Cheyenne, Year Two

Two years ago today she laid down on the deck and died. I'm very glad to have Rusty, but I do miss her. 

I got her at the Key West pound December 8th 2009, abandoned for being too old.

She was not a traveler but she saw Canada and California and everything in between.

She didn't swim but she loved to walk.

And that is all I have to say about that.

A Typical Night Out

My wife and I were driving into Key West Friday night and in the traffic I saw a cyclist stepping into the crosswalk pushing his bike in front of stationary oncoming traffic. I stopped and when I glanced in my mirror I saw a huge white van barreling down on me. I couldn't move and we took the blow. Our seats folded flat from the force, the cubbyholes on the dashboard flew open as did the sunroof cover above our heads and the car was pushed several feet forward. Happily the airbags did not deploy and we later found the car was drive-able and all the lights still work even though the trunk no longer locks closed.

It was a bit of a caper filling out the police paperwork and the unfortunate man who hit me lost his load of fresh water as the force of the blow broke a connecting pipe in the water tank he was transporting. I felt bad for him as these absurd crosswalks are a damned nuisance and the city has asked the state to modify them. Personally I think they should be replaced with aluminum pedestrian bridges and frankly I dread the day they are replaced by traffic lights. Traffic will come to a standstill.

Something like this that I got from the web, perhaps prettier and perhaps bicycle accessible but this way no one gets killed and traffic keeps moving. You'd think it would be simple enough and as North Roosevelt wins no awards for beautification adding a few bridges to keep pedestrians and cyclists safe seems a no brainer. But there again I know nothing about urban transportation.

   

After we got our police report (from my colleagues which was a bit weird as I was on the wrong side of dispatch) we continued with the program of our first night out in six weeks of overtime, influenza and bad schedules. A glass of wine at the piano bar at the Gardens hotel and a chat under the stars with the pianist an old friend from his school district days. Michael has retired and plays piano Friday evenings at the hotel. We also met another long lost friend and chatted with her for a while which all helped us to forget that the back of the car is pretzled...

Walking across the street to the car my wife found a parking ticket on the windshield. I swore up a bit of a storm I'm sorry to say but it was a good joke. One of the parking control officers must have recognized my electric blue car and put an empty envelope on the windshield across from my pay stub. I must have looked demented going from enraged to laughing helplessly within seconds. It can be good and bad working for a police department in a small town. And I've been there a long time by now, ideal to be the victim of a prank.

My wife had long wanted to try the House of Wu which is reported to be excellent by everyone she's spoken to about this new Asian food restaurant. We ordered that very fashionable sandwich called a banh mi and the white coated man set to organizing a crusty baguette type bread with the ingredients. My wife and I used to live not far from San Jose in California which became the locus of Vietnamese settlement for refugees after 1975 so we have long had access to excellent Vietnamese  cuisine.

We both really liked the sandwich, duck, foie gras and julienned carrots and all. I ordered one of their many teas, a pot of Russian Caravan which should (and did) smell a bit like creosote. My wife smelled it and incredulous, watched me enjoy it, before tasting it and saying it didn't taste anything like it smelled. She really should learn to trust me.

 And the bun came next filled with curried chicken (vegetarian buns are available) and delicious. The steamed bun itself was much heavier than the usual white puffy things we are used to in the US and the consistency made it much more tasty than I expected.  

 We shared three dumplings , big heavy things and they too were perfect. We were given a knife to cut up the portions as we were splitting each dish but we did not ask for forks and none were offered though I am told they are available to replace the red plastic chop sticks. I find the Chinese preference for eating with twigs when Europeans have long since figured out how to make forks rather peculiar. I am a product of my culture.

I looked up Wu trying to figure what the word means and it appears as best I can tell to be some sort of derivative of Cantonese Chinese involving food and of the type from Shanghai. I am no Sinologist so perhaps my Internet search let me down. I should have asked but our server was East European (and charming and capable) and I didn't think to inquire of the head chef while we were there.

House of Wu is excellent, no reservations on that score. This place needs lots of visits to explore the cuisine. My wife held off on Black Pepper Crab Custard and I was feeling rather too full to eat it, whatever it is, by myself but we shall return. I like this place a lot.

Now all that's left is to get the car fixed. As one comment said on my Instagram page, cars are a "time suck." Considering I got this one to replace my drowned car after Irma I would have to agree.

Key West Details

Walking Rusty along Duval Street I pulled out of the bustle and noise, I think I was near Aqua and stepped into an alleyway to conduct a more peaceful phone call. My roving eye spotted the pattern. I just like the straight lines...my confessional.

Another day I parked the Vespa on Petronia Street next to the Bourbon, the epicenter of what is left of gay Key West. I was  struck by the windows and their grilles. I took off walking but I felt weird walking around with a camera and no dog. It seemed pointless so I went home to my over walked dog who had not felt like coming into town with me.

I never fail to be surprised by how small cars from youth seem to be no I am entering my dotage. I remember when MG sports cars seemed too cool for words. Now it looks rather quaint and small and ineffective.

