Roaming Gnome

..as in, I have been traveling quite a bit.

In a nutshell, since the great Hurricane Hullabaloo of Isaac, I've been to San Diego, Savannah, and Lexington Park, MD (aka NAVAIR).  All pretty much in September.

Oh, and I was also in the Florida panhandle right before the Key West/Isaac trip, but my focus was on....HURRICANE.

Oh, this was all for work.  And as all working moms have to endure, I get the call from home that my child (four-legged not all that bright) was put under house arrest for being an asshole.  No, not time out, real 'citywasinvolved' house arrest. She has since been exonerated of all charges, but still. This is what happens with DOGS, imagine if I had human kids.  (shudder, grabs wine glass).

So, lets start with preIsaac.  Fort Walton Beach, Destin, Panama City.

Water was SOO clear. Two weeks later post-Isaac? Not so much.

Driving back along the panhandle.  There is yet to be rules on taking pics with
your iPhone and driving, so I'm going to do it.

Next stop....San Diego.  Now, for probably one of the coolest parts of the trip. Going out to sea in the Schooner America (1.0) wasn't photo-documented because my camera had been temporarily relocated under the rental car seat.  And, when you are that close to the Mexico border, as soon as you go as far as Point Loma (land or sea) you are picking up TelCel Mexico.  No thank you roaming charges.

Pop quiz children! Who has the right of way?
I think the visual will help you figure that out.
Coronado in mid picture, Point Loma in the distance.

Temecula.  A little over an hour north east of San Diego. Highly recommended.

Hands off the grapes, Compy Comp.

The entrance to one of the tasting rooms.
The doors are hand carved from solid wood. Too cool.

Point Loma Lighthouse

View of the submarine base and San Diego Harbor from Point Loma

Point Loma Pacific Side and the tidal pools

Ultra cool erosion patterns. (Click to enlarge)

Closer look at the tidal pools.

Continued on Roaming Gnome, Part II.

There's this place....

Tim knew about it from some colleagues.  It's a little hole in the wall dive with the best burgers in the world....according to a lot of publications evidently.

It's quirky and has great charm.  The name of it is Le Tub.  It reminds me of BO's Fish Wagon in Key West.

Since we had time to kill before our flight, we though we'd hang out for a while and have a few drinks and one of these highly touted burgers.

And this ain't no quarter pounder either, it's 16oz of seasoned heart attack on bun.  And it is a damn good burger I must say.

They have other things, and if we wind up there again (probably so since it's fairly close to the airport) I'll try their shrimp and fish sandwiches.

While there, we had a lunch guest. Cute guy, but I have a soft spot in my heart for pelicans.

4 out of 5 pelicans prefer Corona

Don't bite my butt!

Fort Lauderdale Slog Fest--TS Isaac

I realize that we made the right decision leaving Key West.  If things had gone bad, we would have just been a burden to the hotel and emergency personnel.

If things had gone bad...

Of course, that wasn't what I was thinking after tropical storm force winds and rain started wailing on Fort Lauderdale and we are watching Stephanie Abrams in Key West, sunny and dry. (She looked a little disappointed also)

Tim got us a cheap rate at the Westin Diplomat where he's stayed before for trade shows. Not really the hotel to be marooned in, not his fault. He just picked what he knew. But it wasn't really in an area that you could escape and do something in.

Not to mention that after 24 hours of torrential rain, the poor hotel was turning into a sieve.  Our room also had its own water feature since it was facing the ocean.

I did get out a couple of times between storm bands to walk along the beach.  There was some tree and light fixture damage in the area.

35th Floor ain't where you wanna be in a tropical storm.

Waves picking up.  

There really is an ocean out there.

AIA Beach, I mean boulevard.  This was AFTER the plows came through.
We have snow plows, so does that make this sand plows?

Abandon ship, I mean Key West

So, in the midst of drinking, visiting, eating, drinking, listening to music, drinking.  We decided to bail on Key West.

See previous blog. Those who know us would realize that we probably are NOT the best couple to get holed up in a hotel room together with no electricity. (I would have the storm to entertain me.....but no patience for Compy Comp)

AirTran was gloriously helpful in rescheduling us out of Fort Lauderdale.  Expedia was glorious in refunding what part of the reservation we didn't use.  We should have spent more time on the hotel, but more on that later (user error, NOT the hotel's fault)

So after some early morning rain bands, we decide to take a quick walk before the jaunt up to Fort Lauderdale.

Key West was dee-seeert-ed.

Battening down the hatches on the fleet.

Taking out anchors to further secure.

We talked to a live aboard couple on a schooner they designed/built themselves that were going to ride out the storm. They have been on their boat for 32 years and been through 10 hurricanes.

