Key West Day Two Part 1

It's a good thing I have my pictures to remind me of what we did because I have been terrible at posting. Day 2 was a busy one, we walked all over the place, so this post will be kind of long!! If anyone is thinking of traveling to KW or has any questions, please email me through this blog. I love KW and I love sharing it with people!!

On Day 2, we got up early at the Blue Parrot Inn, identified the "cougher" at breakfast and decided to head out and see if we could either check into our next Bed & Breakfast (Marreros Guest Mansion-www.marreros.com) or just drop our stuff off. I knew the location of the B & B was prime, but we could not have got any better. we were centrally located right off Duval in a quiet area...right at the end/beginning of US 1, so essentially the last Bed and Breakfast on US 1. Maybe some time Brad and I will make it to Maine and we can stay at the first!


Our room was ready and although it was pepto pink, it was huge! There was a great glass shower in the bathroom and we had a private enterance to the pool. And they have wireless!! You can see I really didn't take advantage of it, not to blog anyways :) The hotel is Victorian style and gorgeous. They offer continental breakfast each morning (great spread!) and happy hour every evening. We left the hotel and headed up to Duval Street.


This guy was right outside Fast Buck Freddie's Department Store. There used to be a lot more street entertainers and homeless people in KW but I guess the hurricanes must have driven some of them out. We continued on to Fat Tuesday's to have our first drink of the day-HEY! WE'RE ON VACATION!! Brad got a Rum Runner and when he was in the bathroom I ordered him the extra test tube shot of 151 and dumped it in there, I am such a great wife! I got a Bloody Mary and we were on our way to the Kino's Sandal Factory...


Kino's has been in KW for a really long time. They make these super comfortable leather sandals and they sell them for just 9 dollars a pair. I think it is the best deal you are going to get in KW!! I stocked up on a couple of pairs and we got some for Brad and his mom too. All in all we spent 99 dollars on sandals, but we got 10 pairs, unlike my Birks which cost that much for one pair.

Next we went over to the Wrecker's Museum where we learned about looting and rioting KW old school style.


KW used to be the richest city per capita and it was all because of Wrecking. Unlike Pirates (ARGH!), the Wreckers would just go out to salvage the goods on sinking boats and save the crew (yeah right). Pirates would post signs in the shallow waters around KW telling ships to go a certain direction where they would end up beaching themselves and then the pirates would loot and pillage. Can you see the difference between the two? We got to see lots of fun stuff they had pulled up from the boats and we climbed the tower and got a great aerial view of the island. I see Sloppy Joe's! Is it time for a drink yet??


And now it is only 2 o'clock! We walked up the Blond Giraffe and Brad had his first slice of Key Lime Pie in KW. They were rated the best a few years ago and did not dissapoint! Buttery crust as opposed to graham cracker and meringue to boot!


Here is The Story of Key Lime Pie from the travel channel website:
Back in the old days, there were no bridges or cars in the Florida Keys. In fact, there wasn't a whole lot of anything except chickens and lime trees. But you can't make pie with a chicken and a tree, so when Gail Borden invented condensed milk around 1858, locals took what they had and got busy.

Recipe:
The Original Key West Key Lime Pie
Ingredients
4 egg yolks
1 can condensed sweetened milk
1/2 cup fresh or bottled lime juice
9-inch-deep regular pie crust (not graham cracker)
For the meringue topping
4 egg whites
2-3 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Directions
Mix egg yolks, milk and lime juice in a bowl. Bake pie crust at 325 degrees until golden brown (10 to 12 minutes). Pour egg-yolk mixture into crust and return to oven. Bake at 325 for 10 to 15 minutes (depending on the oven).

To make the meringue topping, beat egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar until mixture peaks. Take pie out of oven and place meringue over egg-yolk mixture. Return pie to oven and back at 325 degrees until meringue is golden brown.

I'll have to try this one out!

On to the Marina and the Wyland Whaling wall at the Market.


I used to love to shop here and they have great fresh fish. We wandered around and looked at the boats and headed over for a late lunch/early dinner at Alonzo's Oyster Bar....a place that was on my list not to miss. They have the best Fried Oyster Po'Boy and that is exactly what I ordered. We also had the true KW Bloody Mary experience...A Shrimpwreck Mary: Old Bay rim, awesome Bloody mix, Grey Goose Vodka, topped with a peel and eat shrimp, celery, an olive and a pickle!


