I had written in a previous essay, last April 17, about that part of the Bight that the city leases to businesses and I had thought it time, now the weather is cooler to take a look at the other half of the waterfront. It was a pleasant walk on a sunny afternoon to mingle with all the foreign tourists ambling along the boardwalk:
It was cold by local standards with a fresh north wind bringing the temperature well below 70 degrees (21C), as part of the week long series of cold fronts sweeping across Florida. Yet there seemed to be at least some visitors that were keen to take trips out on the water:
It was still cool and crisp enough for people to forgo what I call the Key West uniform of t-shirt and tan cargo shorts in favor of Arctic wear. I wonder where he found this bulky coat?
Schooner Wharf had wind protection up on the side of the bar facing the water and the north wind:
Conch Republic seafood did the same thing, with solid window panes.The last time my wife and I ate here it was raining cats and dogs before Hurricane Ike passed by and they half closed the windows then:
It was an absolutely glorious day to be out and about and near the water. I'm not that keen on eating cold winds actually non the water these days, I did too much of that in my past life. But this sort of view does me no harm at all:
The Key West Citizen ran a story a couple of Sundays ago about the lack of boats in berths up and down the Keys. Apparently the changing fortunes of our economy have reversed a trend that looked to be making a rich man's bauble out of boat slips in the islands. Nowadays it seems marina managers are worrying about how to fill the space available. Slips were available, the newspaper reported, even during Fantasy Fest, traditionally the week of no availability nowhere on the waterfront. I noticed a few empty spaces at the Galleon Resort docks:
The Galleon itself was looking splendid in the sunlight, towering over the harbor as a living reminder of why finally the city enacted a height ordinance:
And across the harbor one could see on the horizon the bulk of the Steam Plant condos, the former electrical generating plant now developed into three million dollar condos.
And even though it was cold, life has to go on for those that work on the water. I have many more unhappy memories of freezing in winter (so to speak) than boiling in summer when I used to work as a boat captain. Fiber glassing is probably as good a job as any in the cool of winter:
The city of Key West has decided, according to the Citizen newspaper, to promote the waterfront around Key West Bight as a tourist destination. The paper says the current hodge podge of signage is to be smartened up and unified into one theme:
One has to expect that Lazy Way Lane, a one way street to the surprise of tourist pedestrians not expecting to meet a Triumph Bonneville along it's length, is worth preserving and promoting:
I was surprised to see the monument free of bums, though perhaps its early in the winter season for the onslaught of professional outdoor residents:
I never really thought of this area as the ideal place to walk dogs but I am not one to argue:
Conch Republic seafood, which I know a bit and like a bit:
And The Commodore which I have never been to though I have a hankering to check it out. It's a place with some history though my interest is much more geographic; I'd like to check out the views:
I miss Martha's, an old fashioned steak house on South Roosevelt, and The Commodore reminds me of that sort of place, a grown up restaurant where our parents might have gone for a night out. I'm afraid if I do go to check it, with all its wooden facade and waterfront windows, I shall be disappointed, so I walk by and fantasize. Or I could check out Alonzo and Berlin's Marina and restaurants: 
My wife loves to eat at Alonzo's where there are excellent deals on seafood appetizers for happy hour and when I'm not driving I like their Mojitos (rum, soda water, sugar and mint leaves), and as we are becoming creatures of habit this is where we go when we are at the Bight... Alonzo's and Berlin's are two restaurants and they sorted out the first marina in the bight after World War Two according to a wall plaque down there. In any event they've been around forever and they dominate the end of Front Street. I expect one day we'll find our way upstairs and I shall finally get a waterfront seat at a restaurant at the mythical Berlin's. Photos to follow I hope! This is also one of those places to come if one wants to charter a fishing boat, a clean fishing boat!
Handling a cold water hose in that weather needs dedication, in my opinion. By the time I walked back to the Bonneville at Schooner Wharf the sun was warming things up a bit and the bar was open to the landward side, away from the breeze:
Warm enough for some to wear t-shirts. This is sweatshirt weather for me, despite the sun.I was lucky there was sun as I have but two sweat shirts in my closet and I need them both on a cloudy winter day.
