Key West

Key West was super awesome.  Its a very colourful place with lots of artists and people on cool bikes.  It also has an awesome story about seceeding from the US. 

As I noted, the sunrise was really spectacular.  It cleared off, then clouded over around lunchtime, just when Ron and I were getting over warm.

After breakfast on the deck, Ron and I headed into town.  The first thing I found was a yarn store!  I knew this was going to be a good town.

We wandered down the street toward the lighthouse, and saw some cool stuff like this amazing theater. 

While I mailed postcards, Ron took pictures of the chickens at the Post Office.  There were roosters all over the place here, just hanging out. 

 
Eventually we made it to the lighthouse and it was worth the $10 dollar fee for the climb for these views.  The top one is of the Hemingway house, and of course a beauty shot back to the ship.

I didn't like the staircase down from the lighthouse very much - so I was pretty happy when I made it back to solid ground. 

We stopped at the Blonde Giraffe for our mandatory Key Lime Pie fix.  Eaten on a Key Lime Bench.

 

 After more shopping around we also had some conch fritters, as it seemed like the right thing to do.  And, of course those came with a Key Lime Aioli.

And our last stop was at Peppers of Key West, which is a hot sauce tasting bar.  They bring you a bowl of tostitos, and then start dosing out little cups of the many many hot sauces.  We tried maybe 15 or 20 of them including one that was 30% banana (amazing!), one with avocado, several chipotle ones and of course one that had key lime.  We bought a case of sauces for home use.

We got back to the ship and our butler Effren had helpfully left us some tea time treats.  We learned the next day that he would stop by every afternoon with a cart of crustless sandwiches, treats and tea.  We stopped eating lunch so we could enjoy it more thoroughly.  (Sandwich highlights included: veal and melon, strawberry and cheese, brie and grape).  

Then we waved good bye to Key West and set off for a day at sea.