Friends Come To Visit

This morning the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines ship “Enchantment of the Sea” docked in Key West at Mallory Square (see photos) and soon thereafter two of the passengers, my Washington D.C. area friends Carol Klein and David Peridia, disembarked and met me. This was all part of my grand trip plan and it was great to see them. We hopped on the Conch Tour Train and enjoyed a fine guided tour around Key West during the cool morning hours, learning quite a bit about the island’s history. 

Then we strolled Duval Street and turned into the famous Hogs Breath Saloon, positioning ourselves near one of their real-time web cams. Carol called her son David, as promised, so that he could get on the Internet and see us, which he did. Mission accomplished, we then did some more shopping on Duval and wound up at the Grand Café for a great lunch, featuring conch fritters, shrimp, panini, Mojitos, Pain-in-the-Asses, and conichons (a type of pickle). The food was fine and the setting, in an old restored house, was great.  

We chatted for quite a while, leisurely finishing our excellent lunch, and then we moseyed back to Mallory Square so Carol and David could do some last minute souvenir shopping before they had to get back on board their ship. We said goodbye and off they went and I parked myself at the Hilton’s outside bar so that I could see the big ship depart. It was an interesting ballet of dock workers, pilot boat, and cruise ship.  

I spent the afternoon doing a little shopping of my own and visited a few other places and then wound up back at my hotel for a little siesta.  

Tomorrow I’ll depart Key West and head back up the keys to Ft. Lauderdale. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Key West and getting here was a great ride. Next, I’ll be heading north up the East Coast to visit other friends and join other riders and I hope you’ll continue to join me here. I’m keeping an eye on a line of severe thunderstorms that could be in my path over the next few days and the brush fires that are closing highways in eastern central Florida.

Things could get more exciting on the highways, so stay tuned.