Tourists on the Crawl

We had a great visit, yesterday with Candy Gandolfi Martin and her husband Bob.Those goobers drove all of the way down from the Sarasota area during the wee hours of the morning for a day trip!  That's dedication.

We met them at The Green Parrot. The Parrot is a great old historic place that has been there since 1890. 

It's a popular spot with a great story so I'll save that for a full post. 

When we first arrived, Bob was in the shop getting a T-shirt.  When he came out, we ordered drinks and settled in to catch up. Candy was looking forward to some beach time but, it only took a few minutes befor Bob declared his intention for full Bar Crawl credit. I liked Bob. 

Here's a pic at the Parrot with Candy, Melissa and I.  

Melissa left us here to go write for a few hours.

From The Green Parrot, we headed up to show them the place we think is the most interesting bar in Key West, Capt Tony's.

Although it trumpets itself as the original location of Hemingway's old hangout, Sloppy Joes, Capt Tony's back story is  much richer.  I won't tell the whole story here, but it includes pirates, hangings and Jimmy Buffet.  How is that for a tease to another post?

After that stop, Candy wanted drinks at the Smallest Bar but, for some reason, it wasn't open. Instead we stopped at the famous Sloppy Joe's and grabbed seats at the front bar.  Candy almost went for just a soft drink!  No kidding. We were all just as shocked as you guys.  Props to her, though, she quickly changed her mind and added a dose of rum.  Her crawl lived on! I'll break here for your applause..........

Three down.  That's a solid Small crawl. Two more stops and they would earn official credit for a full Bar Crawl. Candy talked about maybe heading over to the beach before they hit their final stops but, I pointed out that it would be a violation of Rule 3, sec 6 of the Key West By Laws.

Rule 3, sec 6

         “All activity must be consecutive.  The Bar Crawl or Small Crawl shall be deemed terminated for a participant in the event of any of the following;

a.   A participant enters and departs a drinking establishment without ordering an alcohlic drink

b.   A participant departs the establishment for 20 or more minutes.

c.   Participants enter any establishment with a liquor license and fail to order drinks.  In the event that it is a food stop, participants must also order a drink at the restaurant.  In that event, the stop is counted toward the Crawl.

That clinched it,  We pressed ahead. The lady's a trooper. The final two stops were easy. The Smallest Bar still hadn't opened so we diverted into The Bull. This is the place where Melissa and I go to hear Dawn Wilder sing. Melissa rejoined us here and Stop #4 was soon complete.

From there we slid on down to Caroline's for Cuban sandwiches and rum.  Not only was the Crawl complete but we had finished before 3pm.  One of our earliest ever!  That even gave them enough time to get Candy to the beach.

 Bob and Candy, you guys were tons of fun and you're welcome back any time! 

Shore Fishing: The Original Social Network

One of my earliest memories is fishing with a cane pole along the river which ran through my Grandparents farm in Wisconsin. My Dad never risked mentioning fishing unless he had already decided to go - and right then! I was a little guy and I dearly loved everything about the experience. I was thrilled by every wiggle of the bobber and every Creek chub I caught was a trophy. Of course, I also loved hanging out with Dad. I was even thrilled about digging the worms for bait.  I wasn't particularly thrilled about digging at the base of the manure pile but that was where the worms lived. I'm sure they knew what was best.

Maybe it's my Tom Sawyer intro to the sport but I've always found something special about fishing from shore. When you're not in a boat, no one's a stranger. You're with friends who are there for the same reason; you love being out by the water. You chat like casual old pals after just a few minutes and you enjoy their catches almost as much as your own. It's pretty cool.  Shore fisherman are one big extended family.

 

Today Melissa and I took a brief drive and I fished alongside James. When we arrived, he had already caught a couple fish that he happily showed me but the action had slowed down. Luckily for both of us, I had some different bait. My live shrimp stirred up some more action.

James was down from Miami for a few days with his girlfriend. She went shopping and he went fishing.  What an awesome arrangement! 

Just after my second fish, we heard a kid calling, "Grandpa, Grandpa, Hurry up." We looked around, confused, but it was James' ring tone.  We all laughed. Then he sheepishly hit, "Ignore" and we laughed again. Something tells me he doesn't take many calls while he's fishing - at least until he's ready to go. James was funny.

Today we fished at the “inner Mole Pier" on the west end of the Key West. It’s just one, of many, local spots with lots of fish (and plenty of big ones).   The Lower Keys have tons of other piers and bridges, too, and they're all lined with brothers and sisters I haven’t met yet.  Maybe tomorrow is a good day for another family reunion.