My Brother Whisks Away and the Ghosts Whisk In!
We woke up early. My brother went out to a local Cuban coffee shop and brought us cubanos and some Cuban pastries that were light and delicious. Once we were all ready to go out we walked downtown to find the shop where we had bought my daughters outfit from the night before. I had tried it on and liked the pants (but not the jacket and shirt that went with it). I decided to get some pants like hers. Once we found it, however, I decided they were just too long and opted not to buy them. From there we went to see about taking a trolley tour and also booking a Ghost Tour for my daughter and I for that evening. My brother had to fly back to DC later that afternoon.
The trolley tour turned out to be too crowded so we got our money back and decided to continue our on foot explorations. We briefly considered, again, renting an electric car or scooters, but it just didnt seem worth it.
Again, we walked up Duval Street. We explored the pier during daylight hours and the old town section of Key West. We ate lunch at an outdoor café splitting a dolphin sandwich no, NOT a dolphin like flipper this is a different kind of dolphin, just a regular fish!
After lunch we went back to the hotel and put on our bathing suits. Even though it was pretty cold in Key West, we went down to the outdoor pool and sat in the Jacuzzi. My daughter just put her feet in because she could be pregnant (we hope), but my brother and I relaxed in the warmth for about 20-30 minutes and luxuriated. The guy that gives out the towels chatted with us for awhile about the Keys and he told us that in a few days there will be 20 people in this Jacuzzi. I guess Key West is a popular Christmas vacation site. It was a nice Jacuzzi and actually quite large, but it would still be disgusting to be sitting there with 20 people.
There was a nice outdoor bar in the pool area because this was a resort, but I opted not to get a drink even though my brother offered. The sun beat down and we moved to the cushy chaise lounges to stretch out and enjoy a bit of the rays. It was warm enough to lie out in the direct sun. The chaises were cushioned with think blue spongy mattresses, even more comfortable than the beds upstairs. We lay there for about an hour just talking about how much fun we were having and how sorry we were that my brother had to leave. Looking up toward the sky, the blue was framed by palms and fluffy white clouds floated by occasionally. It was truly a tropical heaven moment very blissful.
After awhile my brother went up to the room to get ready to go. I told him to call my cell phone when it would be comfortable for us to come up and wish him goodbye. We lay there until he called then went up to hug him and kiss him. After he left we spent a moment in near tears but then I could almost hear him say, Im not paying all this money for you guys to sit around and mope! Youd better go have fun. So I told that to my daughter and we chuckled then changed our clothes to go back downtown. Before we left the resort grounds, however, we went to the beach and put our feet in the chilly Atlantic water. I took a picture of our feet in the ocean. We dried off, then put on our socks and shoes and headed back to Duval Street.
On our way, we stopped in a place we had noticed earlier called The Chicken House. I wasnt sure what it was going to be. With all those feral roosters out there and not so many wild chickens running free, I was afraid I might find frozen chicken for sale in here, but instead it turned out to be sort of a chicken/rooster rescue place. They had little pamphlets about how there came to be so many wild roosters and chickens on Key West. Early pioneers had brought them and they were great assets to the settlers because they stalked and ate bugs like roaches and tarantulas. They were also a great food source and bred well in the environment. Since that time, however, they had multiplied and run free. Life, however, is not always easy for these wild and free range animals. The hawks come and attack them and eat the babies. Locals sometimes are annoyed with them because they dig up yards and/or crow sometimes as early as 3am. They tangle with the cats and they also fight each other (not to mention the illegal cock fighting that still goes on sometimes). The Chicken House performs rescue and adoption as well as nurses the injured roosters and chickens back to health. They solicit donations and allow you to feed the chickens in their coops by buying feed for a quarter and dropping it in (which was really quite fun). We spent a lot of time in there and really enjoyed it.
By this time it was getting quite cold, at least for the Keys. After leaving The Chicken House, we stopped at a small coffee shop and bought a mocha to split. It was frothy and absolutely the most delicious mocha either of us had ever had in our lives. It was time to make our way back toward the pier so we could see the sunset for real (we hoped) this night. Our plan was to go see the sunset and watch the street performers, then to have some dinner, then to catch our Ghost Tour, then to head back to the hotel and catch a movie.
We made it to the pier in plenty of time for sunset (as we shivered in the Florida cold). There were clouds but they were just above the horizon so we saw a lot of sunset. It was not all that impressive so maybe its better when there are no clouds. I bought a hemp bracelet with a small blue dolphin charm woven into it as well as a hemp necklace with neutral beads woven into it. We watched a guy on a very very tall unicycle juggle flaming torches. But we froze while we watched. My daughter saw the dog walk the tightrope but I missed it.
Shivering, we made our way to the place we had eaten lunch the day before only this time we ate in their warm upstairs room. It was cozy and delightful almost like eating in colonial Williamsburg. We each had soup and I had a mango drink (alcoholic). The combination of the lobster bisque and the drink left me feeling nauseous later, but I got over it.
We spent a lot of time over dinner, just relaxing and toasting my brother and his generosity for treating us to this trip. After that we made our way over to the place where we were to pick up the Ghost Tour. We were early so we just sat on the couch in the hotel lobby while I tried to calm my rolling tummy. My brother called and told me his flight plans got all messed up and he was rerouted through Atlanta due to arrive back in DC well after midnight so would get very little sleep before his morning meetings. I felt bad for him but let him know that we were making good use of the time left in the Keys.
Finally it was time for our Ghost Tour. This had to be the highlight of our Key West visit. We had so much fun. Following our guide from place to place, we heard the most fascinating stories about Key West and saw the local haunts. The guide was wonderful and made everything interesting. A young couple from Louisiana was in our group and had some odd things go on with their digital camera. The pictures they took also showed orbs and other odd lights so that made it extra exciting. Im not sure I really believe in ghosts and all that stuff, but this was so much fun sort of like telling stories around the campfire and I think I enjoyed it almost as
much as anything else on the whole trip. The whole tour lasted a good hour and a half and was worth every penny paid and every minute spent (even though we were freezing the whole time).
After the Ghost Tour we made our way back to the hotel and being too tired once again to watch a movie, we went straight to sleep. Not so many dreams this night, but at least a few.