We’re on our way to revisit a favorite haunt, but this time with virgins.
Several months back, our friends in St. Petersburg invited us to join them and two other friends for a few days in Key West. They’d never been to the island, but we had been singing its praises for a long time. Of course, we couldn’t pass up a chance to visit one of our favorite vacation destinations or to see Dan and Alex, so we signed on immediately. When their other friends dropped out, we did some asking around among our friends in Columbus and happily were able to recruit Matt and Rob to join in the fun. While Matt has been to Key West many times, Rob, like Dan and Alex, is a Key West virgin.
Yesterday, we flew down to St. Petersburg to spend the night with Dan and Alex. They’re house looks lovely, of course. Alex is so handy. I’m quite jealous of his ability to build simple furniture, make lamps, sew cushions, and make all manner of domestic improvements.
For dinner, the four of us joined Mark’s old best friend, Dean, and Dean’s wife, Diane, for dinner at Cassis in downtown St. Petersburg. We sat out side even though it was a bit chilly (thanks for that, Dan!) and had a really pleasant evening filled with good conversation and good food. Too much food, but good food. We also stumbled upon a shop called Agora that was filled with imports from Japan. We bought some small, well priced dishes and trays for the house along with a few unique Christmas presents.
When we got back to the house, I was too exhausted to do my blog entry, so I’m typing now while we drive from St. Petersburg to Key West—about 8 hours. I’m kind of anxious to cross the Everglades. It would be inaccurate to say I’m fascinated by them, but I have been curious about them since I was a boy. In my mind, they’re one of empty areas on the map that Conrad talks about at the beginning of The Heard of Darkness.
I’m going to try to add a photo from the Everglades when we get there. I’m excited to say, though, that after being in the Dominican Republic without a real camera, I bought a new DSLR last week to replace the one that was stolen from my garage last October. I should be able to put up some really nice shots from this trip.
(Turns out, from the highway the Everglades look a lot like this.
