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Published: February 11th 2019
Time to debark and add this marvelous cruise to our memory book. As in the song by Louis Armstrong “What A Wonderful World.” Everyone needs to gather in the Schooners Bar while we wait for our group to be called. Plan to get up early cause we are debarking at 7:50 AM. Yawn! And Yawn again! Whaaaaaat? Some delay caused us to linger in this bar (no drinking folks) until after 9:00AM. Yawn! More time to visit with fellow cruisers as we squirm and jiggle around. Found a fellow who looked just like my dentist, Dr.Simons. I approached him and said I knew his lost relative. He laughed but no relation. Sorry, Doc. Thought I found someone who would give you another Christmas present when that Holiday rolls around.
Once the crowd got moving, it was Easy Peasy getting off the ship and putting our feet back in the good, ol’ USA. Honest as we are, we declared our T-shirts at security. They weren’t interested. LOL! It was kind of taxing getting out of Miami....even with our GPS and all the help the three of us provided Cory. Even Lulu suggested a few ways to go. But eventually, Navigator Cory
found the route to take us all to Key West. Yes, blog followers, we are going to Key West, Florida. Located 90 miles from Cuba (FYI). I told you the party wasn’t over yet. More excitement is on our horizon. Lulu is jumping with joy. This Little Lulu can do that: she has legs...little ones but they are legs. We decided that because we were in this area, we would take advantage of the proximity and stay a couple days in Key West. We had never been there but Sam & Sandy have (a long time ago). One year, Cory and I (and dear Chip) drove our car and went onto the Keys but only as far as the Marathon area. It’s a long haul out to Key West!
On our way, Sandy spied a sign for The African Queen. It is the old, original boat used in the movie of the same name starring Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. We stopped to snap pictures of it. Amazing!
Onward our buggy carried us to our destination. We had reservations at the Sunrise Suites Resort. It was located very close to the airport. Zooooom. It was very nice and
perfect for all of us. Two large bedrooms, each with a bath, full kitchen, living room and balcony plus covered parking spot. Even a washer & dryer but they didn’t get used...too many fun things to do rather than housekeeping chores. We were on the outskirts of Duval St., Mallory Square, etc. so we drove our car to get to the main points of Key West. Gave us a nice tour of the area.
Once we were settled in, we headed out for supplies (snacks & drinks) at Publix and Kmart (t-shirt). First clue we weren’t back in New York: there was a chicken running around in the parking lot! Whooosh! Splaaaaat! And the rains came down on us in torrents....noooooo!! Tired from our travels, we decided to head back to the condo but needed food first (so what’s new?). Only fast food places around us so we bought subs at Subway and took them back with us. What a switch from our monster smorgasbord we were accustomed to. We may have to suffer the symptoms of withdrawal because of this. Nooooo! Our submarine supper was tasty and hit the spot. Our bed was a beauty. Almost like our
Luxury Princess bed.....almost. I felt all cozy and comfy swaddled in the enveloping linens that sucked me down into the peaceful, doughy mattress. Zonk! Out like a light!
Wake up! Wake up! Time to explore Key West. Put your hiking boots on. Actually, put every bit of clothing that you have on! It’s cold and windy in this place that claims the most southern spot in the continental USA. We thought we would be coping with blistering heat. Bikini and Speedo garb (seeing myself like this: gag & hurl). WRONG! Where did all the sweltering heat and sun go? Where? I followed Sam’s tradition.....layer, layer, layer. Had to dig in our big suitcase to get enough clothing to wear. And....it ready wasn’t enough. Are you kidding me? Our group must move on....no matter the climate. We were in luck and found a parking space right behind The Hog’s Breath Saloon....in the middle of all the action. Yippee. It was pricey for all day parking but what can you do? We were here to take it all in and have a great time. We checked out the Hog’s Breath Saloon.....it was quite the place and lived up to its name....
it smelled bad. Even Lulu was gagging a little. Cory bought a long sleeve T-Shirt and put it on immediately. Remember the weather was nippy. The famous Conch Train was just around the corner so we jumped onboard. It was a great, long tour around all the fascinating sites of this extraordinary place. Our guide was excellent and most informative. The ride was bumpy at times....that added to the thrill of it all. I’ll let my many photos show you some of the sites we saw. Too many to mention. What a wonderful and unique area.
