Another glorious Key West weekend.

The house kitty (hated fish - go figure)

John and I had possibly the best time yet in Key West on this past trip - albeit, an expensive one! And, we thought this trip was going to be cheap! Well, it would have been if not for a few nice purchases...

Flew all the way in this time - view of 7 mile bridge

Found yet another very cheap airflight so took them up on it and flew all the way in. 4 short hours later, we were standing at our hotel off Duvall. We stayed at a new place for us, Hollinsted house, which was just delightful. Just a block off Duvall in the 600 block (half way between island ends), the house is made up of a variety of condos, some of which are simply devine.If you're going to Key West anytime soon, email me and I'll hook you up with Tracey, the owner of a few of the condos there. Got a great deal all the way around. The cat above is the house kitty, or so we thought. She appeared magically out of the bushes, usually yawning and looking for affection. She made JB look like a GIANT, which, of course, he is.

We walked the streets a lot this trip and even rented a little two person electric car in which to tool around for a day. Took us down some paths we'd not found earlier as we discussed where we'll be living one day. Met some great locals - 2 stand out in our minds. Houston and Suzie are both 5th generation (!) Conchs - born and raised in KW. Talked to them for quite a while. Houston's 87 year old mom lives next door and sounds like she's the opposite of my Mom. Houston was telling us some great tales about her complaints, etc, as she's a very crotchety old woman. I shared tales of my delightful Mother. I sure wish I could talk mom into moving to KW with me NOW but that ain't happening. Ah well, it will happen one day but I'm not rushing the future.

No, it's a LIVE rooster!

John and I decided to rent a boat again this trip and go looking for dolphins - no luck. We needed Bobbi, the official dolphin spotter with us. The ocean was rockier than last time we went out but we didn't really care. We headed out to the reef and moored up for an afternoon of conversation, cocktails and a few quick swims.

Tried a few really nice restaurants this time around. One of the great things about staying in a different part of the island is that we explored instead of going to the same old rounds we usually do. Sarabeth's owner, David, was a wonderful guy and, although dinner was good, we're thinking breakfast is even better. The last night there, we went to Cafe Marquesa which was probably the best restaurant I've ever been to, period. But, you'll pay for it too. The ambiance is great, food was outstanding, and the whole dining experience was worth the price.

Ah, but, as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end so we flew home after just 3 days in paradise. But, the end of this trip starts the countdown to the next one which is already on the books. We'll be in Key West 4 times this year, which seems about right to us...

Love this shot!

I'm struck by how lucky I am