Keys Road Trip

February 28, 2009





Keys Road Trip

Blue Hole

When you live in Key West, a road trip can take on many meanings, most people refer to any trip to the mainland as a road trip. There are still a few things that our little island lacks and which may mean traveling up the Keys to Miami or Ft. Lauderdale. Then there are those who live elsewhere in Florida and consider a Keys Road trip as coming in the opposite direction.

Bahia Honda



For us, just about any trip up the Keys is a road trip, including a short drive to nearby Big Pine Key and Bahia Honda State Park which is just past Big Pine. It is a beautiful trip and there is all sorts of interesting stuff to do. In Big Pine, we visited the wonderful Big Pine Flea Market, which is held every weekend and then headed over to the Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge and visited the Blue Hole, a rare fresh water pond where Alligators can be seen.





Bat Tower

Next we headed on up to Bahia Honda State Park, which is home to one of the most beautiful beaches in the nation. It was a perfect Chamber of Commerce day and a wonderful day to be at the beach. On the way home, we stopped by one of the Keys many curiosities, the Bat Tower. In all my years here, I’d never seen the Bat Tower in person. It was built in 1929 in hopes that bats would move in and help alleviate the mosquito problem, alas bats have never moved in, yet the tower has stood vigil waiting for them, withstanding numerous hurricanes over the decades.






We also had the great pleasure to babysit for our friends Randy & Ellen over the weekend. They headed up the Keys to go to see a Leo Kottke concert and left their adorable kids( twins Katie & Abby and little brother Noah) for a fun overnighter at our house. We had a great time, making Smores over our outside fire pit. It was a fun time with some great kids.





We also managed to squeeze in a visit to an art opening for our friend Kevin Kelly. Kevin & his wife Rachel are old friends and are visiting their former home to the extent that the art show was held in Kate Peachy’s gallery, which was actually their home when they lived here. It was fun to see old friends gathered to celebrate their visit and Kevin’s wonderful art.

Kevin's opening

The Jones family with Rachel & Dylan

Dylan & Izzy

Walk on White

February 27, 2009



Happy Birthday Jasmine!

Walk on White

Rebecca, Michel & Kathy

Things have been flying at us fast and furious this week and I have to admit that I have been falling behind somewhat in postings to the blog. Work has gotten incredibly busy for both Kathy & myself as the onset of the Spring season brings all sorts of new activities and obligations.

Marky's studio

The past week has flown by and we have been on the go almost every night with some activity or another. The highlights of the early portion of the week included attending the monthly Walk on White gallery stroll, a birthday party for our friend Jasmine, the return of some old friends to town, and attending the annual show by the Quilt society of the Keys.

Quilt Show

Letty's studio

This month’s Walk on White was great as the in season crowds packed White Street to see openings at the many art galleries that line the street. We started at the Studios of Key West, where they were hosting a community potluck and featuring the latest exhibit, Storm Cycle by artist Thomas Mann. We spent a lot of time upstairs this month, visiting the working art studios of the likes of Guillermo Orozco, Letty Nowak, Mark Heddon, Marky Pierson & Sherry Sweet Tewell.

Sherry Sweet Tewell

Harrison Gallery

We next headed down the street to visit Stone Soup gallery and Helen Harrison’s very popular showing of wood work at her gallery. It was like old home week as Key West’s creative community was out in force for the walk. We ran into a friend and former resident, Vicki Weeks, who is in town on vacation. It’s always great to see old friends back in town.

Vicki, Allen & Roz

Tom, Greta, Vicki, Mark & Nancy

This week also found us headed to the Conch Farm for Friday night Happy Hour. We were there to celebrate the birthday of our friend Jasmine Kenna, but as usual for a Friday night, the place was packed to the gills with locals and we ran into yet more former residents who are visiting, Rachel & Kevin and their son Dylan who are here for a month from New York. It was a fun night out, though we didn’t stay out for the entire birthday celebration, which we heard later got a lot more “celebratory” as the evening progressed.

Jasmine's Birthday at the Conch Farm.

Kevin, Dylan & Rachel

Jodie & Rachel

Finally, I did something that I have never done on Saturday, when I went to the show of the local quilting society at Sugarloaf School. Men after all, got in for free. It was pretty interesting actually, the quilts are real works of art and it was an impressive showing all around.

Quilt Show



TSKW Artists