Wedding Hangover? Not for us!

We were probably the only couple in the world to get up early the morning after their wedding to hang out with family and stroll around town. So, there we were. We started and ended at Kelly's Caribbean Grill (which can be found here), which doubles as a micro-brewery, which triples as the old HQ for Pan Am. The building itself has every essence of Lost (the TV show), with open air dining and tropical vegetation around, in, and on all the walls and the whole essence of a creepy, failed airline known for crashing planes. Though their famous Red ale was fermenting (much to the dismay of many a local beer drinker) and though apparently you can't buy alcohol in Key West before noon on Sunday (which, apparently, was the only way the bartender could distinguish us as non-locals because we are THAT awesome), they did have a delightful pale ale on tap that fit in well with the lush, humid surroundings. If only they had microbrews on Lost.


We also got to enjoy giant people, these freaky statues outside the old customs house, now the Key West Art and Historical Society...

... and shop for our new house in the Truman Annex, home of Harry Truman's Little White House, which was disturbingly ugly while surrounded by some of the most perfect, Caribbean Colonial architecture.

Hemingway May or May Not Be Pissed Off At Us

These two photos I think accurately represent how totally awesome our wedding was. How many people that you know got to make Ernest Hemingway shake a drunken dead fist by climbing all over his furniture at their wedding?

Actually, I think he would have been rather proud of the half-drunken debauchery and Zydeco music.



I would like to thank Laura (who you can find here), my mom and dad, Dan, JM's Mom and Harper, and my awesome brother Daron and sister-in-law Kattsee for making this wedding the coolest one ever!

Also, if you're interested in seeing more, the professional photos can be found here. Thanks Rob O'Neal!

Tones and Highlights

Sometimes the beauty of the Keys is best displayed in the dramatic tones of black and white.

Photo courtesy of Laura Settle

Held Hostage

Don't you love rich people who are irresponsible with their money and then get screwed by the very system they tried to beat and want us to feel sorry for them? Yeah, poor guys.

At least this guy has a sense of humor:


In case you can't read the sign, it says: "Held Hostage by Ace Insurance Co." As seen in Key West, Florida.

Buddies

These are my oldest and bestest friends. And this photo pretty much sums them all up. I love you guys!


On this day, we slept in, went to the beach, sat on the beach, hung out in the ocean, went back to the beach, had lunch on the beach, had a drink on the beach, and did all manner of beachy things. I think Key West may be my next stop on my never-ending nomad lifestyle.

The Civil War, Island Style

Dry Tortugas wins out as one of the most remote national parks I have ever been to. It sits almost as far away from Key West as Cuba, a tiny mound of rock and brick and sand silently guarding the Union and it's watery resources from the clutches of the wily Confederacy and their devastating navy. The Gulf of Mexico was held by the Union from this point and it's awfully big guns. You can sail there, if you have your own boat; otherwise you hop on board one of two or so ferries operated by official park concessionaires. We went with Yankee Freedom and it's resident interpreters and were not disappointed (though some of us didn't have the proper sea legs!).


Not only does the fort in the middle of the ocean reek of its military past, but it also hails infamy from a history of superb bird watching, moat sharks, a hangout for Portuguese Man O' War, and (of course) pirates! Rumors of sunken treasure float as freely and copiously as the barracuda that stalk oblivious snorkelers in the island's shallow waters, and every discarded boat-part-turned-coral-reef looks at first to be remnants of the Black Pearl.


It's a bit of a jaunt that demands a pre-dawn wake-up call and, for those faint of stomach, a couple of well placed dramamine, but the trip is well worth it to see this gem of a park in our off-shore tropical paradise.

If I had a Boat...

I'd go out on the ocean...

And if I had a pony...


I probably would not ride him on my boat... that would be cruel.


And then PETA would be after me, and they're scary.

But I would get to see these things every day!