Key West!

Howdy! I'm pretty far behind, so allow me to update you.

It's Tuesday. We're in Key West. Friday afternoon, we went over to a place called Monty's for happy hour- great place, fun atmosphere. Here's Alice and me in front of a pretty cool pelican sculpture that you can't see very well:

Saturday mornin, we left Coconut Grove headed for Islamorada.
Check out the sunrise- That could possibly be the prettiest one I've ever seen.

Here's Cape Florida. (I think.)



Islamorada was an interesting place. We stayed at Holiday Isle Marina.
Positive things: The water was beautiful, the weather was perfect...







From there, we stopped at Marathon Key. Great marina, awesome people.
The hot tub: haha

Here's a picture of the sun setting over the marina. Why is it significant, you ask? Well, if you'll notice, there is no land over there. The sun is setting over the WATER!! we've finally run out of Florida!!! way cool.

On the way into Key West, we saw this lighthouse:

and this boat being towed...



It may or may not be a drug-smuggling boat. Barry's read about them. They load these low-profile things with TONS of drugs, then submerge them and they breathe through periscope-like pipes and can travel a couple hundred miles. Or it could just be a research-type vessel. At any rate, it's cool.

Key West is a pretty cool place. Lots of people to watch, lots of birds to avoid...
We had supper at a place called Two Friends last night- I had yummy fried shrimp, since you were wondering...
Today is definitely a picture-taking day. I'll update you tomorrow!
Hope you're all doing well! Hugs!

CocoGrove: Day 5

Good mornin! and Happy Birthday, Brandon!

I have pictures to show you. First of all, this is the little island that's just across the channel from us in the marina.


and I doubt very seriously that I have the ability, but this looks like SO much fun!


Yesterday afternoon, Barry took me for a ride in the dinghy all around the marina-






We got some pictures of some really great boat names:






LOVE this one:


for Momma:


for Dad:


in case you needed clarification:


we're pretty sure there was some substance-use involved when it came time to name this one:


and possibly this one... oh, and for the record, the tender was named "Babykitty"






not a happy guy:


GORGEOUS sunset over Dinner Key Marina:


Today, the mechanics are here fixing the lift (yay!) and we are headed for Islamorada tomorrow early...
thanks for readin!

Coconut Grove: Day 4

Good mornin!

We're still in Coconut Grove. Yes, we were supposed to be on our way to the Keys this mornin, but we've had a change of plans. I told you that we had to get some maintenance done on the dinghy while we were in Ft. Lauderdale... well, they delivered it to us here yesterday afternoon, and when we tried to lift it back up to the bridge, the lift freaked out (that's the technical term). Now the dinghy's tied off and a mechanic is on his way to look at it. We're here for an unspecified amount of time... but really, there are worse places to be stuck. Coconut Grove is a fun place to spend a few days. I'm back at the Bookstore in the Grove now, blogging and people-watching and drinkin a cup of coffee... will update you again soon! hugs all around!

Man With Purse Distracts Passersby

ok, so maybe that headline wouldn't go over all that well in an actual publication, but it's my blog, I can say what I want, and I saw a man with a Louis Vitton purse. To quote a b-loved meerkat, "and everyone's ok with this?"

In other news, day 3 in Coconut Grove is a bea-utiful one! windy, but beautiful.

Last night, the wind was CRAZY! 25-30 knots maybe? We had chili for dinner- way good.

Today, I'm at the Bookstore in the Grove again. Thought I'd show you some pictures I've been hoarding.

On our list of maintenance-ish things to get done in Lauderdale was the dinghy. One of the chambers wouldn't hold air... so Barry and I had to unload it, then he took it to a nearby ramp and I took the car to pick him up. Alice got these pictures of us.




Then, (and I seriously apologize for the randomness that is this post- this is what happens when I get behind) there was a restaurant called Coconuts at the entrance to the Hall of Fame Marina- that had VERY good food, bytheway, and when Barry and Alice ate there, they called me and I went out on the bow and got a cool picture of them eating outside!


ok, so storytime: when we were in Rhode Island last summer for the Outer Reef Rendezvous, everyone congregated for a cocktail type party on a very pretty boat named ShowTime. (you can go back to this post named "Rubix Cube" from August 13 of last year if you want to see the sunset picture I took from ShowTime.) Well, on Friday afternoon, a very pretty boat named ShowTime pulled into the slip beside us at the Hall of Fame Marina. How cool is that? it's the same boat! and I got a couple pictures to show you.



Here's a picture of the sun setting over the Hall of Fame marina-

...that's Christopher up there by the flag on m/y Muse. He's way cool.


I've begun to expect to find this cute little sentiment on certain leftover containers in the refrigerator. isn't Alice hysterical? :)


Here are 2 boat names here at Dinner Key Marina that I thought were too cool not to share:



Alright, I think that's all I have to show you for now.
I hope everyone's doing well. We're leaving for the Keys tomorrow early morning, will post when I can!

Playing Catch Up... Sorry, Readers!

Hello all! Happy belated birthday to Jenny Klemme!!!

We left Lauderdale yesterday mornin (Monday) and got into Coconut Grove about 11ish?
Some pictures we took on our way from Lauderdale this morning:




This nice naked man welcomed us into Miami! wasn't that sweet?


We're staying at a really great marina- TONS of boats, very few transients. I rinsed down the boat, got a few chores done, then a couple of my friends- Tony and his girlfriend Stephanie- came and picked me up and I got to hang out with them for a while! We went to the park, and played on the exercise equipment...
yeah, Miami's a weird place.
Here's a picture of Stephanie doing a very good job on an elliptical-type contraption:

From there, we walked a little, got a frozen lemonade, window-shopped, and somehow ended up at Hooters- to people watch and have a beer :) Life is good.

We're here in Coconut Grove til Thurs. Right now I'm in a bookstore called The Bookstore in the Grove. Cute, right? Free internet. Point for them.
I bought a book- you're shocked I know. "Up In The Air"- the movie that came out a while back- didn't know it was a book first, I'll let you know how it is.
I have more pictures to upload, and likely more stories to tell you, but the heavens are fixin to open up and dump buckets, so that's all for now. Hugs!