We’ve found the dog park, the designated dog beach, and spent one day at Higgs beach soaking up way too much sun.

We found a lovely Civil War fort right on Higgs beach that has been taken over by the Garden Club and made into a lovely, secluded park. The building is fascinating and the plantings throughout the gardens are amazing. Michael took lots of lovely pictures and I fell in love with a natural statue of a woman made out of palm fronds. Look at the detail and you can see sea grape leaves in her bustle and mussel shell jewelry. When we settle in Grenada, I’m going to make a Caribbean version or two ~ maybe with a carnival man as well.

We rode the Olde Town Trolley to get a 90 minute tour and overview of the island. It was interesting and fun but the seats were really cramped so it also felt good to get off!

Key West has had a very interesting history with lots of economic ups and downs. People who have been here for a while need a good sense of survival. There was a boom during the ship salvage years until laws changed, then bust. Another boom harvesting salt, then sponges and another boom with rolling cigars with the accompanying busts in between as those industries moved elsewhere. Flagler built a railroad all through the keys but at some point the southernmost bridges got washed away. The government built an aquarium to lure tourists here, 40K the first year, and then next year the bridge was gone.

Key West sided with the North during the Civil War because of Fort Zachary and later became the “Conch Republic” and declared its’ independence from the US in 1982 when the US government set up a blockage at the start of the Florida mainland that searched every car coming off the keys to look for illegal immigrants. This action was once again killing the Key West economy because it was taking 7 hours to get through the blockage. After a vigorous campaign that included newspaper and television coverage the blockage was lifted. Independence Day is still celebrated every April 23^rd. I’m sorry we missed that but I’m sure it was a zoo and fun.

There are lots more interesting history that’s fun to read. If you are interested, check out http://www.keyshistory.org/keywest.html for more detailed information and fun facts.

I know we will walk the length of Duval Street at some point but it will need to be planned on a coolish day (overcast) and hopefully when there are no cruise ships in dock. We are also looking forward to a sunset sail so watch for a post and great pictures.

I’m so deeply happy here. We’ve settled into a semi routine of getting up in the morning and heading out to the hammocks for some early morning reading, then having a lovely breakfast of fruit and muffins and then off for a dog walk and exploration of the neighborhood.

This is a lovely town. The streets are sweet, with lovely house and lots a fantastic plants. People have spent a lot of time and love on their gardens and it is truly a tropical paradise.

I’ve got the travel bug so bad, this is the first time I haven’t actively fantasized about buying here and poured through the real estate ads as I’ve done just about everywhere else we’ve been. (But just for the record, I could easily live here.) Afternoons consist of a lovely lunch on the deck and then siestas in the hammocks with a romp at the dog park or a different walk around town. Evenings are relaxing and again the breeze has been blowing pretty consistently every day. We only use the air conditioning in our bedroom at night when we sleep.

The pace feels like when we were first married and I was a teacher with the summers off. There is plenty of time to relax and enjoy. We’ve been having fun making great breakfasts and dinners and then enjoying them with no time pressure. May get old after a while but for now it is heavenly.

The name of our cottage is Namaste (pronounced “Naa-Maa-Stay”). This is an ancient Sanskrit word with no literal translation but is generally translated to “The Spirit within me honors and respects the Spirit within you.” Everything about this house is as lovely as the pictures portray and it is easy to feel at peace here (if you overlook the pile of boxes we brought that need to be unpacked). The walls are painted a rich, deep red and the house is furnished with Asian furniture and art. The only furniture we stored, our Buddha, Chinese chests and Asian Altar table would have fit in nicely. The floor in the main areas is nicely tiled which will be cool and easy to care for. Both bedrooms are nice with beautiful bedding and accents.

Dennis, the owner, has done a fabulous job of utilizing all possible space and has created a Zen garden in back that is lush and private. The only “downside” is it is fairly compact as space on this island is at a premium – whether it is housing, postage sized lots or parking. We had originally wanted a house with 3 bedrooms because Michael’s photography equipment takes up one room and we brought down his large desk, piecemeal, so he could set up his computer equipment. We tried every variation under the sun but his 3 by 7 foot desk was not going to fit in this sweet house without destroying the ambiance of the house so it sits in storage and I think will be given away. I thought we should try one more house before jettisoning this treasure but Michael seems pretty satisfied with a smaller 2 by 4 foot desk. We’ll see what we decide down the road.

As we have started to settle in we can easily see the love and care Dennis has used in creating this special space. In addition to the lovely colors, furniture and art, there is attention to comfort and beauty. Nice dishes, lovely glasses (drinking, wine, party), good utensils, a nice selection of Caphelon pots and pans, etc. all make this feel like a vacation and home. We’ll need to spend the next few days sorting through our stuff and getting it packed away or moved back into storage and then we can relax into our space.

We had originally hoped to stay south of Miami so we’d avoid the morning traffic around the city but with our late start yesterday it would have made for too long a day and too late an arrival at a hotel. Therefore, we slept in until about 9 and then jumped on the road. Getting out of the Fairfield Inn parking lot was a challenge. We parked in back where there was a lot of room but no easy way out – Michael had to turn the truck with trailer around. The truck would have been fine but with the trailer attached and not really enough turning room it was a 12-15 point turn. As expected Michael did a great job but it was amazing how little progress he could make in each part of the turn – so times it seemed like no progress to inch the trailer into a position that it could finally turn a bit. I’m SO GLAD I was directing and not driving.

There was a fair amount of traffic but I tried to keep Michael out of the thick of it. This was a little difficult because the road construction changes didn’t match the paper map, which didn’t match the GPS. It continued to rain most of the way to Key West but it was easy driving, no real downpours. This is the first time Michael and I were traveling to the keys so it was exciting to be on the single road that hops from key to key. I was sorry it wasn’t sunny so we could see the beautiful blue waters but overall it was a nice drive.

We decided that we would drive directly to the house and check it so we’d know what we needed to unload from the truck and then we’d head over to U-Haul to see if we could park it overnight. Parking is very tight in “Old Town” but the gods were smiling and there were 2 spaces right in front of our house. We jumped out and started exploring. The house, Namaste, is incredible (see the following post for details) and as a result a lot of the things we hauled down will not be used. We’re used to traveling in the Caribbean where rental houses are lacking a lot of the things that make life easy and nice so we had everything from decent flatware, dish towels, wine glasses to beach towels and a vacuum cleaner to make our visit lovely. Almost everything stayed in storage and we have decided to donate most of it to Charity so we can hopefully rent a trailer for the trip to North Carolina. The house there also look nicely furnished and if we need to buy a couple of things the cost will be offset by not having to rent a truck and trailer to pull the car and having a fair-sized storage space.

We settled in enough for the day, sat on the deck enjoying the great breezes and toasted our arrival.