FL Keys Vacation Part 1

**1/15--edit: I was able to add some pictures, finally...scroll down to see if curious. I'll work on pulling some others out of the laptop tonite**

Before tomorrow comes and I go back to hell work, I thought I'd best get this blogged. It hardly seems as if I were away. If it weren't for the pictures and the little bit of color on my skin I'd have thought it was a very good dream. These posts will be a little long, so read if you want, or scroll for the pictures. Enjoy

*blogger is being a pain in the ass and doesn't like my pictures...so they will come sporadically.

Where to begin?...hmmm...well. Even though I had the best of intentions, there wasn't much knitting done on this vacation. I was working on branching out while waiting to board the plane in Newark, and a few women said how nice it was, and shared their own knitting stories. While on the plane waiting for take off, one of the flight attendants admired the color. Honestly, I did more tinking than knitting on it, but it made the flight go fast. We picked up our rental car in Ft. Lauderdale, and were quite excited to get a brand new Chrysler Sebring hardtop convertible. It was a really nice car, a pretty bright blue, with only 60 miles on it! We had to put the top up for the ride down to the Keys, because I don't like being on the FL turnpike at 70+ topless, plus there were scattered showers. We discovered that the luggage had to be "just so" in the trunk or the top wouldn't go down (or up). So, with some rearranging and with some more luggage put in the back seat, we were off. The ride down was great, even though there were showers on and off. We actually saw a double rainbow in the Key *Largo, but of course my camera was in my luggage. Hopefully, a sign of a good vacation to be had.

We stopped for dinner in Marathon, and made it down to my friend Kathy's on Big Pine Key at around 8pm. I had the Christmas presents for Kathy with me, so I gave them to her right away. The first was a market bag that Mary had made crocheted for me. I knew Kathy would like it, because she is "green". Next was the shawl I'd finished this early last summer, but didn't put fringe on because I wanted Kathy to choose fringe or not. She chose fringe, and I said I'd put it on during the week. So, we all chatted and drank wine and caught up with each other, it had been 2 years since we saw them. Kathy and George have a new kitty, Pookie, who's really cute, but quite shy. It took her a while to warm up to us. For me, I think she was afraid of my cane. I didn't get a picture, but she's a tabby, with a lot of white on her.

Saturday, we went down to Key West for lunch, sunset, and dinner. I posted the drive and sunset pictures last Saturday. Lunch was at Mangoes on Duval Street, where we like to people watch. It gets mixed reviews. It was good this time, especially the Mango Martinis. After lunch, we drove around Key West waiting for sunset. There were 2 huge cruise ships in, and they left before the sun went down. It's an agreement, they must leave the port before sunset. I already showed a picture of the sunset last week, but just for interest, here is another. We had made dinner reservations at Michael's and got there early and had some cocktails at the bar. I had a key lime pie martini, which was very good. Good enough to have another. :-) Dinner, although good, was much pricier than when I was there last, and not worth the increase. I'm in the business, I know costs. Their costs were not just. Oh well, at least the food was good, and the drinks, better. :-)

On the drive back to Big Pine, I saw one of the things that makes me love the keys...the night sky! Due to little or no light pollution, the sky, on a clear night, is full of stars...it seems as if there are layers of stars. If it were warmer, I would have asked to the top down to watch. I knew that would happen on one of the nights, I was sure.

Sunday was a lazy day. I put the fringe on Kathy's shawl, and it looked quite nice with the fringe. I didn't get a picture, I forgot! I also knitted her up a quick dishcloth. I'd given her a set to match her kitchen last Christmas, but she doesn't use them, she has them out on display because she doesn't want to ruin them! This one, I knitted in colors not matching so she would. We went in the hot tub for a while, then got ready to go out to dinner. This time, we went to Mangrove Mama's on Sugarloaf Key. I've been there many times, it's another restaurant that sometimes is on, and sometimes it's off. That night it was on, and we had a good time. That night it was early to bed, because the next day, Monday, was my birthday!