Holiday Bike Tour 2011

December 19, 2011





Mark



Holiday Bike Tour 2011

In Key West, people go crazy for holiday lights. There are certain areas of town where entire blocks of neighbors try to outdo each other and it makes for all sorts of holiday lights viewing tours. This is the first time in years that we did not take a trolley train ride to view the lights, though being one of the houses that is on the tour route, we see countless passes of the trains in front of our house each evening. Often we hear our friends screaming from the trains and trolleys as they pass, we almost always hear cheers and applause which is nice.

Breanne & Rosie

Wendy & Scott





This year the traffic has really increased, in addition to the many packed trains, there have been a number of trolleys from both of the trolley tour companies in town. In addition, the number of holiday bike tours has exploded and it seems that on most nights there are one or more organized bike tours coming by, which is really a cool thing.

Erin & Ryan

Elena



Jolly

The bike tour that we join each year has to be one of the oldest and most established that there is, though I am not about to get in to the trouble that I did last year when I posted upon the origin of the tour, which apparently is open to debate. Regardless of who or how it began, it is going strong and we love it and join each year.



Josh

Rudi & Anja

As in the past years, the tour got started at our friends Nan & Mark’s home on Grinnell Street, where our group assembled and started things off with the traditional drink of our tour, the White Russian. The tasty libation also known as “reindeer milk” flowed freely and there was even a portable distribution system developed to bring the concoction on the road.



Erin



Richard, Nancy & Mary

That is one of the great things about our ride, being “unofficial” , we have no set guidelines about allowing beverages and people are free to decide for themselves if they want to bring refreshments along. They aren’t really needed as we make a couple of excellent pit stops along the route. This year we stopped by the home of friends Chris & Erin for refueling and we also made the traditional extended stop (which is basically a party) at the beautiful home of Nan & Mark’s friend Robert.



Michael & Josh

Haven & Elena

Tony & Nancy

This stop featured a wonderful open bar and some delicious food and snacks and has become so enjoyable that a number of the riders never really make it much past this point. After a nice stop, we did keep going, riding around the new town area that is packed with homes featuring beautiful holiday displays. It was another fun night in a long line of holiday outings.

Bill & Josh

Kathy

Haven & Ryan

Holiday bike tours offer all sorts of advantages over the more traditional train/ trolley tours. You get great exercise, use zero fuel, can get up close and personal and spend time viewing displays rather than just whizzing by and you can make multiple stops along the way. You are also free to mingle with the other participants as well as the homeowners making it a far more communal experience. Plus it is another opportunity to hang out with good friends. We love it and are already looking forward to doing it again next year.

Nan

Christmas Time is Here

December 18, 2011



Fiona, Beth, Kathy & Greg

Sheila

Christmas Time is Here

This week has seen the holiday spirit kick-in to full gear with countless events, parties and gatherings held almost every night to help celebrate the season. Each night there seems to be more and more options and we find ourselves at times having to choose between various fun events and sometimes we end up missing out on something. We just can’t do it all, as hard as we might try.

Graffy, Randy & Sheila

Greta

Kathy & Jim

One event that we would not possibly miss is the holiday party at the home of our friends Greg & Beth. It was at this party a couple of years ago that we were all surprised to learn that they had gotten married and were able to watch their wedding video as part of the party, for this and future years, we will join them in celebrating not only the holidays but their anniversary as well.

Marilyn & Sue





Greg & Beth live in Key Haven and once again the party was held on a night when the local Fire Rescue brought Santa Claus through the neighborhood on a fire engine that was decked out in holiday lights. The party moved out into the street as Santa and his firemen entourage passed by the front of the house. It is just another of the cool holiday traditions that is found in the Keys. It was a beautiful, warm and perfect evening for the party and we had a ton of fun.

