Chuck and Wayne alerted me to the presence of Coco Plum Beach in Marathon. Driving north on Highway One you turn south at the last light on your way out of town, the traffic light past Key Colony Beach.
At the end of a very long drive through suburbs that reminded me of mainland Florida, you reach a turn out.
The drive to this beach is lined with nice landscaping, tall condos and tennis courts and lots of keep out signs. It reminded me very much of the tony homes lining Highway A1A along the beaches of Palm Beach County. Not to be outdone:
The views south were as always, quite splendid. I wouldn't trade the wildest snow blizzard in the world for this view:
Up the shoreline there is the official city beach that we shall get to later. For now Cheyenne and I took off up the rocky shore.
We had arrived quite by chance at low tide and had lots of room to walk.
A word about the name and I had to go to Wikipedia to get this next picture and some slight information about the Coco Plum. First it can be written cocoplum or CocoPlum but my spell checker prefers coco plum... Secondly it is apparently an edible fruit found growing around the Caribbean Basin and across South Florida. It is an ornamental bush and has been planted in warmer inland areas of Florida. Like me it doesn't tolerate frost. There you have it.
This was whence we had come, looking back at the car and the monstrosity behind it:
I was not alone.
I never take for granted where I live. I know that for some people living at sea level with no hills must seem like a bore but for me, this is perfect.
She doesn't seem to mind it either.
It was cold and breezy, with temperatures in the low 60s (16C) and the north wind was honking. 
Here on the south shore of the island, close in to the mangroves we were well protected from the breeze. 
I found a trail that led us through the bushes.
Cheyenne was having a great time.
I had my Zen moment tucked into a small beach with someone's lean to of sticks built up behind me. I felt like Robinson Crusoe. 
Cheyenne came to sit next to me and for a while we passed the time in companionable silence. 
A man came down the beach minding his own business when Cheyenne saw him and she sat up with a start going all Labrador with her ears alert. I don't think he was much of a dog person because he saw her eyeing him through the bushes and he promptly turned tail and fled. At last! My attack Labrador training has paid off. And she didn't even growl. We passed the fisherman on the way back. His wife had dropped him off for his first visit to this beach, and so far he was having no luck. I told him I admired him for being able to stand in the freezing waters and he gave me a sickly grin as he tossed the lure over his shoulder.
Really, it does get aggravating doesn't it, seeing all that sea and sun glittering away- it's just too damned pretty.
We made it back to the end of the beach in good order and I decided to cut back to the road directly through this apparently abandoned McMansion under construction. 
I was lucky. Not five minutes after we strolled through, with me weaving fantasies about living in such isolated splendor, a pick up loaded with building materials pulled up in front of the No Trespassing sign. You just never know what's really going on; what may appear abandoned -isn't. 
This guy came huffing by as we stepped out into the street.
He was weird. He kept running down the center of the street like he was glued to the yellow line, even as cars approached he swerved only at the last minute.
People and their death wishes.The City of Marathon has quite brilliantly obscured the sign to the proper public park behind the chain link fence so you can't see it as you flash by in your car. Once past you realise what you have done and have to back up to get inside the park, but it's a nice orderly spot when you do make it in.
There are lots of billboards explaining the endangered status and lifestyle of assorted sea turtles:
Beyond the neatly paved parking lot is the strip of sand, here looking west. 
Even though there were no signs saying dogs had to be on a leash I kept Cheyenne on hers just...because. Then I saw local dogs frolicking in the water, in front of the Fort Myers Beach-like cement towers.
And behind me some dude was walking his pugs off leach so I let my fearsome attack Labrador go. The last I saw one of the pugs was leading it's plaintive owner a merry dance through the parking lot so he have done better to leash the brute. My obedient dog climbed in the car, ready for more Middle Keys adventures.
At the end of a very long drive through suburbs that reminded me of mainland Florida, you reach a turn out.The drive to this beach is lined with nice landscaping, tall condos and tennis courts and lots of keep out signs. It reminded me very much of the tony homes lining Highway A1A along the beaches of Palm Beach County. Not to be outdone:The views south were as always, quite splendid. I wouldn't trade the wildest snow blizzard in the world for this view:Up the shoreline there is the official city beach that we shall get to later. For now Cheyenne and I took off up the rocky shore. We had arrived quite by chance at low tide and had lots of room to walk.A word about the name and I had to go to Wikipedia to get this next picture and some slight information about the Coco Plum. First it can be written cocoplum or CocoPlum but my spell checker prefers coco plum... Secondly it is apparently an edible fruit found growing around the Caribbean Basin and across South Florida. It is an ornamental bush and has been planted in warmer inland areas of Florida. Like me it doesn't tolerate frost. There you have it.This was whence we had come, looking back at the car and the monstrosity behind it:I was not alone.I never take for granted where I live. I know that for some people living at sea level with no hills must seem like a bore but for me, this is perfect.
She doesn't seem to mind it either.
It was cold and breezy, with temperatures in the low 60s (16C) and the north wind was honking. 
