Key West: March 26, 2022

Today we rented a golf cart.  We drove first to the Hemingway house and then just cruised around the island.  I have been waiting to have some stone crab ever since we got here.  We drove to the Eaton Street Seafood Company.  Stone crab cracked for us, served in a plastic basket, seated at a picnic table.  Perfect!  There just is nothing else like stone crab and it would not have been right to leave Florida without enjoying some.

 

Saturday, March 26, 2022

 Another fun day in Key West…a beautiful, sunny, cool day in the mid 70s.  We rented a golf cart today to allow a little further exploration of the island, including finding a remarkable place for Carl’s stone crab fix and my Must-see Hemingway House and Museum.  

The Hemingway House was well worth it!  There is an abundance of the famous six toed cats that started with a gifted polydactyl cat, Snowball, who gave birth to Hemingway’s two sons’ kitten, Snow White, who is the beginning of the polydactyls residing at the Hemingway House.  Here are some photos of our tour, with an excellent tour guide…

Very pampered cats, starting at the ticket booth 

Food and water everywhere for the 58 cats

Friendly, but not overwhelming 

Master bedroom cats who won’t allow any others to share the bed

Hemingway’s writing loft behind the house where many of his books were written 

We ended up our day at Mallory Park on the north side of the island where everyone goes to watch the sunset.  

Street performers

Lots of sunset boats with celebrating enthusiasts 

Crowd behind us, sheesh!

March 25, 2022. Key West

 Still liking Key West!  

I finally dragged Carl to the Butterfly Conservatory after we feasted on seafood.  Not only several thousands of butterflies, but several hundreds of species and some interesting birds entertained us.  I showed an inordinate amount of discipline by not taking twice as many pictures, especially trying to get that “perfect” photo.  The birds and butterflies were fairly unafraid of all the people walking through so it made it easy to get up close and personal.

My favorite Blue Morpheus 

Rhett and Scarlet, 10 year old flamingos 

Key West: March 25, 2022

 This morning the first thing that we did was head to a French bakery that we discovered yesterday.  I had the French version  of the Portuguese “Pastel de Nata”.  Sandy had a Belgian Waffle.  Once again, we gobbled down our food without photographing. In my own defense, I’m not very reliable.  Even better, we sat at a table that was separated from the neighboring table by about one inch of unclaimed airspace.  For all reasonable function we were seated together with that table.  They were an interesting couple, both of whom professed at the College of New Jersey at Belmar, who were traveling with a friend of thirty years from Germany.  We enjoyed conversation and laughter with these fellow travelers.  After breakfast we walked back to our hotel where we had reserved a couple of chairs and umbrella for a day of reading, relaxation and a beach libation.

The resort has a nice clay Bocce Ball court.  I challenged Sandy to a game.  Of course I challenged her to this game because I thought that I would beat her.  Well, that didn't work out.  We're not playing again and we're not installing a bocce ball court in our back yard!

We did take a break from our exhausting day on the beach to find some sustenance at a local diner "The Lobster Shack".  They advertise as the best Lobster Roll on the key.  For my money they are.  Once again we started eating before taking a picture of these outstanding sandwiches.  At least I did get a picture of half of two sandwiches.  We want to remember this place for the next time we come down here.  

March 24, 2022…Key West…A Pleasant Surprise

 Maybe I had low expectations…or maybe I had it all wrong from what made the news and the stories I had heard from people who had been to Key West.  Anyway, my opinion of Key West has done a 180 and both of us could actually see making a return trip someday. 

Despite seeing the bicycling dude with pink fairy wings the first hour on the island on the first day, we have seen no aberrant spectacles (“and there is nothing wrong with that” - Seinfeld) since then.  Duval Street is THE street for the bar crowd but only after 10:00pm, apparently.  It was quite pleasant when we were having ice cream at 8:30 last night.  We’ve retired to our resort by 9:00 and it allows us to enjoy the mornings while the rowdies from the night before sleep in.

Today we spent the day hopping on and. hopping off the Old Towne Trolley.  This took us all over the island and now we know what we want to seek out on our own when we rent a golf cart on Saturday.  Here is what we saw today…

Hemingway House (outside fence)

Pelicans waiting for tidbits from the fish cleaning guys at the marina

Beautiful orchids growing in yards

Key West: March 23, 2022

 After checking into our room we took a walk along South St., which parallels the shore and ends at the southernmost point of the Continental` United States.  The first thing we saw was a man on a bicycle wearing  pink tights and fairy wings.  Only in Key West!

We checked out the two sister resorts at which we are staying.  Both are lovely old beach hotels that seem to be coming straight out of another time.  

This guy had made a home on the back of a chair on the hotel porch.

After a "Rum Runner" and lobster roll at the Four Marlins Restaurant, Sandy and I walked around a little bit of Key West.

Big Island (Waikoloa Coast), March 2, 2022

 I have had some great cups of coffee in my life, and I have always found that much of the greatness is situational.  I don’t think that you can have a better coffee situation than a cup of 100% Kona coffee on the Kona Coast.  By this standard this morning I had a great cup of coffee.

Kealakekua Bay is where Captain Cook first set foot on the Big Island.  It is also, where on a return visit, he was killed by the Hawai’ians. Sandy and I visited the shores of that bay.  At the same location stands an ancient Hawi’ian temple, Hikiau Heiau.

A little further down the road is the largest and best preserved ancient Hawai’ian site.  Pu’uhonua O Hōnaunau is a remarkable site.  Unlike other sites this one has some recreations of the wooden structures that were a part of these temples.