The Florida Keys

After several days visiting with friends in Miami I met up with another group of friends as they were driving down to the Florida Keys. Jim, who is like a father to me, flew down with one of his fraternity brothers, Turk, to Orlando to meet with another fraternity brother, Randy, and his son Scott. Together they all drove down to the Miami area to pick me up, and we were off to the Keys for a week.

The Keys are a series of small islands that run from the tip of Florida south, arching toward Cuba and separating the Gulf of Mexico from the rest of the Atlantic Ocean. A road connects most of the major Keys and spans open stretches of water up to seven miles long. The road finally reaches its final destination in Key West, the most famous and colorful of the keys, only 90 miles from Cuba.

We stayed at a beach house for the week that was about half way to Key West on Grassy Key, which was one of the smaller, sleepier of the Keys in the chain. The Keys in general were pretty relaxed and tranquil, most to the week amounted to relaxing and drinking on the beach, watching the tide come in and out, playing cards, reading, eating, and telling stories.












One of the nicer beaches on the keys with the Gulf of Mexico in the foreground and the Atlantic ocean in the distance.












Looking out onto the beach from the back porch of the house we rented for the week.

Hanging out on an old boat structure at low tide.












Jim and me on the beach.












Catching the sunrise behind our beach house before going to fish.

We did make it out for a few activities. On one of our excursions we spent a day in Key West. Famous for Key lime pie, Hemingway, and Jimmy Buffet, the place had a great feel to it. Even with loads of tourists like ourselves there was a great energy to the place and you could see why people liked to live there.












Mangrove Mama's, one of our favorite restaurants.












Turk, Randy, and Jim in front of our favorite bar in Key West, The Green Parrot.












A beautiful old Banyan tree in Key West












Scott and I at Sloppy Joe's, Ernest Hemingways' favorite bar in Key West












Sunset in Key West

Another one of our outings, and for me the most exciting, was going deep sea fishing. What a great experience. We all caught fish and had more than we could possibly eat for dinner, even when the fishing was slow the open water was beautiful, and the big ones that we did catch and then released were a challenge to say the least.











































It was a great week all told. Beyond the adventures in Key West and deep sea fishing there were a couple of nice parks and restaurants that we visited. Below are several more pictures from our time in the Keys.
















Monitor lizard sunning itself on a concrete bridge plyon, looking through a drain on the deck of the bridge above.












Broken bridge