Martha and I left Saturday morning on the bike and rode to Key West. The sky was blue, air was warm, and the traffic was moving well. We took US1 down to mile marker “0” at the furthest southern point in the USA. After our obligatory tourist snapshot, we walked back to our bike to see a policewoman sneaking around behind bushes and shrubs. She was talking into her radio and reporting on the crowd gathered around the marker. It was funny watching her crouch and scurry from bush to shrub, trying to stealthily make her report. I just assumed she was looking for pic-pockets or people of interest. Pictures and videos after the break.

It was lunch time so we headed over to the tourist area on Duval Street. Martha wanted to have lunch at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville and have a cheeseburger (like in the song she said?). We both ordered their Big Rita’s (double margaritas in a souvenir glass) and shared a cheeseburger with Heinz 57 sauce. Total ripoff value including tip… $50. That gave Martha some pucker power and she regretted her hasty choice in restaurants for lunch.

[pausing for boat coming down canal while I’m composing this on our deck…]

[…ok video uploaded, now back to the post. Better quality video requires Adobe Flash Player 9 or above to view. You can check your flash player version here]

After lunch we strolled Duval St. with it’s assorted t-shirt shops (bleh), art galleries, and taverns. The place was bustling with people and traffic and it kept Martha entertained all day. I forgot to mention that Key West is very bike friendly with special motorcycle only parking everywhere. They seem to do a very thriving business renting scooters and scootercars like they did in Lake George, NY.

Around 3pm we stopped again for Coronas and shared a corn chip/pico de gallo appetizer plate at the Old Town Mexican Cafe. They have a welcoming, tree shaded, patio with an excellent view of the street action. In and out for under $10 – good value for Key West and I recommend it!

We kept exploring Duval Street till almost sundown and then went down to Sunset Pier to join all the other people that gather each evening to celebrate the sunset. The square was crammed with buskers and tourists and just before sunset… Martha’s camera ran out of battery (spare also dead :-(

Here’s a short video just as the battery went dead…

You can see more Key West pictures in our picasa photo album.

We left Key West after dark and ventured back with a plan to dine at the Square Grouper Bar & Grill on Cudjoe Key which is located about half-way home. It was on our landlord’s recommended list and has earned a lot of good reviews on the internet. It is a typical Florida Keys place from the exterior, almost has an industrial warehouse look, but the inside was tastefully decorated. (The menu explains it, but ‘square grouper’ is the colloquial name for the bales of pot that smugglers would ditch over board.) It turned out to be a very nice place with great food and service. Martha had the grouper and I had the yellowtail and we had food to bring home. It was a nice way to complete our enjoyable day trip excursion.