But we better hurry...we're going to be late for sunset :)
To be continued....

Key West Day One Part 2

When we got into town we took the scenic route...around by Smathers Beach past where house boat row USED to be (?), past the airport where the people that can afford 500 dollar tickets fly into. We went past my old house on Washington (off White) which my man said looked like a dump, but hey! that was a great house and at $1800 a month for rent or roughly $22,000 a year it was a bargain! We got to our first hotel, the Blue Parrot Inn, a bed and breakfast on Elizabeth Street.



The room was small. REALLY SMALL. Double bed at the top of the stairs with a teeny tiny bathroom. And thin walls, but we wouldn't find that out til later...
So we took a nap, got gussied up and headed out to the southernmost side. We walked up to my old apartment on Duval, located above the Alan Maltz gallery. Brad approved of this one much more and after looking in the windows I could see that it was no longer used as an apartment but part of the gallery. There was a wine bar (Grand Vin) catty corner that I always liked so I headed over there. The people were great, lots of locals and wine talk. We sat on the porch and drank and bullshitted for an hour and then headed on over to the greatest restaurant on earth, Alice's. We had:
E:
Dirty Martini w/ Bleu cheese olives of course!

Pure Passion Salad
Wild Baby Greens with Goat Cheese, Mango, Toasted Almonds, and Berries
Alice’s own Passion Fruit Vinaigrette
(Prepared at the James Beard House in New York City by Chef Alice)

Tuna Tempura Roll-actually a special appetizer but my FAVORITE!!



B:
7 & 7

Cajun Spring Rolls, Hot & Sour Passion Sauce
Filled with Blackened Shrimp, Fire Roasted Corn and Goat Cheese



Tuna Steak special

I had hoped to go over to Flamingo Crossing for some homemade coconut ice cream but we were so full we were going to burst so we headed up duval for a short walk and then back to the room to crash. At about 5:20 in the morning some body decided they were going to cough up a lung and hacked outside of our room for an hour. I was going to kill someone!! I pulled out the ipod and struggled through the rest of the night (morning).

Key West

So, we're back. I've actually been back for a week, but work has been so crazy there has been little time for nothing else. I really meant to recap while I was there, I swear. Yes, it was all it was cracked up to be and more. I loved every minute. I wish I could move back but that is a different time. I'll try to recap as best as possible...

Day One, Part One

We had to get up at 5:30 (after Brad spent the evening telling me I packed too much...who do you think was wearing my extra t-shirts I packed and running out of underwear?? Not me.) to get the plane, the cab was here in plenty o' time and we were off. When we landed in Miami, the weather was a chilly 65 degrees which was like bathwater to us 22 degree Ohioans. My dude called for the shuttle to the car rental place I had found on line that had "too good to be true" rates. The non-english speaking at all driver picked us up and I worked my spanglish magic on him to the point where he continued to talk to me in spanish for the entire ride even though I had no idea what he was talking about. We drove down into the ghetto-chickens, pitbulls, homemade empanadas....and there was the car rental. The man at the counter told my man that the price we had reserved on the internet was an "estimate" and quoted us another price, which was $100+ of the "estimate". My dude of course freaked and worked it down to only 30 dollars more then the price and we were off before gunfire could break out. We hoped in that Ford Focus (midsize car, my ass!!) and headed down the keys...

At about mile marker 70, we stopped to get gas and change into shorts and flip flops. We were on island time!! We got a big gatorade and a water (hydration prepping for mass alcohol drinking) and a bag of plaintain chips and took off at a brisk 45 sometimes 25 miles per hour which meant we were really making good time. The next thing I knew we were at MM 20, and that my friends, is the home of Mangrove Mama's. This was a favorite of mine when I lived down there. Distinct keys style-mismatched chairs, pink, purple, and teal paint, cutesy signs all over the walls. We stopped, I had a margarita and some stone crab claws...YUM.



We also had some smoked fish dip which is a real treat as we don't have that any where around here. My dude had a jerk shrimp ceaser salad. The tequila gave me a good buzz and my excitement of driving into Key West itself overwhelmed me...We're at Stock Island! We passed the tattoo parlor where I got my tat, the golf course and we were there...the last 3 miles of US 1.

To be continued!!