Key West Recap

The bags are unpacked, the grocery shopping has been done and the receipts are competing with the laundry to see who has the bigger pile. We are officially done with our vacation. BOO!

What a whirlwind 10 days it was. Here we go.....

Flying out of Abilene airport at 6:40am may seem crazy, but with Tristan I have found the earlier the better. That 6:40 flight got us to St Louis at 10:30... which was perfect... snack and then nap at Grandma & Grampas. He did very well on both flights. I had the earplugs at the ready, but it never came to that. He sat with me for a bit, crawled around for a bit, played peek-a-boo with some guy next to us and then took a nap.

The Slingling worked perfectly too! I was finally the Earth momma that I had hoped I would be and we got the cute looks up and down the concourse. Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of us :-(

My favorite moment is when we got on the plane: it was quite empty so we really had our choice of seats. As we started to get settled in our row I noticed a pilot (I guess he was deadheading) a few rows back. He took one look at me and then T and promptly changed rows. He got up and move about 4 rows back.

But like I said, everything went great. I got all upset about nothing...

After dropping T off with my parents in St Louis I hopped the next leg of my trip to Chicago. It was quite odd to just "sit" without a baby on my lap or chest. It took me almost the whole flight to get use to it.

Okay - now to Key West. Where do I start? hmmmmmmm.....

1. the whole notion of not wearing a watch in Key West wasn't very practical. I am not sure how you are supposed to get to your reservations for dinner, reservations for snorkeling, reservations for movies or shows without one. After a few days of all that... the watch went right back on.

2. Key West wasn't as funky as I thought it would be. I was totally prepared for any and all crazy stuff to be happening all around me. A few chickens and some loud street performers were about it.

3. No one applauded the sunset. It took us 4 days to get our butts down to Mallory Square to see the sunset. The sunset was nice... but that is about it. I kept waiting for people to applaud, but no one did...

4. The street performers were pretty cool, but I didn't really need a lecture about tipping them each time they finished the act.

5. Tipping seems to be really big in Key West. People I would have never thought to tip, I was told to tip, and told and told and told.

6. Apparently the anti-smoking bandwagon has not reached to the Southernmost point. You could smoke ANY and EVERY where! and people did. On the street, at the show, in the cabs, in the restaurants, in the potty at the restaurant.... and it wasn't just cigarettes. There are cigar shops every two feet down there.... the cigar smoke got to me the most.

7. For all the hubbub about it being a gay town, it seemed quite normal to me. I thought there would be people holding hands, and making out all over the place. Not so, the whole time I counted 5 same sex couples holding hands.

8. If you like really loud live music sung by mediocre singers then Key West is your town. Each restaurant and bar and beach had a guy/girl in front of a mike with a guitar singing other peoples music badly. And don't forget... they work for tips... (really? no sh!%)


Now, don't get me wrong. I am not really complaining. I guess I just read so much about the place, and got myself all hyped up about it that in the end I was kinda let down by some stuff.....

BUT - nevertheless we had A GREAT TIME!

• A dozen roses with champagne awaited me in our room (a surprise from Mason).
• We had some AMAZING meals: A&B Lobster, Rooftop Cafe, Sunny's Deli, Old Town Mexican Cafe, and GRAND.
• The cabaret style drag show at La Te Da had me falling out of my chair
• We spent a whole day at the beach sitting in chairs ... absolute perfection
• Being out in the ocean snorkeling and kayaking with Mason made us feel like we dating again
• Riding around town with my Auntie and Uncle Phil and getting to hear (straight from the source) the history and THEIR history of the island was way better than any train tour.
• Drinking at Casa Marina watching the sunset with said Aunt and Uncle was fun too.
• The cats were worth the price of admission to the Hemingway house!
• Any dog doing any trick will always get me to put a dollar in a hat especially signing dogs accompanied by a flute
• I learned that I totally suck at fooz ball! But I kept playing... it was too fun!
• Mason and I learned that we both suck at billards (me more than him)
• Sleeping in Sleeping in Sleeping in Sleeping in ( what more can I say)

I have a few more stories, that I feel deserve their own post... but for now I must bid you adieu!