June 2020 - Screw it....Let's go to Key West!!

June 2020 has started off warm and pleasant and we've spent a lot of time out on our patio and in the pool.  Our biggest achievement has been to seal off the fence between the patio and driveway so our young cats can't wander off.  Now they are free to roam the backyard, and we are free not to worry about them...much.  We still are spending a majority of time at home with the Covid-19 virus still lingering around and we haven't been out to eat yet.  

Tuesday, June 2 - We were proud to join in the Blackout Tuesday Movement today on social media in our support of Black Lives Matter.  How can racism still be so rampant in our world??

We are trying to shed some pounds for our upcoming planned trip to Key West, so the first three weeks of June have been devoted to all smoothies from our local Smoothie King nearby except one meal a day.  It's also a good cleanse from evils of fast food.  Let's hope it works.  At least it's a tasty endeavor! 

Saturday, June 6 - We headed into Nashville today and enjoyed our first official meal out in several months.  Sure, it was just tasty and healthy acai bowls from the Franklin Juice Company for lunch, but it still counts! We doubled-down after that and stopped at the brand new TennFold Brewing in Donelson for a beer there as well.  We sat outside on their patio and the place was busy!  Good to see the world slowly going back to normal hopefully.  We spent the rest of the day (and the weekend) in the pool as it was a couple days of very sunny, but hot weather.  

Monday, June 8 - Our friends, Toney and Lisa, invited us over to their house tonight to watch a movie on their projector screen in the backyard.  We chose Playing With Fire, a sweet and silly family film that was in theaters just before all this Covid-19 mess started.  We enjoyed snacks and some low humidity for an enjoyable evening.  And it was ALMOST like going to the movies again! 

Saturday, June 13 - What could be better than fresh grilled peaches??(our first time preparing them)

Well, grilled peaches and ice cream, of course!!!
A great meal during beautiful weather out on our patio after a day in the pool.
Kinda perfect.    

Sunday, June 14 - More peaches, less problems!!  Ashlee took a few more of our peaches from our recent order from The Peach Truck and made these tasty peach beer cocktails for us and couple of dinner guests we had tonight.  It's vodka, Jackalope Brewing's Lovebird fruit beer and fresh peaches.  

Monday, June 15 - We met up in Mt. Juliet after work today and had our first official dinner out at a restaurant since this whole Covid-19 mess started.  It was just Red Robin and it was just burgers and fries, but it at least felt fairly normal even though the place was half-empty and the staff had masks on....and yes, it was, yummmmm!! 

Thursday, June 18 - We "spotted" this little cutie last night in our backyard.  We've seen him a few times already, but this was our first chance at a good pic of "Edgar Alan Doe."  Yes, if it's a doe how can it be named Edgar, but just go with it!  He's growing like a weed and is very active; jumping and running about.  Finally, some positive news from 2020!! 
(Editior's note:  we now have TWO FAWNS in our backyard!  We saw another one when we got back from the trip detailed below along with Edgar.  No name for this one yet...Buck Naked, maybe?)

Sunday, June 21 - After some real soul-searching and serious consideration regarding Covid-19, we decided to mask-up, hand-santizer-up and  fly down  to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, today and then drive on to Key West and stay at our old, old friend, The Eden House, for a few days.  It certainly was great being in the air again.  This is our first flight since February.  And Southwest not selling the middle seat for now for social distancing is fine by us! The view in the picture above is some of the coastline around the Ft. Myers, Florida, area before turning east toward FLL.

After a long (and what should have been unnecessary) wait in line at the rental counter, and a first rental SUV that smelled like weed: we got a free upgrade to this sweet Mercedes GLS 450 for our drive down to Key West and back.  There was plenty of room for us, Ashlee's sister, Paige, and her husband, Andy, and their daughter and our niece, Ella.

We took an early detour off Hwy. 1 South in Key Largo and headed eastward to check out Alabama Jack's on the Card Sound for lunch.  We weren't overwhelmed with the food ("best conch fritters"...I think not).  But, it was a cool lively, little place with a lot of character sitting among the mangroves.

We had an easy drive thru The Keys (always a fun road trip) and got down to Key West and checked into Room 502 at The Eden House.  This was the first place we ever stayed in Key West way back in 1998, but we sure never had a king-size bed here!    We got some great rates (thanks to Covid-19 I'm sure) which was another incentive for the trip.  Paige, Andy and Ella had an apartment in Room 302 with a nice private patio to hang out on also.

Monday, June 22 - We took a short walk this morning over to Cole'z Peace Artisan Bakery (another long-time favorite like The Eden House) and got some killer breakfast sandwiches (and some sweets for later).  

Ah, The Eden House Pool.  Nothing much has changed here in the 20+ years since we first visited, but they have added a sweet tiki bar to the pool area from whence they still serve a complimentary happy hour.  We spent most of the day here today relaxing and imbibing.  Here's a shout out to our new friend, Chris, from Louisville who we met here today.  His wife was feeling under the weather, so he was kind of on his own, and we were happy to let him hang out with us and make his acquaintance.  

Dinner tonight was at Firefly Key West in the Bahamian Village.  Everyone's meals were stellar (best seafood gumbo I have ever had.  Sorry, NOLA).  We all shared in their unique key lime cake for dessert.  

Tuesday, June 23 - Did I mention that Key West breakfasts are important to us?  Because they are!  Some of the best breakfast choices on the island are served up every day since 1909 at Pepe's Cafe.  

