pdarrah
It's nice to know you are real, too
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2004
- Messages
- 1,968
Part 2: Continued from Part 1
Sunday, October 24: Key West & Conch Fritters
We slept in slightly this first morning I dont think DS woke us up until about 8:00am! We discussed our plans for the day and DS declared that he wanted to stay at the club rather than go to Key West with us. The only thing he wanted to do at Key West was to taste conch fritters and he informed me that I could bring some back for him!
We had forgotten about putting out the card the night before to get a continental breakfast delivered to the room, so we went up to Topsiders. Since we werent in a hurry, we had a leisurely breakfast only occasionally interrupted with Can I go to the club NOW?
We watched the ship arrive and maneuver to the dock and then we took DS to the club. We told the counselors when we expected to be back.
As soon as the ship was cleared, DH and I headed out into Key West. We had decided to visit Nancy Forresters Secret Garden. This garden was featured on the HGTV show Secret Gardens of Key West and part of the reason we were interested is that we are involved with a garden at home that was on Secret Gardens of Chicago. I had found direction on the web, which was a good thing I dont think you would have a prayer of finding this place without good directions! The garden is very tropical with a lot of palms and orchids. There are also numerous cages with parrots that seem to be very well cared for. It was a very relaxing, cool, lovely place. After visiting the garden, we looked at our map and decided that we were fairly close to the Key West Cemetery that is supposed to be interesting. It was somewhat interesting in a low-key way but very, very hot! After sweltering for a while, we started back toward the ship. On the way, we stopped by Bos Fish Wagon for a late lunch. The décor here is basically a bunch of junk it is made of old bits and pieces and is a real mess. I guess you could call it atmospheric, but I am not sure it is Good atmosphere! The food however, was very, very good. We had fish & chips and an order of conch fritters. The fish was fantastic and the conch fritters were good. I dont have any comparison for the fritters since I havent had them before. They were good, but I dont think I would go way out of my way for them. A couple of the fritters were rolled up in a napkin and put in my purse to bring back to the ship for DS5. We then wandered back to the ship. During our walk, we crossed Duval Street twice I didnt see anything that enticed me to visit it. Actually, it smelled a lot like Bourbon Street in New Orleans and it looked sleazier.
Back on the ship, we headed for the kid club to check on DS. He announced that he wanted to come with us we thought he actually missed us until we walked out the door of the club I want to go to the Mickey Pool now! So we took him to the Mickey pool for an hour or two. After swimming, once again DS had chicken tenders in the room (and tasted his Conch Fritters - not a hit!) and then wanted to go back to the club for the evening.
DH and I decided to get cleaned up early and go to the show and then we wouldnt have to rush back to change between the show and dinner. It was Who wants to be a Mouseketeer and we enjoyed it, although there were quite a few contestents who admitted they didnt know anything about Disney trivia and they were right. Several contestents quickly used all their lifelines and lost their turn. About ½ way through the show, I needed to head out for a quick break and when I returned, I noticed that the row ahead of us only had 1 person seated in it at the far left. Since they had announced that if an empty seat was chosen they would move to the right, I just sat down in the far right seat in that row. DH hadnt even noticed I moved until they were choosing the last contestant and he realized it was me! I started out fairly well and made it through the first few without using any lifelines, but then they got tougher and at the $125 question I blew it. (Basically, I did great at Theme park and even some movie questions, but when they hit TV I was sunk!) I went ahead and guessed after using my 50:50, but it was wrong and I dropped back to winning the $80 plateau amount. Oh-well, it was fun and $80 is more than I had when we walked into the room! I even got a pin. Since I had to sign some papers, it took a little while to leave the show. We had enough time to stop by shutters and look at the embarkation photo, which didnt particularly thrill us, and then we went to dinner.
This was our first night at Lumieres. I cant say that I hate Lumieres, but I thought it was the least interesting of the restaurants. I think it is supposed to be the ballroom from Beauty and the Beast, but without a very high ceiling it just cant really carry that off. It ends up being a lot like a normal banquet hall with some Beauty and the Beast touches. However, I did enjoy the menu there. I know many of you will say Gross!, but I love escargot. Since I knew this was the only time they would be on the menu, I ordered 2 servings and happily ate 14 snails! I then had lamb for my entrée and I had white chocolate domes for desert. The first evening I had one of the no sugar added deserts which was surprisingly good. I particularly enjoyed the food at this meal maybe because I was actually hungry. As the week continued, I totally forgot what hunger felt like <g>!
After dinner, we all went up to deck 10 to watch the Key West sail-away party. This was not a popular event and probably less than 20 people showed up for it. We listened to the music, chatted and watched the gorgeous, nearly full moon. Then we watched the ship sail out and waved at some of the barges/freighters that were out there. At some point we decided to go down and check out the watch sale that the Treasure Ketch shop was having none of us found anything we wanted in the watches, but we played around in the two shops for a while. Particularly with the character hats and toys! As it was nearing midnight, we went to pick up DS5 from his club we thought he would be asleep on one of the mats they put out for watching the movies in the evening, but no he was wide awake! However, as soon as we tucked him into bed he was out like a light.
