Mon, 1/14/08

Sugarloaf Key: A little cool and breezy today. I cleaned while Mike was out running errands and then when he was over playing shoes I played spades on the Internet. Think we’re going to pass on happy hour tonight.

Sun, 1/13/08

Sugarloaf Key: A beautiful, warm day. After hanging around outside most of the day, we headed into Key West to do our laundry. Then came back, ate leftovers and watched a movie.

Historic Residence--Simonton St., Old Town Key West

Sat, 1/12/08

Sugarloaf Key: A beautiful day today. We just hung out all day and sat outside and read. Mike grilled chicken and I made a 3 bean salad for dinner. Watched a DVD while we ate—“Black Widow”. Terrible. Playing jokers at the clubhouse tonight. There’s a bunch going over to the KOA to hear “Mile Marker 24”—some group I’ve never heard of. They’re supposed to be good. A lot of hangovers tomorrow.

Besame Mucho--Old Town Key West

Fri, 1/11/08

Sugarloaf Key: Raining this morning. Started during the night sometime. So we decided to go grocery shopping. When we came out of the grocery store it was raining pretty hard. Mike wanted to wait to see if it would let up and I said nah, let’s go. So we did and got absolutely soaked. I hate it when he’s right. After that we went to Pizzaworks for lunch and froze in the air conditioning. Cleared off later. A group was playing jokers at the clubhouse. We stayed in and watched TV.

Blue Heaven Cafe

Sugarloaf Key: Took the bikes and drove a couple of miles and parked just off Rt. 1 and then biked through a residential area on Sugarloaf. Some really beautiful homes in this area. At the end of the road there’s access to an old state road that has been shut down because of a burned out bridge. It’s now used strictly for biking. It’s a great place to bike and dead ends at a pretty little lake. We had lunch there. There’s a path through the mangroves from the lake to a pretty little point on the ocean side. Walked around there for a while. There are lots of things you can see in the tide pools. There was also an osprey nest there. The osprey flew away and never came back while we were there. Biked back to the truck and came back home and relaxed the rest of the day. Another beautiful day in paradise.

314 Simonton St.

This is where Hemmingway lived (upstairs apartment) when he wrote "A Farewell to Arms".

Sugarloaf Key: Drove into Key West this morning and picked up the book, “Matecumbe” by James Michener (the lost Florida novel) and then went to Blue Heaven for breakfast. They have the best benedict dishes. I had tenderloin benedict this time. They also have lobster benedict, salmon benedict, and shrimp benedict. They’re all excellent. And they have fresh squeezed orange juice. Delicious. After breakfast we went to the Green Parrot bar and had a drink. Hey, it was after noon. This bar has an eclectic, local clientele and has been a fixture in Key West since 1890. Drove over to the Eco Center and checked out the new coral reef exhibit. This is a free venue, free parking, and it’s within walking distance of Mallory Square. Mote Laboratories has something to do with it…a sponsor or something. The guy in the motor home across from us works there. We ran into him while we were there. After leaving there we went over to Key West harbor. The water there is so beautiful. Had dinner at our favorite Cuban restaurant. Went home and crashed. Did a lot of walking.

Sugarloaf Key: Started out threatening this morning, but cleared off and turned into a beautiful morning. So, we went for a walk up to the Bow Channel bridge and back. Mike went over to the clubhouse later and played shoes and I stayed back and read. Went to Big Pine Key for dinner and actually saw a Key deer crossing the highway for the first time ever. A buck. Luckily he made it across ok. After dinner we drove down to the Blue Hole again—which is a small fresh water pond on Big Pine. Well, it used to be fresh water until the storm surge with the last hurricane. Now it’s brackish. There are a couple of gators in there. There was a woman there with her dog and her macaw, Goliath. He was beautiful and very tame. He let me hold him several times. Talked with her for an hour or so and then headed back. Ran into Debbie (motor home across from us) and Sally on her golf cart. They were both three sheets to the wind….on their way over to the laundry room. Debbie said they were going to light their outside gas fireplace and to come over. We’ll see.