Ella and our new friend, Chris, joined us today as we headed north to Marathon to take a snorkeling tour to Sombrero Key Lighthouse Reef.  The picture above has no filters and has not been altered.  The water was that blue!!  Man, what a beautiful place.  And the snorkeling was the best we've ever had in The Keys with clear water and tons of fish.  We were proud of Ella for going with us on her first snorkeling trip because this one wasn't an easy one for a beginner.  I chose this place because we've done most of the snorkeling tours out of Key West and I love old lighthouses (this one's for sale!).
When we got back, we all had a late dinner at The Dirty Pig, a rather new BBQ place within walking distance.  The experience was a little ho-hum, but we did arrive late and they were sold out of several things (including the smoked wings, damn!), so it's worth a mention here as a place we might want to try again sometime.  

Wednesday, June 24 - Guess what?  It's breakfast time in Key West again!  Thanks to our pal, Joe, for the suggestion of the amazing and popular (the line was out the door) Glazed Donuts.  The donuts were huge and fantastic.  

Man, it was hot today.  We did some touring around Old Town and one of our first stops was The Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory.  We have been before, but you forget what a magical place it is.  And we don't remember there being so many active butterflies on our last visit.  Plus several colorful birds including two large and beautiful flamingos. The easiest pictures to get were the sleeping nocturnal moths including this huge atlas moth.   Note how the wing tips look like snake heads...scary and effective camouflage!

Live webcam!  Enjoy the view:https://www.keywestbutterfly.com/live-webcam

We enjoyed seeing the brand new permanent rainbow crosswalks installed recently during Pride Month.  This pic is also a good example of just how uncrowded it was in Key West while we were there during the pandemic.  There were plenty of other visitors, but nothing like usual.  It was a little strange and a bit sad knowing a lot of livelihoods dependent on tourism are suffering here.  Most things were open but our favorite restaurant, Blue Heaven, was closed, as was Duval Street's granddaddy bar, Sloppy Joe's.

To escape the heat and grab some lunch (and a few craft beers for me) we checked out a new-to-us place called the Mellow Cafe and Gastropub up at the Garrison Bight harbor docks.  I had the amazing catch-of-the-day mahi mahi tacos and Ashlee had the light and refreshing avocado tomato bruschetta. We are definitely putting this place on the Visit Again List!!  

Did I mention it was hot?  Did I mention our passes to the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory were good all day?  So we went back for another enjoyable walk thru.  This screen grab from a video I took finally captured one of the fast moving butterflies at a very brief rest.  

We were extremely lucky to catch a very rare manatee sighting at the Key West docks late this afternoon.  Props to Paige for spotting it and a clap on my back for catching this quick shot as it swam quietly away.  I wonder if less boat traffic due to the pandemic has these gentle giants coming closer to usually very busy Key West Harbor?    

Here's the whole gang on a sunset cruise in Key West Harbor this evening.  Thanks to Fury Charters for the smooth ride, plentiful beverages and great service (as always).   

Another beautiful Key West sunset.  No two are ever exactly the same, but they are almost always a sight to behold.  We feel very thankful to have witnessed this one during these tough times.

Thursday, June 25 - We headed back north this morning, saying goodbye to Key West with a couple of nights in Ft. Lauderdale still to go.  We stopped in Islamorada for another snorkeling tour with a couple of stops at Cheeca Rocks and then (photo above) the Donut Hole (note the outer rings of the "donut" in front of the sailboat.  While not as clear as a couple days ago, both stops were pretty good.  Ashlee and I both saw a lot of fish including a few larger barracuda and Ashlee was fortunate enough to see a sea turtle as well.  I had hoped to snorkel around yet another lighthouse, Alligator Reef, but our guides chose these two place instead.  We will just have to come again and use Sundance Watersports who were top notch.

We stopped in Key Largo again for dinner.  This time the food was much better (even if the ambiance was not) at The Fish House.  This place has been a staple here since 1982 and it's got a great vibe inside and great service along with tons of seafood choices.

We all partook of the dessert dish of fresh coconut ice cream served up in a coconut shell.  

Friday, June 26 - We had a full day in Ft. Lauderdale today and decided to just hang around our nice hotel, The Double Tree at Bahia Mar, since Covid-19 cases were spiking again here in Florida.  We spent a few hours at the beach across the street and a couple more at the outdoor hotel pool enjoying some complimentary cocktails.  This fish-eye view out of our hotel room looking north shows the unique location of this hotel in terms of the beach to the east, marinas on both the north and south sides, and the New River Sound to the west.

We did venture out for dinner to the Benihana in nearby Lauderdale-by-the-Sea.  Yeah, it's a chain restaurant, but man it has a killer view with many of the tables overlooking the inter-coastal waterway and the Commercial Boulevard Drawbridge (far left in photo above).  We discovered this place a few years ago before a flight to Norway from FLL.  The food prep was great and the meals were fantastic! 

When we got back to the hotel, we had a nice after-dinner walk along the marinas and gaped at the amazing number of gigantic yachts docked here.  I chose this shot because I like the sunset-lit clouds in the distance, but these yachts pictured here were actually some of the SMALLER ones!  Wow, what a strange world we live in...this kind of wealth and yet homeless people everywhere.

Saturday, June 27 - We had a VERY early flight home this morning, but it was well worth it.  Southwest Airlines offered all five of us $500 each in flight vouchers to change our flight from the day before.  Heck, yeah, we will change!!  Now all we have to do is decide where we are going to go next!! 

Sunday, June 28 - I am still not sure how it happened, but today we welcomed our newest fur-ball, Dudley. into our lives.  Ashlee says he's technically a replacement for our dearly-departed, Ms. Bea, but somehow we keep adding the number of cats who live here!  But, good grief, isn't he cute!!