To continue the birthday fun...
Marianna and I headed in to downtown Key West and split an Italian Panini chosen in honor of St. Joseph's Feast Day. Good Italian food we could imagine a carpenter might eat at his workbench!
We explored lower Duval Street, finding an entire plaza area with cute little cafes in gardens with parrots, odd statues and
free parking for patrons! Two macaws were hanging out high above the sidewalk just chattering and screeching the day away outside of Hal's
favorite radio station, 107.1 - The Southernmost City's ONLY Independent Radio Station.
Beach exploration was up next. Marianna and I eagerly shed our sandals for a little sandy action. Well, I'm sorry but the beach we visited was awful! The wrack had not been cleaned off, the water was icky looking and broken glass was sprinkled throughout the sand. Maybe we are simply spoiled by our beautiful Boca Chica Beach but we didn't stay long at all. No fun dodging shattered bottles.
Instead we ran out to Fleming Key and climbed along the rocks on the shoreline. There were even waves! Check it out - doesn't Marianna look like she might be swept away by that monster wave? LOL! Key West has had elevated winds the past few days and that always kicks things up a bit.
While Marianna was clambering around on the rocks a super cool looking wasp landed on the car's roof. I decided to take it's photo and as soon as I pressed the button the darn wasp took off and blew into my skirt! Do you know how many layers of material he could have burrowed in to? Too many! No matter how I flipped him off the wind blew him right back, I finally let him stay on the skirt long enough to spin around and launch him far, far away. By this time Marianna was in tears from laughing at her mother doing the wasp dance, holding her sides, complaining of a belly ache. Hmmph.
It was time to meet up with Hal by this time so we headed out toward the bunker where he said he had to grab something from one of the buildings before we could head out for the evening.
Following him into the dark interior I was greeted by a Septet of S.F. Swells singing the birthday song while clustered about my birthday present.
A new pink cruiser! Isn't it incredible? It is so long and yet so light for the size. It only has three gears and foot brakes so less things to rust up in the sea air. The paint job is beautiful, both the pink and white are rather pearl toned. It is a very comfy ride, Hal explained it all to me. The relative distance between where one sits and where the pedals are is the key to comfort and they obviously got the equation right on this bike!
Marianna and I zoomed about base for awhile taking on an Ambulance that was ambling along back roads and went off-roading through grass and gravel in avoidance and I
even threw a bit of gravel taking off in a speedy manner.
Though I'm not yet as rapid as Marianna, our little speedy gonzalez girl!
All this excitement and riding about resulted in hunger for some and famishment for others. Knowing that it was
Drink Like A Pirate Day we adjourned to the
Rum Barrel, a fantastic choice as they had free
Caipirinhas, Brazilian dancers and platters of Caribbean finger foods!
Marianna didn't quite know what to think of the yuca (or cassava root). She decided it was rather like an overcooked tater tot with too much breading. Pretty good comparison as both are starchy root veggies!
Caipirinhas are made using Cachaca and fresh fruit, the later was set artistically out on the bar in direct line of sight of Marianna which equalled pure torture to this fruit loving girl. She finally went up and begged the lady for the fruit, offering one whole dollar for a cup. She got it too! Watermelon and raspberries, blackberries and strawberries - delicious!
Great music, (though played
much too loud in the traditional Latin manner), yummy drinks and eats, a beautiful present, and the
best company a girl could ask for, equals a terrific birthday!