Kathy, Nadene & Renee

Randy, Brad, Jim & Rhett



We both actually had a little too much fun as the food and libations flowed a bit too easily and we each had slight hangovers the next day. I think it was worth the minor suffering because the party was fantastic. It was such a great group of people and I am pretty sure a good time was had by all.







We had another reason to celebrate as well; our friend Fiona has at last become a US citizen after seventeen years of living here. Originally from South Africa, Fiona finally took the oath last week and is now official. Another friend, Adriana who is from Slovakia also recently became a citizen was there as well and we want to congratulate them both.

Fiona, Brenda & Kathy

Fiona & Adriana

Kathy & Greg

Openings & Santacon

December 16, 2011



The Green Pineapple

Mark Duper



Openings & Santacon

In December, even the regularly scheduled events take on a holiday feel as the frenzied focus of the island spreads to just about everything. This week’s monthly “Walk on White” gallery walk featured a holiday theme and if that wasn’t enough for a single evening Kathy & I hit the Grand Opening parties of some other exciting new businesses that just happened to be scheduled the same evening.





We started the evening at the Studios of Key West, which took a break from the Fantazimo burlesque bonanza for a night and hosted a craft show featuring the work of local artisans. Also unveiled that evening was the fantastic new creation by local artist extraordinaire Lauren McAloon outdoors in the sculpture garden of the Studios. The amazing creation should be seen to be truly appreciated and I would urge people to head over to the Studios to check it out.

Marky

Christa & Najada

After hanging out for a while at The Studios, we headed over to the first Grand Opening of the evening, the opening of the wonderful new creative gallery Art Space at 1102 Truman Avenue. This fantastic new gallery is a collaboration of the wildly talented and creative team of Marky Pierson & Michael Marrero and features work by each of them as well as a cadre of some of the most talented and creative artists in Key West.



Kathy, Jolly & Shawna

Liz



With a full season schedule on tap for the upcoming year, the gallery looks to become another cultural touchstone in an increasingly blossoming creative community on our island. With upcoming shows focusing on graffiti and tattoos and erotic art, the focus here is on the edgy and offbeat- which works fine for us and is a welcome addition to the Key West art scene. The soft opening was crowded with happy people checking out the art and the cool space that Marrero & Pierson have created. It was brilliant and a lot of fun. We wish them good luck with this new venture.





Our next stop was at the new Duval Street store the Green Pineapple, located at the upper Duval street former home of the Lucky Street Gallery. This fantastic new retail store was packed with cool merchandise and happy people who jammed the place for their opening. Another excellent addition to our island, the upscale gift store is full of quality unique gifts and is also cool because our friend Gretchen has opened a new Yoga space in the back of the store which is beautiful as well.





This week also featured a brief visit to a local car dealership of one of the NFLs greatest wide receivers and half of the famous "Marks Brothers" tandem that caught so many passes from Miami Dolphins hall of fame QB Dan Marino, Mark Duper. Duper was on hand signing autographs along with a pair of Dolphins cheerleaders. I attended high school with the other half of the duo, Mark Clayton at Cathedral High in Indianapolis and wanted to meet and say hello to Duper, who remains good friends with Clayton. We had a nice chat and I shared some amusing stories about Clayton's high school days.





The holiday season continued in earnest on Saturday evening with the second annual Key West version of Santacon. Santacon is a nationwide phenomena which first came to the island last year and basically features crowds of revelers all dressed up as Santa Claus or some other Christmas themed costume. A perfect fit for our island. While, I could not participate in the whole event, I had heard enough about it from friends to know that I wanted to head down to the Key West bight to see the start of the bar stroll.





Rick



Todd & Celia

It kicked off at the Conch Farm and by the time I got there somewhere in the neighborhood of sixty Santas were there, with more arriving by the minute. It was a festive group with a good number of familiar faces heading off for a night of holiday merriment that included jamming over 40 santas into the World’s Smallest Bar on Duval, breaking the previous record set last year.



Carolyn

David & Breanne

Breakfast with Howard & Najada

Art Space Key West