those are not planted rain droplets...
The bed & breakfasts we stay in make me wish I lived in an old Key West house so badly.
Right outside the M&A gate.
One thing Key West has a lot of is CATS. Lots of cats. Pet cats, stray cats, performing cats, everything. While trying to find the hotel, I saw this cat sleeping in a big patch of sunshine on someone's porch. I think it was a pet cat - she had a water bowl and a little hut-type thing to get out of the sun on the front porch. She was a mess, though - stinky and with tumors and stuff in her ears. Still seems to be living a happy kitty life, though, which mostly involves sleeping and the sun. :)
Oh yeah, Key West also has a lot of chickens. Everywhere. These guys were on Duval with their mama:
Oh yeah, Key West also has a lot of bikes.
That night we went out with Dean & Meredith, our friends from here who love Key West and were easily talked into going the same time us. Also, some young Russian doctor that was visiting Chris's office was there; Chris invited him last week to come visit the Key West office and spend the weekend. I was like UGH! People I don't know! But Chris has pretty good taste in folks (if I do say so myself) and the Russian (Alex) was super laid-back and lots of fun. I liked him even though he said he has three girlfriends in Russia and they're all 19. (He's 25, so at least the age is more forgivable.) I even invited him along with us the next day, to Bahia Honda.
Chris overdid it a bit that night and did THE MOST ROUSING RENDITION of "Thriller" that you've ever seen. Moonwalking and everything. Meredith got some video... I'll hopefully get it from her soon. At the end, a few chicks got up and were doing the Thriller dance in front of the stage. I was laughing so hard I was crying.
I only had a few since I wanted to ENJOY the next day at my favorite place.. BAHIA HONDA!
Taken on a previous visit to Bahia Honda
Only when we got there, we were told that the water was CONTAMINATED and we could swim at our own risk but, uh, it was fecal contamination so NO THANK YOU. There were a lot of wet people in the gift shop though. Hmm. More adventurous than me, it would seem.
So Chris called his friend Elizabeth, who has a weekend house 10 minutes or so from where we were. She and her husband took me, Chris, Alex and their two kids out on their boat to the reef so we could snorkel. It was a gorgeous day. The water was a little rough, so once we were done in the water it was time to head back in IMMEDIATELY since we were all turning a little green. It was really nice, though. Alex said he hadn't had such a nice weekend in as long as he could remember... Then we ate ice cream cake. :) It was so cute. I had told the little girl, about 7 years old, that we had brought her ice cream cake. I told her this while we were on the boat, and from then on it was ALL she could talk about. The second we pulled up to the dock at the house, she's like, "ICE CREAM CAKE!" Repeat, repeat, repeat. After we were done, she suddenly became very concerned about whether or not we would be taking the leftovers with us when we left. Hehe.
On our drive to Elizabeth's, we saw KEY DEER! For those of you who have driven down to Key West, you've seen the signs: SPEED KILLS KEY DEER! The daytime speed limit is 45, the nighttime one is 35. These are probably the ONLY speed limits on earth that I strictly abide by.. oh, and school zones. But I had NEVER seen a key deer and was like, um, is this just made-up so we'll go slower? Apparently not! [Cue the key deer!]
If you don't know what a key deer is, just picture a normal deer. Then shrink it.
I'm pretty sure people feed him since he was pretty much walking towards me. Too bad all I had was the point & shoot. No good camera and no apples. The crazies thing is that we saw TWO MORE on our drive back through... One almost got hit by an SUV, but that speed limit allowed the driver to stop and the deer ran back to where it came from. Poor things. I dunno how they cross the road with the crazy non-stop Keys traffic. :( Maybe they gotta wait until weekdays..
We went back and I took a nap and Chris went for a jog - yeah, he never stops. Energizer bunny. Then we went out again with Dean, Meredith, and Alex, and this time I knew I had nothing to wake up for the next day, so....
I actually drank! A bunch! It was fun, though. Lots of mojitos. And I sang "Goodbye Earl" in karaoke. :)
This place has a webcam, so thankfully our friend Lally caught Chris's "Thriller" the night before. He was amazed. Or possibly disgusted.
Hehehehe. Bikes are a good thing, and so are bike baskets. I spilled half of this stuff riding back to our hotel, but hey.
Oh yeah, there's a clothing-optional bar we went to. Well, we went to the first two floors. It's the THIRD floor that's clothing optional. Not a pretty sight, from what I hear. It's all the people you DON'T want to see without clothes on... Like last time, everyone was wearing clothes except for a really old guy and a morbidly obese guy.. Anyway, this is the sign everywhere in the bar:
There was a scheduling issue with our room, so we didn't get to keep the same room the third night. What a blessing! We said goodbye to our giant bed and said hello to a private little cottage-type thing!
The Bamboo Room! They served us breakfast on the veranda. SO NICE, esp. when you consider the fact that I couldn't make it out of the room before the 10 a.m. breakfast's-over time. SO NICE!
So yeah, last night we went out to eat, walked around, visited a bunch of fine establishments, then rode bikes back to the B&B, making a pit stop at Walgreens so I could desperately try to find something to help soak up all the rum in my tummy (Chex mix & chocolate chunk cookies).
Today we had our breakfast and then drove home. Bless Chris's heart, he drove and I got to nap.
Overseas Highway is the PRETTIEST drive.
We stopped by our friends' house, Brian & Marcie. We brought them key lime pie and hung out to play with their kids for a while. Then we finally made it back to a houseful of SUPER happy-to-see-us pets. :) ¶ 11:56 PM
Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home
<< Home
