So That's What Relaxed Feels Like

The beauty of a vacation where there aren't any set plans and where you're familiar with the locale already is that you can take it easy on day 1. We checked in, walked to the grocery store, stocked up, and walked back. Still no bag. We hung out, planned our method of getting to old town (we're in new town), and left to catch the bus. Missed it by about a minute, as it drove by us on our way to the stop. Next bus? Over an hour later. Whoops. We walked the 4 miles to old town, seeing parts of the city we'd never gone near before.

We made it, bit leg sore, to Square One for dinner. Excellent food, fantastic drinks, incredible service. My one complaint was that my steak was a bit dry on the outside. Hard to explain, but I think it was pan-seared instead of done over a grill. Which is fine, since the place isn't a steakhouse.

After that, we wandered down Duval to show the only member of our group who hadn't been here before what Key West was about. At Sloppy Joe's, we turned left to go to Captain Tony's, the original Sloppy Joe's. You know what? I like the place. We all did. The guy playing the hits of the 90's all night on his guitar helped, but so did the fact the place wasn't a scene. It was an old dive with a small crowd having a good time. The other Sloppy Joe's was a packed mess of noise, and nowhere near as appealing. You could see Hemingway sitting where we were... not so much the other.

When the musician started playing Crazy Game of Poker, I realized he was just the live version of BDR, and I was in good place.

Being effectively up for 36 hours, I didn't complain much on calling it a night relatively early, and not exactly sober. We grabbed a cab and had a great talk with the driver. We bashed Michigan, and then found out he was from there, but good-natured about the whole thing. He came to the Keys 12 years ago for a couple weeks, had car trouble, was told it would take a while to fix, and decided to stay. I told him he had a terrible mechanic if it's taken this long. He's a carpenter by trade, but has now taken to driving full time and hammering part time with no regrets. I see a similar story in Al's future - "I came for a few months... 15 years ago."

Speaking of Al, I got a couple names texted to me check out. We'll be sure to find Irene in the upcoming nights, especially since we were next door to her last night.

I still love this place. Oh, and my suitcase is waiting in the lobby for me.