Here on the south shore of the island, close in to the mangroves we were well protected from the breeze. 
I found a trail that led us through the bushes.
Cheyenne was having a great time.
I had my Zen moment tucked into a small beach with someone's lean to of sticks built up behind me. I felt like Robinson Crusoe. 
Cheyenne came to sit next to me and for a while we passed the time in companionable silence. 
A man came down the beach minding his own business when Cheyenne saw him and she sat up with a start going all Labrador with her ears alert. I don't think he was much of a dog person because he saw her eyeing him through the bushes and he promptly turned tail and fled. At last! My attack Labrador training has paid off. And she didn't even growl. We passed the fisherman on the way back. His wife had dropped him off for his first visit to this beach, and so far he was having no luck. I told him I admired him for being able to stand in the freezing waters and he gave me a sickly grin as he tossed the lure over his shoulder.Really, it does get aggravating doesn't it, seeing all that sea and sun glittering away- it's just too damned pretty.
We made it back to the end of the beach in good order and I decided to cut back to the road directly through this apparently abandoned McMansion under construction. 
I was lucky. Not five minutes after we strolled through, with me weaving fantasies about living in such isolated splendor, a pick up loaded with building materials pulled up in front of the No Trespassing sign. You just never know what's really going on; what may appear abandoned -isn't. 
This guy came huffing by as we stepped out into the street.He was weird. He kept running down the center of the street like he was glued to the yellow line, even as cars approached he swerved only at the last minute.
People and their death wishes.The City of Marathon has quite brilliantly obscured the sign to the proper public park behind the chain link fence so you can't see it as you flash by in your car. Once past you realise what you have done and have to back up to get inside the park, but it's a nice orderly spot when you do make it in.There are lots of billboards explaining the endangered status and lifestyle of assorted sea turtles:Beyond the neatly paved parking lot is the strip of sand, here looking west. 
Even though there were no signs saying dogs had to be on a leash I kept Cheyenne on hers just...because. Then I saw local dogs frolicking in the water, in front of the Fort Myers Beach-like cement towers.
And behind me some dude was walking his pugs off leach so I let my fearsome attack Labrador go. The last I saw one of the pugs was leading it's plaintive owner a merry dance through the parking lot so he have done better to leash the brute. My obedient dog climbed in the car, ready for more Middle Keys adventures.
And those that were out braving the wet streets after a pre-cold-front cold shower were all wrapped up like it really was cold:
As we close in on the shortest day of the year it is getting dark very close to six o'clock around here, and in the half hour before I went to work picture taking was getting complicated. People just wouldn't stand still for my camera's long exposure times.
The whole Nordic Christmas thing doesn't play out very well for me. Yule logs, long nights, snow drifts and all that are for people who like snow men and toboggans.
It isn't that cold in Key West in absolute terms but this weather made it cold enough a few evenings ago for the Bull to close it's shutters.
A night like this is bad for business but great for police dispatchers who end up taking fewer calls from outraged drunks all night.
I can't remember where this next fuzzy picture came from. Rick's perhaps? I don't go drinking downtown much. I have been to Captain Tony's once and the Red Garter strip club once but these other loud bars don't do much for me. I have been wanting to get a beer at the Porch in the Porter House but the opportunity hasn't presented itself lately.
This is the Holy Grail of Key west bars, the one on postcards everywhere. And no, I've never been inside for a drink...
Brenda is a Conch, born and brought up in Key West and lo these many years patrolling the streets of her city. She was stopped by a red light and we chatted for a while. We share a similar sense of humor and a similar dislike for the cold. 
The officers have been all bundled up for the winter weather with windproof jackets and gloves and I've even heard talk of long underwear, though I'm not going to share my motorcycle gear with them; my Aerostitch undies saved me on me last Iron Butt ride Up North in October. This si the original Sloppy Joe Russell drinking hole. This is the place when Hemingway helped move the furniture to the place on Duval. That was before most of us were born. Things have changed a bit since then. Read To Have and To Have Not for details and decide if WPA Key West would really have been for you.
This incessant cold weather is making me cranky with another freezing cold front due here as I write this essay! Nice gray skies floating above Old City Hall.
I brought the car to work the night I took these pictures so I was able to feel even better about my choice of wheels when I saw this Suzuki parked in an icy puddle. I hoped they enjoyed the ride back to the hotel, tough buggers that they must be. I had figured out earlier in the day how to operate the heater in the car and was feeling pretty smug.
My wanderings took me past Fairvilla on Front Street, a store devoted to the sale of sex toys and underwear. As far as I know. Let me be clear here and now: If I ever get the urge to wear women's underwear it will never be a subject for this blog. More interesting to me was the empty courtyard alongside Fairvilla, wherein lay an elaborate mural that I don't recall seeing previously.
A potted history of Jamaica's Port Royal of all places. And the inevitable skull and crossbones, Disney style. The Hemingway effect on history is everywhere in Key West.
Emptiness downtown. I rather liked the effect of shiny warm lights reflected on wet pavement. 