I like the Meadows, it is probably my favorite neighborhood in Key West, because it has lots of character in the architecture it's outside Old Town so there is no architectural review and there are no tourist attractions or businesses in the few blocks that make up the Meadows. Funnily enough I took an almost identical picture to this one (including the Mini in the driveway) last Spring when I did a quick wander through the whole neighborhood. I guess I just like this eyebrow home!
The Meadows got its name apparently from some developer who decided to expand the city out in this direction and started throwing up houses and gave them a cute suburban name. Some people like it enough their cars take on a gray insubstantial forms on the street from long bouts of inactivity. This is a bicycling neighborhood:
The Meadows is where people gather on the street and chat like old fashioned neighbors are supposed to do:
These streets have their own form of neighborhood watch:
The homes come in shades and shapes that one has come to expect in Key West:
I can't miss out on the opportunity to find another pink building, offset in this case by a bottle green door, no less. Very bold, very effective:
And if pink houses don't do it for you, The Meadows is where you can find pink bushes. This spot looked very well organized, my idea of a New England village gardening contest. Where's Angela Lansbury?
Someone took the time to trim the shrub and paint the picket fence and everything. In this next one they did a Class A over-size trim job on the tree that used to live here.Now it just looks like a class A Hawaiian lava flow:
Young love in the Meadows, all you need is a pair of skateboards and a full heart:
A Key West garage:
A lonely scooter on a side street, possibly Florida Street if I remember correctly. The Meadows is the area within Truman, Eisenhower, Palm and White: 
There is Art on the streets too. Captain Outrageous used to make artworks that were in general use, back when he was alive. Now that he's dead and no longer producing Art, his irreverent take on daily objects seems to be reserved for display, not use:
Granted this isn't your typical art gallery, hanging as it does from a palm tree...
It doesn't take much to find Art in Nature either:
But it's time for the sun to set on the beauty of The Meadows and Newton Street and because it's winter time that means it's getting close to six pm:
Which means start of the working day for me. Time to find the Bonneville and buzz three blocks over to the Police Station for another exciting night of sitting up and not thinking about my bed.
I've been looking forward to Winter for a while. Not because I like the cold or anything like that, but because the winter months offer different entertainment than summer. This is the time of year that rains dry up and the back country dries out. Which in turn opens up trails through the mangroves well off the asphalt:
I'd had my eye on Stewart Road on Little Torch Key since I'd discovered it last summer while out riding my bicycle. With the advent of winter and endless days of bright sunshine and cold winds I thought it was time, so I pedalled back out there.
Stewart Road is not very big and has four or five homes along its length, each house set back and surrounded by shrubbery for maximum privacy. Mind you they are a long way out at the end of the road on Little Torch in the first place. It takes a certain commitment to get this far out from Highway One...in the land of dead end streets:
But even out here the county organizes trash pick up, and it seems some people have lots of it:
In some ways I find these rural outposts bucolic and desirable,but then again I'm not sure how well I'd do this isolated, as I rather like living upwind of the highway (no traffic noise in an east wind) yet not so far it's a trek to find a packet of milk or a gallon of gas. However the Keys, contrary to expectations, do offer isolation for those that need it.
My idea was to park the bicycle and take a stroll but I'd forgotten to bring a lock. So I stood there dicking around wondering what to do. It seemed absurd to be worried about someone stealing my bicycle in the abomination of desolation but on the other hand...
When I was out sailing I developed a way of weighing the odds on a particular line of action and it went like this. What's the worst thing that could happen? Generally I'd be trying to figure out if it was worth taking off into potentially bad weather, or if I left the dinghy on the beach while I went inland what might happen? In this case I asked myself what if I left my bicycle here and it was taken. Granted there was almost zero chance it would get stolen...but how would I feel if the unthinkable occurred? Clearly I wasn't going to be happy so I decided to ride the bike down the trail and out of sight before ditching it in a convenient bush.
