Parrothead Ramblings

I just can't find anything that sucks about Key West.

Man, nine days in Margaritaville can really take it out of a guy! Thankfully, it puts back more than it takes out. Now it's back to the grind, play catch up at work, put out fires, and detox. I was going to start the detox when I got home last night, but there was beer in the fridge crying out to be consumed. Who am I to turn down these valiant little soldiers who served me so well in Margaritaville? I'd be the John Kerry of Parrotheads. So, let me crack open another.... psssssst.....there, and tell you just what happened last week.

DAY 1 - Saturday: Eric the Adventurer and the Fetching Annette (who by the end of MOTM still had not earned a proper Parrothead name, and that's actually a good thing), were set to blaze the trail for us on Friday, keeping us advised of their progress along the way. Or so we thought. I should have known better when Eric emailed me a photo of an empty beer glass before they even got out of Sky Harbor. Turns out these two got no further than Florida City before they started looking for a bar. By the time we landed in Ft. Lauderdale 24 hours later, the Adventurers had made it only to Islamorada. We ended up reaching Key West about 1/2 hour behind them, and that was after we had beers at Papa Joes and some conch fritters at another hole-in the wall along the way with Pabla and Cheesehead.

Papa Joe's was the highlight of the trip down the keys. They have a great outdoor bar overlooking the water, the beer is cold, and they were thrilled to see us there in the wake of Hurricane Wilma. I'm pretty sure the Adventurers must have stopped in there just ahead of us, because Papa Joe was completely out of Miller Light. I'm convinced Eric drank it all and left the dregs for us. Anyway, we were sitting there bullshitting and watching something I'd never seen before: A blue crab on the surface of the water. I don't know how he managed to stay up there as long as he did, or just what the hell he was doing up there, but he was cruising around waving his claws at us when something even more remarkable happened. Three dolphins showed up and swam around on the surface looking at us. It was amazing! I've heard that dolphins are really intelligent, so I'm guessing they were there waiting for someone to throw them a Miller Light. Since Eric had already drank it all, they moved on and we were denied a great show. So much for "Adventurer." He's back to Cheap Bastard, which I think has kind of grown on him anyway.

There was lot of damage all down the Keys, and a lot of places were closed, but we stopped in to grab a bite at a little spot outside Islamorada. It was about then that Pabla got a call. She took the call, but then had an odd look on her face. Turns out it was Annette calling to tell us where they were, but Pab was not yet fully acquainted with her and was unsure who had called. It was not until much later that we all learned from Annette herself the true nature of the call. When Pab answered, Annette said words to the effect of "I found your number in my boyfriend's cell phone, and I wanna know just who the hell you are and why you're calling him."

Funny, but Pabla didn't share that part of the call with us. There's gotta be some history there......

Cheesehead and Pab were nice enough to put us up for a couple of nights until CB and Annette's condo in KW became available on Monday. It was high and dry, and a real beauty. It's also really close to a Circle K and a CVS Pharmacy, so alcohol and hangover remedies were just a few staggering steps away. I made my first run, and picked up an 18-pack to get us through the first few days. It barely got us through the first few hours, and we polished it off about 3AM.

First reality of life in Key West: There are a lot
of guys there who wear confortable shoes.
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