Monday, March 12, 2012

Key West


We took the bus to Key West on Saturday the 25th. We have friends Tom & Brenda staying there so we met up with them for a quick tour and a great lunch dockside. Spent the afternoon wandering the streets, then sunset at Mallory Square. Not quite the freak show I was expecting. We watched jugglers, sword swallowers, fire eaters and the sunset. Off to dinner at another great open air restaurant. The dining scene is much better than I expected, I figured tourist trap food.

After dinner we headed to the famous Sloppy Joes. Usually I stay out of tourist traps but Tom & Brenda knew Pat Dailey was performing. Pat spends the winter in Key West and the summer at Put-In-Bay, party central of the Great Lakes. Twas fun listening to his mix of Great Lakes songs & tales and his bawdy banter. The performances of a few of the ladies in the crowd was worth the trip alone. A few more cocktails didn't hurt either!

Gettin late, havin too much fun, we missed the bus back to Marathon and stayed at T&B's place. Excellent hosts for sure. To top it off, breakfast at a little French restaurant! Again, The food was excellent.

We missed one of the buses so we stopped in at the Green Parrot, last bar on A1A. We almost passed up the next bus 2 hours later to continue soaking in a great jazz band. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon. Our whirlwind trip ended with a long ride back on the bus with a cast of local characters.

Thanks again to Tom & Brenda for their hospitality.

Posted by Ed aboard S/V Freedom