I spent the first week of October in Key West with Jane. (I had my entire blog entry--minus a few pictures-written earlier this week and I accidently erased it. I'll try to recreate.)
It's always good to catch up with Jane in person; it's just never the same on the phone. I'll never forget the first time we spoke. We hit it off right away, talking a mile a minute on the phone without ever having met each other in person. I came out of my bedroom and my parents were trying not to laugh. I said, "what?" They said: "Gee, did you hit it off?" Yes, we did. She's the closest friend I've ever had, and I'm very thankful for our friendship. I wish she lived closer!
Anyway...
Brandon and I fell in love with Key West during a spring break trip in college. We made the 24-hour drive with two friends from the band. It was the first real beach vacation I'd ever had and I was hooked. We returned for a day during our honeymoon and again a year later with Ben and Carrie Feldmeyer.
This, however, was Jane's first trip. As far as I could tell, she loved it, too--except for the walk to Ft. Zachary Taylor beach. (I should have told her to bring a backpack vs. a beach bag.)
We did all the things you must do in Key West except eat at Blue Heaven, a well-known and wonderful restaurant. It was closed for the off season. We did try another historic place--Pepe's Cafe--and it was fabulous. It looked pretty dingy from the outside, but they had a great outdoor patio and wonderful, homemade food. Here's a picture:
THINGS YOU MUST DO IN KEY WEST:
1. Enjoy the local attractions, including the Custom House Museum, Key West Aquarium and the newly opened Butterfly Conservatory. The Custom House in particular is incredible--it is a beautiful historic, renovated building. It has a permenant exhibit of Cuban art my Mario Sanchez, which I always enjoy, and a rotating display. This time it was "Icons Revisited," an exhibit of American icons created in 3D. To promote the exhibit they had a massive statue of American Gothic outside. It was crazy! The first time we noticed it was at night when it was underlit...pretty creepy.
Here are a few pictures from the museum and the butterfly show:
2) Visit Mallory Square to see the street performers. This is also a great place to meet some of the local cat population. I told Jane I needed to move to Key West and start a trap-and-release program to slow the pet population. They all look so skinny! I fed a cats my leftover cuban food, including the cute guy below.
3) Walk all over Old Town enjoying the quaint houses, beautiful flowers and touristy things, like the Southernmost Point:
4)You must also watch the sunset from many places. That meant a sunset sail, the beach and the top of our hotel.
5) You must also spend lots of time at the beach, preferably in a noodle chair.
My laptop battery is about to die, so I'll have to post those photos later.
