Key West 2019 - Day 2

Despite early rain, day two of our 2019 Key West pilgrimage was terrific.  The homes tour was over the top.  While typically focusing on old homes, this year a number of newer or significantly enlarged homes filled with amazing art work were the focus. Those thinking of visiting can check things out here as to when tours take place.  Later in the afternoon, the husband and I went by Local Luxe, a great and reasonably priced jewelry store at 515 Fleming Street, a few blocks down the street from The Equator Resort (the owner, Barbara, is very nice).  

Our evening consisted of dinner at Hot Tin Roof - where the photo above was taken - and seeing Young Frankenstein at the Waterfront Playhouse (the acting was superb as was the singing and dance routines.

Today, 12 of us will do lunch at Lattitudes on Sunset Key - an annual ritual - and this evening we are having a dual birthday dinner for two friends on the trip with us.  The afternoon will consist of lazing by the pool at The Equator.

Key West 2019 - Day 1

We arrived safely in Key West yesterday at 11:15 am.  In keeping a promise to the husband, I stayed off the computer and office email all day, although I went through over 100 office emails this morning.  We lazed around the pool at the Equator and reconnected with guys we see here each year this same weekend.  As always, we enjoyed the cocktail hour at the Equator before heading to Duval Street for dinner at Mangoes (see image at left) and then another cocktail at Bourbon Street Pub where we saw one of our favorite female impersonators, Porche (see image below) who doesn't do costume changes but instead changes her demeanor and voice to mimic numerous singers.  Her Carol Channing, Judy Garland and Janis Joplin imitations are wonderful - and she is hysterically funny.

Today, more friends - including our European travel companions - arrive and after some time by the pool, we will be doing the historic homes tour this afternoon and biking around the island. Later, the daily cocktail party and then dinner and a play down at the Red Barn Theater. 

Key West 2018 - Day 1 (Cont.) and 2

So far our annual trip to Key West has been great fun even though I spent a good part of Thursday afternoon and Friday morning working on loan documents for a large securitized loan transaction. At least I got to sit and review documents in a tropical paradise at a quiet table away from the activities around the pools at The Equator.   Thursday evening, a group of us from the guesthouse went to Seven Fish for a wonderful dinner (see the image above).  As is always the case, the guests at the Equator are from all over the USA and a number of foreign countries.  Among our group at dinner was a guy from St. Petersburg, Russia and his American husband and a Canadian (included in the price of the stay at The Equator is a daily evening happy hour aimed at encouraging guests to meet each other.)  Several other couples are visiting from Virginia and I may have picked up a new real estate client.  Yesterday, we did the historic homes tour and then had dinner at 951 Prime.  Today we are headed to Latitudes on Sunset Key for lunch with a group of clients/friends.  

For those who have never visited Key West, I encourage you to visit.  This is my 10th trip!  For the husband, it is probably his 30th visit.  Making it even better, the weather has been absolutely perfect.

Key West 2017 - Day 3

Yesterday was a wonderful day here in the paradise known as Key West.  As is our usual practice, we did the historic homes tour (see the image above) in the morning.  That was followed up with lunch at Louie's Backyard overlooking the ocean with one of the husband's clients who winters in Marathon Key - she is a combination of Auntie Mame and the unsinkable Molly Brown - where we enjoyed wonder food and adult beverages before biking back to the Equator Resort. 

Yours truly and the husband

The afternoon was spent by the pool and then dinner at the elegant Marquesa down the street (see image below).  Today, we will relax some more and then rendezvous with friends and a former neighbor for Tea Dance at La Te Da on Duval Street. 

click image to enlarge

Key West Vacation - Day 2

Day two of our Key West get away was most enjoyable even though I spent several hours in the morning dealing with law office e-mails and document review for clients.  After a few hours by the pool at the Equator we went on a historic homes tour run by the Old Island Restoration Foundation.  Every time we are in Key West we take the homes tour if it is taking place during our visit.  One of the backyard pools on the tour is below.  The homes on the tour were the following:

1. 320 Peacon Lane. Among the City’s early families were the Peacons. They first settled in a Bahamian cottage constructed shortly after the 1846 hurricane and stayed through 4 generations.  Their tiny home is still at the core of this delightful spread of additions and gardens.  Two “Ceramic Stars” speak to the care put into its preservation.

2. 712 Eaton Street. By 1897, Richard Peacon, Jr., born and raised on Peacon Lane, had become a prosperous merchant and built his house up the hill.  Known by its distinctive “octagon” front, the house was renovated in the 1975 for interior designer, Angelo Donghia, and later owned by Calvin Klein.

Download a printable version of the tour map and house descriptions

3. 1112 Elgin Lane. On the east end of town around the turn of the 20^th Century, a family of spongers built cottages near the water’s edge.  Descendants kept the old family home until 1993.  Extensive renovations completed by the second (and current) owners gave respectful nods to those nautical predecessors and earned a Ceramic Star in 1996.

4. 1212 Georgia Street As the City expanded, a grocer set up shop next to his “country” home near bustling cigar factories and other businesses.  A prominent lawyer added his home-office some seven decades later.  Paint has just dried on a total renovation; the latest in a series of transformations since 1905.

5. 703 Elizabeth Street. Real estate investing is nothing new.  This conch cottage near the top of Solares Hill is one of many houses constructed for tenant occupancy.  White finishes and uncluttered contemporary decor refresh spaces where a family of cigar makers lived and worked a century ago.

After the homes tour, it was back to the pool and then cocktail hour at The Equator where we met more interesting guys, a couple of whom were likewise from Virginia.  Then we did a quick wardrobe  change and headed down to the roof top of the La Concha hotel (the tallest building in Key West) for yet another cocktail.  The sunset is below:

We finished the evening with dinner at La Te Da (we will be back on Sunday for Tea Dance) and then a visit to Bourbon Street where a plethora of dancers were entertaining the crowd, both gay and straight.