Avoiding the Storms in Key West

Given that we are at the beginning of the Florida hurricane season we have been lucky with the weather on this holiday. We had been caught in one rain storm on Marco Island, but otherwise had been in-doors or in a car when the storms have passed over. 

Last night the local news and weather warned that, due to the heat and humidity, and an absence of large tropical storms, there would be passing thunder storms and rain over the Keys during the day today.

I woke early at 4am and managed to spend a few hours sorting out all the photos of coming into the Keys on Saturday before uploading them.  

With the Church so close I showered and shaved at 6.30 and then headed around to the 7.30am Mass in St Mary's. I mentioned yesterday that Key West has wild chickens all over the place. A number joined me on my walk to Mass.

The theme of Mass today was the bread which God gives us as the source of life. Reflecting on the Manna in the desert and the gift of the Eucharist by Jesus. So here I am coming to recieve the Lord.

Ford Zachary Taylor State Park

I got back to the hotel at 8am and we had breakfast before leaving the hotel at 9am. My breakfast on the right, Drew had the same as me to begin and then two nut muffins to keep his sugar level up.

We then walked to Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. This is a 2 mile walk out from the town to the sea front. There are yet more lovely views from the park. It also gave us a chance to walk through some of the forest trails to see the birds and trees.  

This area is also famous for its beaches – though they are at their busiest during the notorious Spring Break rather than in August. 

A rain storm passed by for ten minutes while we were there, we could see it coming in from the sea, so could get under a Chickee House and keep, mainly, dry. The storm having passed over, the day returned to its delightful norm. 

We walked up and explored the Fort itself, it is in very good condition. The Fort was very important in the US’ fight against pirates in these waters. It was also crucial as a centre of Federal power during the Civil War with the Union forces being able to blockade the trade efforts of the South. Finally it reached its zenith in the Spanish-American War, 1898, when the ship which began the war, the USS Maine was blown up in Havana harbour after making its last call on US soil here in its home port of Key West. 

St. Paul's Episcopal Church

We left the State Park and walked back towards the town, it was only a little later when another, forecast, shower meant it was time for a coffee. We checked the forecast online and made our way across to the St Paul’s Episcopal Church as we had heard they had good examples of stained glass created by a local artist. One of our friends, Robin, who was one of the earliest followers of our holiday blogs, and a regular contributor both to the blog and our Flickr photos, is keen on stained glass and over the years we have tried to include some in our holiday photos to share with him. Today’s were lovely images that, unlike some modern art, were easily accessible in tone and content. Why not go over to Flickr and have a look.

We were planning to walk up to the Key West Cemetery, but another storm rolled in for the sea and this one was moving fast. Indeed it caught us about five blocks from the hotel, and poured so heavily that we had to stop under a awning and wait for it to move on before travelling the last five hundred yards to the hotel. By this time, with the rain passing the humidity ramped up into the 80%. So we thought better of the cemetery and opted for cool instead. Three occasional showers passed over during the afternoon, so I edited and loaded today’s photos, while Drew entertained himself by watching CNN and Fox to see how different one set of news stories could be based on your political bias or simply ignored if you don't like them! 

Dinner 

We had booked a table at Louie's Backyard when we arrived here yesterday. It was worth the effort, with beautiful views over the bay and a fine dining level of service, the experience was excellent.

While we ordered we had a lovely crunchy homemade bread, the menu was small, but hard to choose from as everything looked so good.

Drew opted for a Conch Chowder served with Balsamic Vinegar to add to taste. The lobster chowder had a lovely tomato soup taste and hot peppers giving it a great flavour while showcasing the little pieces of conch. The balsamic made a good contrast to the other tastes softing some of the sharpness with its sweet notes.

My choice may seem strange for me, but the sound of the salad from the menu made my mouth water, a good sign. It was Spinach Salad with anchovies and crispy prosciutto ham, the anchovies were rolled and deep fried in a light breadcrumb, they were salty and delightful with the ham and the spinach they formed a wonderful combination. There are times when something as simple as a salad can be a taste delight.

Drew's main was Pork Chop with a salsa verde, broccoli, black beans and queso fresco cheese. When it arrived Drew's eyes went wide as the size of the chop was amazing. The pig who provided this might have been some kind of mutant giant pig. This didn't spoil the flavour however as the pork had a nice juiciness. The pork had been rubbed with a very delicate mix of spices. Drew didn't eat many of the black beans, but the salsa, broccoli and cheese all went as did all of the huge chop.

I opted for the dish of the day, this was Yellowtail Snapper served over basmati rice, haricot vert, pickled peppers and tomatoes with Key Lime butter sauce. I had watched Drew eat Key Lime Pie on five occasions now, so it was nice to have the Key Lime flavour in my meal. The Snapper was more gentle in flavour than its Red version I tried a week last Saturday. This was fine as none of the other items on the plate overpowered it. The pickled peppers and tomatoes were both gently grilled and the pickling vinegar brought out the best of them. Yummy.

Drew was worried, due to the size of his chop, that he might not be able to manage dessert. But after a bit of effort he managed to eat the Lemon Cheesecake with candied orange and mixed berry coulis. He was glad that he had, the candied orange was sweet and tasty, he could have had an entire dessert of it. The Lemon cheesecake was surprising as instead of a crumb, which is common in a cheesecake, it was made of a very fine pastry, so more like a lemony tart, but no worse for that. The plate was empty at the end which is always a good sign.

We left the restaurant at 9.30 and walked back to the hotel and sorted our packing out ready for our departure tomorrow morning. 

Even on a shorted day like today we had walked 5.9 miles, a bit less than the 8 miles of the day before. Key West is an easy place to walk with lots of payments making this easy to do. We are back to Disney levels of walking, not like the week in Marco Island when our biggest day of walking, by a lot, was 4.3 miles and that was mainly in a Mall.