Back to our drop off spot, we headed down Duval Street. Fortunately, one of the first stores we were encouraged to enter by the owner was a $5.00 Store. Everything was five bucks! We all bought sweatshirts and I also bought a hat! Whew! Now our roaming was much more comfortable even though we look like four linebackers marching down the field. Who cares? No one knows us here. Feeling toasty is better than looking fashionable. Stopped at Sloppy Joe’s so Cory could get a t-shirt. What a busy place! The sidewalks are packed with people. AND chickens! Chickens wandering loose all over
the place. Here a chick, there a chick, everywhere a chick-chick. Lots to see and buy if that’s your choice. Hunger consumed us (of course) so we sought out a nice restaurant. Came across LUCY’s that could accommodate Sam’s scooter. They took us in through their alley and back door entrance. Perfect! Good table, good service and good food. We were happy. Sandy took a little rest on their lounging couch. The weather had warmed and we were busy peeling off some of our many layers of clothing. Lulu was lucky. She had continued to dress skimpily to show off her figure. After shivering for the whole morning, she now looked appropriately dressed in her little red & white attire. We continued our trek around the area. I wanted to see the Bourbon St.Pub that is shown on TV on New Year’s Eve. Here a big, red, high heel shoe is lowered with a drag queen in it. Never did find this bar but our eyes were exhausted by seeing all that we did. As the day was coming to an end, we hoofed it over to Sunset Pier to watch the awesome sunset. We watched a Street entertainer while
we sat amongst the crowd in anticipation of the glowing sun sinking into the water. Sure enough, that big ball of fire lowered itself below the water leaving everyone oooooing and awwwing. Time to head back to our car. I think my legs will carry me but I may need a piggyback ride by Cory or sit on Sam’s lap for a scooter ride. Joy....we eventually made it to the car and my legs had carried me weakly there. We were happy for the relaxing rest in the car and drove out of this fun city. What were thinking? We weren’t. We should have eaten supper at one of their quaint restaurants but parking around them was impossible and we had left our paid spot. Oh, well. We had a great time. Food was not the highlight of this day ( well, not too much). We passed a Denny’s as we came close to our condo. Consensus was “let’s do it” and we did! This is the first Denny’s we have ever seen with a bar inside of it.
Our final suitcase packing work out. Yeah! Didn’t take long to jump in that enticing bed. ZZzzzzzz!
Morning came
so early. We need to hit the road. We have a long drive back to Kissimmee. Cory took the turnpike so it was a straight shot. We stopped at one of their rest-stops for lunch. OMG. A dream come true! A huge selection of various eateries but the one that brought me to my knees was The Earl of Sandwich. Hallelujah! Do you know what I ordered? Guess! You’re right! Their tuna melt....to die for. Lulu insisted on joining me. Hungry little devil, she is. The State Police had a big display and demonstration going on inside and outside this building. It was highlighting the “Move-Over” law because in the last 2 weeks, 2 workers had been killed as they responded to an accident on the highway in the area. They gave away piles of freebies. Thank you.
I think we arrived here at Tropical Palms around 4:30 PM. Whew! I vaguely recall Cory dragging all our stuff into the RV. We said our “See You Soon” to Sam & Sandy. We immediately collapsed on our Princess & The Pea bed and drifted away into Dreamland. Good night, one and all. See You Soon!
I know this blog
is a Biggie. Just so much for “Show and Tell”. Hope you took little rests in between paragraphs and photos. There are 51, yes, 51 photos to see. So keep continuous scrolling going on and change pages (3) until you reach the end. YES! There is an end!!! NaNaNa Na Na.
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John Perry Peterson
non-member comment
Trips of land sea and fun.
This was fantastic Sandy. Thank you. We have never been down to the keys. Very interesting. What a wonderful trip and all the memories made!