This Week on the Island 10/02/2011

'This week on the Island' is written by Doug Bennett and is an update to friends about happenings in Key West last week. Everything is true except for those parts that are lies.
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The first picture this week (click to enlarge) is ‘Swimming at the intersection of Duval and Front’ (Picture from the Key West Citizen Tuesday morning after all the rain on Monday.)

Weather: Monday it rained all day. About 3.25 inches and broke a record set in 1920 (that is almost 100 years ago). The temperature dropped to 75 degrees. The rest of the week the temperature at night was in the high 70’s instead of the low 80’s. I guess winter is on the way. It is still in the high 80’s in the day. Saturday a cold front came thru and blew away the humidity.

The book this week was ‘Thirst’ by Dania Deschamps.

It is the end of September and not a lot happening on the island. It will be quiet like this until Goombay and Fantasy Fest at Halloween. I love this time of the year when we locals have the island to ourselves.

Nothing happening so go with me on a bike ride. We leave the house on Caroline headed toward Duval and take a right on Elizabeth. We pass Lazy Way Lane, Jimmy Buffett’s recording studio, Conch Republic Seafood and Kermit’s Key Lime Pie Shop. We take a left on Green and cross over Simonton and past the new Scars and Tattoos, the old City Hall and Sloppy Joes. We cross Duval and go by Captain Tony’s and the entrance to Kinko’s Sandal shop and on to Mel Fishers Museum. We take a left on Front Street and go in to the Truman Annex where we pass the Truman Little White house and the old Navel Hospital. We continue on to Southard Street and take a right.

Now we are at the Truman Waterfront where The USS Spruance is docked for its commissioning. We leave there and head down to Fort Zack State Park. Here we check out the beach and the old fort. We leave this area and go back out to Bahama Village where we take a right on Fort Street and ride by the WWII ‘munitions’ dumps. We take a left on Olivia and ride to Whitehead where we see the tourist in line to visit Hemingway’s House. We take a right on Whitehead and ride to the Southernmost Point in the continental US. (Hawaii is further south). The tourists are in line here also.

From the Southernmost Point we take a left on South Street and ride to Vernon where we take another right and go to Dog Beach and Louie's Back Yard. This is a great place to take a stop for an adult beverage and a calm relaxing look at the Atlantic Ocean.

We leave Louie's and head to the Casa Marina and on to Higgs Beach and the White Street Pier. Leaving here we stay on White Street all the way back across the island. When we get to Eaton Street we take a left and then a right on Grinnell. We pass Finnegan’s Wake and take a left on Caroline and then a right on Margaret and out to Lands End and Half Shell Raw Bar and Turtle Krawls. We take a left on Lazy Way Lane and go past Cuban Coffee Queen and on to Williams Street. We take a right on Williams and another left back to Lazy Way Lane and Schooner Wharf. It must be time for another adult beverage and a little Michael McCloud music.

Thanks for taking a ride with me. We only circled the Old Town section of Key West which is about 1/3 of the island.

Key West, You have got to love it
'Living the life that others dream'
Doug Bennett
Lat 24.5591N, Long 81.8016W

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Sassi dancing to Schooner Wharf Bar Dog.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbxD3D-rPqo