Continued with Part 3
Sunday, October 24: Key West & Conch Fritters
We slept in slightly this first morning I dont think DS woke us up until about 8:00am! We discussed our plans for the day and DS declared that he wanted to stay at the club rather than go to Key West with us. The only thing he wanted to do at Key West was to taste conch fritters and he informed me that I could bring some back for him!
We had forgotten about putting out the card the night before to get a continental breakfast delivered to the room, so we went up to Topsiders. Since we werent in a hurry, we had a leisurely breakfast only occasionally interrupted with Can I go to the club NOW?
We watched the ship arrive and maneuver to the dock and then we took DS to the club. We told the counselors when we expected to be back.As soon as the ship was cleared, DH and I headed out into Key West. We had decided to visit Nancy Forresters Secret Garden. This garden was featured on the HGTV show Secret Gardens of Key West and part of the reason we were interested is that we are involved with a garden at home that was on Secret Gardens of Chicago. I had found direction on the web, which was a good thing I dont think you would have a prayer of finding this place without good directions! The garden is very tropical with a lot of palms and orchids. There are also numerous cages with parrots that seem to be very well cared for. It was a very relaxing, cool, lovely place. After visiting the garden, we looked at our map and decided that we were fairly close to the Key West Cemetery that is supposed to be interesting. It was somewhat interesting in a low-key way but very, very hot! After sweltering for a while, we started back toward the ship. On the way, we stopped by Bos Fish Wagon for a late lunch. The décor here is basically a bunch of junk it is made of old bits and pieces and is a real mess. I guess you could call it atmospheric, but I am not sure it is Good atmosphere! The food however, was very, very good. We had fish & chips and an order of conch fritters. The fish was fantastic and the conch fritters were good. I dont have any comparison for the fritters since I havent had them before. They were good, but I dont think I would go way out of my way for them. A couple of the fritters were rolled up in a napkin and put in my purse to bring back to the ship for DS5. We then wandered back to the ship. During our walk, we crossed Duval Street twice I didnt see anything that enticed me to visit it. Actually, it smelled a lot like Bourbon Street in New Orleans and it looked sleazier.
Back on the ship, we headed for the kid club to check on DS. He announced that he wanted to come with us we thought he actually missed us until we walked out the door of the club I want to go to the Mickey Pool now! So we took him to the Mickey pool for an hour or two. After swimming, once again DS had chicken tenders in the room (and tasted his Conch Fritters - not a hit!) and then wanted to go back to the club for the evening.
DH and I decided to get cleaned up early and go to the show and then we wouldnt have to rush back to change between the show and dinner. It was Who wants to be a Mouseketeer and we enjoyed it, although there were quite a few contestents who admitted they didnt know anything about Disney trivia and they were right. Several contestents quickly used all their lifelines and lost their turn. About ½ way through the show, I needed to head out for a quick break and when I returned, I noticed that the row ahead of us only had 1 person seated in it at the far left. Since they had announced that if an empty seat was chosen they would move to the right, I just sat down in the far right seat in that row. DH hadnt even noticed I moved until they were choosing the last contestant and he realized it was me! I started out fairly well and made it through the first few without using any lifelines, but then they got tougher and at the $125 question I blew it. (Basically, I did great at Theme park and even some movie questions, but when they hit TV I was sunk!) I went ahead and guessed after using my 50:50, but it was wrong and I dropped back to winning the $80 plateau amount. Oh-well, it was fun and $80 is more than I had when we walked into the room! I even got a pin. Since I had to sign some papers, it took a little while to leave the show. We had enough time to stop by shutters and look at the embarkation photo, which didnt particularly thrill us, and then we went to dinner.
This was our first night at Lumieres. I cant say that I hate Lumieres, but I thought it was the least interesting of the restaurants. I think it is supposed to be the ballroom from Beauty and the Beast, but without a very high ceiling it just cant really carry that off. It ends up being a lot like a normal banquet hall with some Beauty and the Beast touches. However, I did enjoy the menu there. I know many of you will say Gross!, but I love escargot. Since I knew this was the only time they would be on the menu, I ordered 2 servings and happily ate 14 snails! I then had lamb for my entrée and I had white chocolate domes for desert. The first evening I had one of the no sugar added deserts which was surprisingly good. I particularly enjoyed the food at this meal maybe because I was actually hungry. As the week continued, I totally forgot what hunger felt like <g>!
After dinner, we all went up to deck 10 to watch the Key West sail-away party. This was not a popular event and probably less than 20 people showed up for it. We listened to the music, chatted and watched the gorgeous, nearly full moon. Then we watched the ship sail out and waved at some of the barges/freighters that were out there. At some point we decided to go down and check out the watch sale that the Treasure Ketch shop was having none of us found anything we wanted in the watches, but we played around in the two shops for a while. Particularly with the character hats and toys! As it was nearing midnight, we went to pick up DS5 from his club we thought he would be asleep on one of the mats they put out for watching the movies in the evening, but no he was wide awake! However, as soon as we tucked him into bed he was out like a light.
Continued with Part 3
