And the Winner is…………….

I sure hope it's the camera that's fuzzy..... not the room


Goodbye sunsets











Trying to pick the best bar in Key West is like trying to pick the pretty girl in a beauty pageant! After much research and hours of contemplation (some of it involving one’s navel………the contemplation…not the research) we have determined that Rob was right. The Green Parrot Bar, winner by a slim margin, requires its bands in order to win. They did lose major points given that their bands only play Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Nevertheless, they won huge “quality” points because their bands are the most professional and really do rock. The clientele was also the most “eclectic” and local. Other bars have bands playing all day, every day. In some establishments using the term “band” might be a bit of a stretch. Drunk guys banging on old guitars seem to qualify in some places.

The competition was quite tight, with honourable mention going to “Schooners Dockside Bar”……happy hour starts at 7:00 ………A.M. (You gotta give major points for that) and “Hog’s Breath Saloon”…..(“Hog’s breath is better than no breath at all”), and finally “Sloppy Joe’s”, a busy, busy Hemingway favourite. The biggest disappointment by far was “Jimmy Buffet’s Margaritaville”. This place is the McDonalds of KW bars. All plastic and contrived!! Methinks Mr. Buffet made his $$$ and fled. He apparently didn’t even show up for this year’s “Parrot Head Convention”, held each year in his honour. Shame!

We are learning a great deal from our fellow RV’ers and… aren’t they a diverse group! It is amazing how many people have “chucked it all”, purchased palatial “coaches” (the PC word for lavish RV’s) and lots of toys, roaming the country from end to end. Yesterday a “full timer” who spends the fall/winter in KW, the spring in Arizona and the summer in Minnesota gave us a recommendation for an outdoor restaurant on a remote Key, we would never have found in a million years. All locals…and us! Lots to learn.

We said goodbye to Key West and its sunsets and, are now heading north to set down roots for 1 ½ weeks in Fort Meyers Beach. Brenda is convinced that somewhere in the Captiva, Gasparilla area, we will find a winter home for future years. More research! We have greatly enjoyed the Bahamian Out Islands for over 30 years but, they are getting more developed and we are getting less so. We are looking to find that “undiscovered corner of Florida”………. Yes mother………we did have a lot to drink in KW!!