When I lived in St Petersburg in the 80s I had an Oldsmobile Delta 88 similar in all respects to this which I think is a Cadillac. It was a huge car and very comfortable and i;m glad I've experienced owning such a huge boat. However using one in Key West must require the patience of a saint. I do recall the Oldsmobile had very powerful air conditioning and a huge back seat for those hot still nights in Central Florida.

I posted this photo on Instagram asking myself how necessary cars are in this small town. As vital as anywhere else I dare say:

Latitudes

We had reservations on the 12:45 boat to Sunset Key.  I watched them eat in silence and text in silence and I was glad to be making a production out of lunch.

 As we pulled away we left Key West behind, the chickens, the crowds the noise and all that. 

And five minutes later we were at Sunset Key with it's own crowds and clean perfectly manicured lanes and its golf carts and ... it's own tourists.

Latitudes is the sole restaurant on the island and it is as far as you can walk when you come here to eat. The rest of Sunset Key is private so unless you rent a place there or get a beach pass all you get to see is the restaurant which is on the water:

 The path to the beach with the rental cottages behind:

Have no fear  Sunset Key is blanketed by the same wireless connections that cover Key West just across the water and distracted pedestrians can be found here too:

The sort of public beach with the usual imported Bahamian sand:

The main drag leading to the interior. I have traveled around Sunset Key, in a previous life I delivered furniture and what a caper it was. We had to load the truck onto a landing craft at Trumbo Road and chug across the harbor to the vehicle landing dock on Sunset Key, where the garbage truck comes as well. 

Driving the box truck was actually quite simple as the streets are quite wide. The houses are in the Key West style made famous by Truman Annex. The big difference here is the absence of life and color and commotion. Come to Key West and drain the life out of it.  

 Latitudes at night is eye-wateringly expensive but lunch isn't so bad. Prices have risen since I was last here, no surprise, so you can figure about  15-20  dollars  for a sandwich and up to 30 for one of the three main dishes on offer. So if you consider the boat ride is free it's not a bad deal for good food in lovely surroundings in place that takes you out of yourself. 

Elly our visitor from hip Asheville was delighted and she really enjoyed her fashionable vegan dish of tomato sauce, hummus and pita.

I laid into my Latitudes favorite of  fried fish tacos and I have to say the food is good. It would be easy to rely on the ambiance but this place offers truly friendly service, efficient and attentive but not intimidating, and the food is good value. If eighteen bucks for three tacos seems like a lot remember Key West prices are absurd compared to much of the rest of the country anyway.  It was tons of food.

The outdoor tables are set on wooden platforms in the sand and at night you may pay a hundred bucks a head but for a special date this is the place to be, tiki torches and all under the stars...

We caught the 2:30 ferry home back to the city and with our validated parking ticket we left the car for free at the Margaritaville parking structure. All very simple and efficient.

 The interior is a nice as you might expect,

 With tributes inevitably to Papa Hemingway, of whom everyone wants a piece:

We passed a group of  freshly arrived renters looking forward to their slice of paradise in the forbidden zone:

 And so back to the dock.

 How people get in the water when it's below 80 degrees baffles me but they seemed to have fun:

We passed under a cruise ship at Mallory Square and were dropped off back at the Margaritaville dock to drive home and sleep it all off.

Sandy's Not Sandy's

Cuban coffee just got complicated in Key West on White Street. So I stopped by when I saw the old Sandy's Cafe was open once again.

The Facebook page didn't lie apparently and Sandy's did move up the street one block south from the famous laundry location. The place has the same red and white awning and is now open for business.

So imagine the surprise when the old location, buttoned up for a day or two suddenly sprouted activity and coffee and everything. What....?  So when I came by and asked how come the confusion the guy at the counter said no confusion the Mexicans are down the street and this place is all Cuban, 5 am to 11 pm.  Okay then.

Indeed the fact that Key West's most well known cuban coffee location was run by Mexicans was always a source of amusement to me. I wasn't particularly fond of their few Mexican dishes and I stuck with basic Cuban sandwiches. Now those Mexican plates are gone on the new temporary menu:

I suppose I shall have to wander down to the "other Sandy's" or perhaps the original Sandy's or even the Mexican Sandy's and see how that place measures up with it's seating and everything. In fact while I was waiting a  woman came by to pick up her "to go order" and wasn't she confused when they didn't have it and they directed her down the street to the other Sandy's...I don' think this situation is tenable especially as the other lot has a second store on Fleming Street plus a brand new Food Truck driving around.

My cheese bread was quite good with lots of molten cheese and properly pressed bread (not crisped) while the coffee was not bitter like it used to be so my spontaneous lunch was better than I expected.  On that brief experiment the old old Sandy's gets a thumbs up.

Somewhere in this mess there is a messed up business contract or agreement or something but I can't  see how Key West can go on for very long without all these Sandy's ending up in front of the law which will have to decide who is called what. Until then I aim to enjoy the absurdity of the confusion.