Key West

Was back in Key West again this weekend -- brief visit with my friend C and her (and now my) friend T.

C and T both discussed Key West with me -- I've been once before, it's not like I'm an expert by any means, but I think I have a pretty good handle on the town and what is going on. Both asked me why anyone would live in Key West.

My thoughts were as follows: it is a great place to escape reality. Key West doesn't resemble anything that is "normal" life -- it is mostly a tourist place and certainly many people completely lose their minds in Key West. For example, today while we were eating lunch, around 4 p.m., at the Grand Cafe on Duvall St., we noticed a few people across the street. One female, dressed in a long skirt, bikini top and no shoes, and one male, dressed in shorts, tshirt and a hat, were sitting along Duvall smoking a joint. Yes, you read that correctly. Also, you might have noted that I know exactly what the woman was wearing. The reason why I know EXACTLY what she was wearing and EXACTLY what she was NOT wearing is that while she sat on the street, she was sitting with her knees up and legs open-ish and the skirt was not nearly long enough to cover what was obviously a very hairy snatch. Yes.

Take a moment.

Yes, I saw another woman's vagina today, from across the street. Did I mention I think people lose their minds in KW? Yes. Good.

Now you don't need to take my word for it, my two companions happened to look over there at about the same time and we all looked at each other and said: OMG, did you see that?

In other Key West news, I learned how to open a non-twist beer bottle without an opener from two German guys on Smather's Beach. I found out that Key West Southernmost Wheat isn't a bad choice of beer. I also had breakfast at Camille's -- which may go down in history as my best breakfast ever -- and those of you that know my love of breakfasts know that this is a very high honor.

In perhaps the STRANGEST news (yes, even stranger than seeing a vagina on Duvall Street), last night (Friday), C, T and I went to a bar near their rental on Stock Island -- Hogfish Bar and Grill. We sat at the bar, had some good drinks and generally bullshitted. When we were getting ready to leave, we stepped outside on the porch area and I happened to see a woman that looked familiar to me. I thought maybe college, maybe Indy, I wasn't really sure. She was that kind of vaguely familiar.

Both C and T thought I was full of crap. So I called her over, and asked if she was from Indiana. She said, no, she was from Wisconsin. It was then it clicked. She was the bartender from Malarkey's that first served me Spotted Cow on the night PM and I were there for our conference. That fateful night was also the first night I met Pete and Babs.

So what do you think the odds are that a bartender from Wausau, WI and I are in a bar on Stock Island, FL at the same time? Bizarre.