Holy...wow.  I bow in honor of thee.  I didn't feel right about taking pictures as they are trying to protect home and hearth, but it was a kick ass boat with kick ass custom woodwork with whales and dolphins on it.

Outer bands of Isaac coming in.
Look at how still the water is.

Heading up the keys we went down Blimp Road to see Fat Albert on land.
The picture doesn't do justice on how big it is.

MY BABY!...oh, and my husband.
Checking on her on the way up.  She's staked down and ready to go.
The stake on the ground by it is an example of how deep they go.
About 18 inches augured metal.

Weather starting to go to crap.
About 2/3rd up the Keys by now.

However, we made it to Fort Lauderdale safe and sound. Slightly damp.

Sunset of a tropical storm

So we proceed to start wandering around, and decided to stop by the Mojito Man.  Jimmy is his name, and he's quite the local landmark.  He operates in front of the Westin out of a Ford Model T Woodie that's been converted to a bar.

Jimmy is always good for some info and since for once there wasn't a line, we got to chat with him.  We also wound up getting 2 for 1 pours of wine. (I think he was grateful that he didn't have to muddle a mojito for us).

We all noticed that sunset celebration was rather desolate.  Not a lot of street performers/artists out and not a lot of visitors.  Kinda ominous.

We wander around, and I manage to fire off some cool photos.

Hello Isaac!

How beautiful to the northeast could it be?
Winds picking up.

We really thought the cat was animatronic for awhile.
Long live the RebaKat!

No seriously.
One cat, two chickens and 20 pigeons.
Does not compute.

After Jimmy's second serving of Pinot Grigio.
I couldn't figure out how to work my camera.
Wound up getting stellar money shot in sepia of storm clouds, sunset and schooner.
(Click to zoom)

Got camera to work. Took cover.
Now we have sunset, squalls and schooner.

After we beat feet to Captain Tony's for drinks and music.
I don't know if this is an off color tribute to Capt. Tony or not.
(RIP Capt. Tony 2008)

We found out that our beloved restaurant Fin has closed up shop. But we were directed to Blackfin on Duval. Met the owner, was drunk--no, both he and I. Food good.

Waiting for Isaac-Friday eve

So a quick and easy trip from KC to Key West.  Talked to a couple beside me who was getting married that night.  They were going to leave Sunday.

Absolutely convinced..they were going to leave Sunday.

I didn't have the heart to tell them that, no they weren't.

The thing about the Key West airport is that it is a small, one shot runway.  Very little margin for error. So, if there's, say a tropical storm or hurricane coming through.  They be closing down. Period.

Which they did, both Sunday and Monday.

So, what were we going to do?  Oh, I'll figure that out later.

So, Tim picks me up we head to the hotel.  Fourth floor, centralized bathroom, fridge. I could ride out a Cat 1 Hurricane in this.  (Side note--my cousin spent his honeymoon in Jamaica huddled in the in-room Jacuzzi with his new wife with the mattress over their head--no there were no new baby cousins 9 months later)

Since right now the weather is BEE-YOU-TEE-FUL, we go and play in the ocean, lay out, get drinks, hot tub and swim.

Later, as we are getting ready for the evening's festivities.  KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK.

The hotel staff hand us a letter stating that, we don't have to leave. But we should strongly consider leaving.  I KNEW this moment was going to happen for a long time now.

In a nutshell:

• There may be power outages--lights and a/c won't work
• The street we are on will flood--yes, it will, we've seen it
• We are closing down food/beverage and spa services tomorrow afternoon
• No flights available out for Saturday

So, we start pondering.

Kim, the weather geek:  Storm, cool, get sandwiches, Diet Coke, water, wine and beer, charge phones. It's all good.

Tim:  No a/c?  Oh, HELL no.

Kim:  What will Tim be like if we have no a/c and his gadgets run out of juice.  Oh HELL no.

However, we still decided to think about it for a bit and go wander Mallory Square.

Who do you want in your foxhole....

when things go to crap?

Knowing that there would be a 90% likelihood of having to evacuate Key West. I asked my spouse to do the following things.

1. Double/triple/quadruple check the boat and then check it again.  SUCCESS!

2. Fill up the rental car with gas, because two thing will happen with a evacuation: a) the line to the gas station will be back 5 blocks up and b) the prices of gas will double.   SUCCESS!

3. Make sure you have some sort of foul weather jacket. Kinda success! Instead of taking one of the jackets from his collection off the boat he buys yet another one.

4. Make sure we have some sort of provisions in case we get stranded either in Key West, in the car, or in a shelter.  FAIL!