However the trail, which started out bushy and overgrown...
Opened up and became a freeway through the shrubbery... 
...so instead of ditching the bike I kept riding...
...until I simply ran out of trail...
And as there was no way to go further forward, on two wheels or on foot, unless I was ready to hack out a fresh trail through the mangroves, I stopped, listened to the wind and watched the wind waves on the water in the distance.Then I turned around and started back across the wilderness.
I wasn't completely alone...
But there were no bicycles thieves in sight so I expect I could have abandoned my ride in the bushes...
The drag was that the trail itself was probably less than a mile long and by bicycle it took no time at all to get out to the end. The good news was I had a few miles to ride home and despite the lack of gradients and variety in the view I always seem to enjoy myself in the back country pedalling the main roads.
I wonder when I will get bored with buttonwoods and mangroves and empty open spaces?
Eating out is a certified sport in the Keys, second only to drinking and getting pie faced as a recognized activity. People talk about restaurants and hold strong opinions and don't hold back. Myself, I've learned not to be so opinionated, not least because it's easy to have a bad day in any local business. A chef who's lost his apartment, or who's boyfriend has kicked her out or who may just have a neck wringing hangover may not be in the best mood to cook. So I offer up two new restaurants with some trepidation. On the other hand they both, though very different offer similar recession busting menus.The first place has a peculiar name and an eye popping color scheme. Help Yourself is a command to the customers to do themselves a favor by eating right and not adding to the Styrofoam waste stream. I think that's what it means. 
It offers noodles wraps and a mix-and-match array of ingredients that makes my head spin so I went for the eight dollar Ecuadorian soup made of vegetables (turnip? Who cooks with turnips?) and quinoa a fashionable legume of some sort, pronounced kwin-wah, full of nutritious Aztec nutritiousness and little grainy balls that get wedged in your teeth. The soup was quite good actually though next time I'm coming with my own bottle of hot sauce to give its some zip. Of course I had my own reusable utensils:
The kitchen at Help Yourself has been in use as a restaurant for a long time and the past couple of most recent incarnations didn't survive for whatever reason. This one bursts with energy and industriousness so I'm hoping they make it:
There again I liked the Monsoon Cafe, eclectic Indian food, that was operated by an opinionated Englishman who wasn't very find of motorcycles, unlike this lot who have the bumper sticker displayed at the top of the essay. The tough times for this location come in the summer when it rains and it gets hot and sticky and people eating out do like a little air conditioning. This time of year the outdoor tables are excellent in the weak winter sun:
The restaurant's street address is 829 Fleming but I still think of this location next to the laundromat as being "across from Flaming Maggie's" which was the gay/lesbian bookstore across the street named after the intersection, more or less, and which was killed they said by the Internet:
The other al fresco dining establishment that has popped up recently is a bit further up the Keys in a location that suits me perfectly on my way home, but with a very different menu:
Mad Dawg'z took over a defunct garden center at Mile Marker 21.5 on Cudjoe Key and turned it into a garden restaurant:
It's a brilliantly simple idea really, stick a trailer in the garden center, make the place look nice and sell excellent barbecue:
We took our half rack of pork ribs with two sides to go for $12 and my wife split the food onto two plates as there was plenty for both of us. This was my share (I took the picture at home. I don't carry my own Deruta pottery around for meals to go):
Barbecue is another of those touchy subjects that everyone has an opinion on, and I have enough experience of this as my wife's family lives in North Carolina, land of the endless debate with South Carolina over vinegar versus tomato. I liked the Mad Dawg'z version, not too sweet, tomato based but with a vinegar bite.
You can buy meat by the pound for twelve bucks, and they also encourage bring-your-own-bottle if you want to eat on the spot. If you forgot to BYOB there is the Kickin' Back store just across Highway One. All other considerations aside they like dogs here and that makes them all right in my book, Barbecue controversy notwithstanding:
And they offer sandwiches for just seven bucks apiece with one side. I'm thinking that some day when my wife's not looking a brisket sandwich with peach cobbler would make a man sized lunch.