Dan's 40th Birthday!

April 20, 2012

Happy 40^th Dan!

 

 

In celebration of our friend and neighbor Dan’s 40^th birthday, Kathy and I had the good fortune to be invited along with 40 or so of Dan’s friends on his birthday trolley ride extravaganza. Dan & his wife Ann live just across of Fogarty Street from our house and we share many of the same crazy and fun friends, so I knew that the birthday party, which would travel about town from bar to bar would most likely be crazy fun and it certainly lived up to those expectations and then some.

Kathy

*Photo by Nick Doll


The starting point was held at our favorite bar, and certainly one of Dan’s favorite, The Porch. In fact, I think Dan swiped the idea and much of the itinerary from the Porch’s holiday party which was similarly mobile via trolley and had many of the same stops along the route. Hey if it is a good idea and a ton of fun, why mess with success?

Michael & Liz

 Kathy and I headed down to the Porch arriving just in time for the scheduled 8 PM departure time. The lucky forty or so guests joined Dan and Ann for a quick beer and a group photo on the steps of the Porch before loading aboard the trolley to head off in to the night. The mood was festive as we headed down Duval and then out of Old Town altogether towards our first stop at Shanna Key, the Irish Pub located just a few blocks from our house.

 Nick & Michael


We remained at Shanna Key long enough for a drink then re-boarded the trolley and took a short ride over to Dan and Ann’s house where they had prepared a huge amount of food and drinks including delicious shots for all. We hung out there long enough to fill up on food and for the traditional birthday cake.

Our next stop was at Don’s Place on Truman, where we continued the party and even found some additional friends hanging out, which made for a good time. Next, we headed back up in to New Town to the Conch Town bar, a place that neither Kathy nor I had been previously. Popular with the locally born Conchs, the bar was a fitting stop off for the birthday trolley tour. We mostly sat at the outdoor tables hanging out, having some more drinks and enjoying the delicious Wendy’s food that our friends Liz & Erin walked through the drive through to get.

*photo by Nick Doll

Nick, Keith & Dan

I think Conch Town may have been our longest stop, we were there for awhile before everyone piled back in to the trolley and we headed to our final official stop, the ‘gentleman’s club’, Bare Assets on Truman. Having forty at least slightly tipsy revelers suddenly showing up was a boon for the strip club I am sure and Dan seemed to take full advantage of the fact that it was his birthday. 

I am generally not a big fan of strip clubs, but I must admit it was sort of fun with such a large group of friends, the dancers seemed much less aggressive, perhaps there is safety in numbers and watching my crazy friends was certainly entertaining. Alas, all good things have to come to an end and before long the trolley was loading up for a trip back downtown to the Porch. It was a fun evening and a great way to celebrate a birthday. Thanks to Dan and Ann.

 Kathy & Tony

Bunny Hop

April 17, 2012

Bunny Hop



Michael

Kathy



The past two weeks have flown by for some unknown reason and as each day passes I have fallen farther and farther behind in keeping up with my blog. So today’s entry will go back two Sundays to Easter weekend and hopefully I can get back on track soon. Easter weekend was busy and fun, as Kathy & I recovered from the fantastic Easter eve party at the Porch and enjoyed a fantastic Easter brunch at the Westin with friends.



Najada, Kathy, Aaron & Howard



Before that, Kathy once again reprised her role as the Easter Bunny. Since she is no longer working as a preschool teacher, I thought that her days in a bunny suit were over, but the Key West library was so impressed with her from their Easter event last year, that they purchased a brand new bunny costume and asked that she reprise her bunny appearance once again.

Eric and Kathy





The library puts on a fantastic Easter event with hundreds of kids of all ages showing up and over 3000 candy-filled eggs given out at their Easter egg hunt. They also have a number of other activities and fun stuff for the kids to do during the celebration. Kathy had a great time, interacting with kids once again. She saw a lot of familiar faces and the kids really responded to her bunny.



Kim & Kathy

Kathy & Nancy

It made for a fun afternoon at the library. A number of our friends happened by as well and Kathy is always a big hit in her bunny suit, delighting both the young and old. I think this may become an annual occurrence as the wonderful library staff seemed pleased with the bunny as well. I must say their staff does a spectacular job with the event, kudos and thanks to them for all their work.

Kim, Kathy, Reggie and Terry

Scott and Wendy

Easter morning we rode our bikes downtown to enjoy a traditional Easter brunch at the restaurant at the Westin, where we met our friends Gae, Kim, Terry & Reggie. The Westin has what in my mind is the best Sunday brunch in town and they do it up extra special on holidays such as Easter. Word has gotten out as the place was packed with mostly locals and we saw a bunch of our friends.







The other big event of the week was attending the latest performance by the fantastic Key West Contemporary Dance Company at the Waterfront Playhouse, “1969”. The dance production produced and choreographed by the wonderful and talented Kyla Piscopink featured local dancers including our good friend and my personal trainer Leigh (who was fantastic).







The performance featured music exclusively from the late sixties era and was moving, exciting and fun all at the same time. The dancing was spectacular and the crowd appreciative. It was yet another fun evening of entertainment.