Guest Arrive

My wife, Theresa and cousin, Stacy arrived in Key West Wednesday for a week of exploring the Keys (mostly Key West). The weather was not favorable on the day they arrived. The flight they were on was diverted to Miami because the wind gust speeds exceeded the limits of Key West airport. The airport only has one runway that runs east or west. The winds that day were out of the north. The flight finally took off from Miami about 5:25 and they arrived in Key West about 6:00. So much for having a half day on day one, I had a full evening planned for them. We just ordered pizza and ate on the boat.

I introduced them to the island in a grand fashion. We walked and walked. We have gone from one end of Duval to the other. Duval Street runs north and south from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean, just over 1.25 miles in length. It is named in honor of the first territorial governor of Florida, William Pope Duval.

We sat poolside at Dante's and ate lunch. It was so much fun that we went back the another day with our swim suits and stood in the pool while our favorite server, Nila, brought our food and beverages, and beverages, and beverages.

We experienced the Cabaret show at La-te-da. I heard that Randy Roberts had the best drag show in town, so of course that is the one we went to. His impersonation of Bette Midler and Cher were fantastic. He had the audience in stitches. After the show we have had a beverage at Sloppy Joe’s, just so we can say we did.

We spent some time at Irish Kevin’s, Rick's and Willie T's. After listening to the music at Irish Kevin's, Smokin' Tuna, and Rick's we all agreed that Jack Wolf was the best musician we had heard was Jack Wolf. He took requests and there were very few songs he didn't/couldn't play. I stumped him with a JJ Gray song, but he played Tupelo Honey that would have made Van Morrison proud. Stacy got a couple in a couple of requests. From classic county to classic rock to blues, his range was incredible.

We took Lesson Plan out for a cruise halfway around the island and back, it was a little bouncy but no one got sea sick. We circled what is known as Sunset Key, which we found out through Stacy's fountain of knowledge (Google) that it is a man-made island built by the Navy to house fuel storage tanks and it's official name is Tank Island (wow the Navy went all creative on that name).

We spent a day at the beach. Oh the sites you can see on a beach in Key West. That's all that needs to be said

The night before Theresa and Stacy's departure we headed downtown for one last night. We had a great dinner and were walking towards Rick's, we were hoping to see Jack Wolf again. Just after we discussed it, he walked by with his guitar on his back. I said to Theresa and Stacy, "Hey there's Jack" and then to him I said "Hey Jack where are you playing?". "Willie T's" he says, so we turn around and follow him to Willie T's. He put on a great show. He even played Tupelo Honey (I think Stacy requested it).

Lesson Learned: I was kind of so-so about Key West until I had someone to share the experience with. It turns out that Key West is a great vacation destination, as long as you are sharing the experience with someone.

Credit to Stacy for the pictures below. Thanks