Key West- Parasailing and the nightlife

Walking around Old Town Key West is awesome. It reminds me a lot of the little beach cities in Cali, with a lot of little shops and galleries. I think we enjoyed just walking around and looking at everything almost as much as we enjoyed actually doing anything. These are some of the huge sculptures downtown:

 

 

On our way to the pier, we stopped by Truman's Little White House. We didn't have time to stay for a tour, but we walked around and looked at the grounds.

 

We went down to the pier and found the shop where we had made reservations to go para sailing. It was a cool little surf shop, and the crew was super nice. We were early, and they made room for us on the boat that was leaving just then. I have been dying to para sail for a really long time, and I was super excited. Our boat had 2 crew members, a family from Minnesota (I think), and a father and son from New York. Once we got out into the ocean and all harnessed, it was time to go up.

 

It was amazing! We went about 300 feet up, and the view was so beautiful. It happened to be pretty windy that day, so we seemed to bounce around a lot. There were times we'd just be floating along, and then all the sudden a gust would come and it would feel as though we dropped 20 feet. But it still a great experience, and I would love to do it again! After our ride was done, we hung out in the boat while everyone else went up and had their rides. Lucky for me, sitting in the boat was a lot rougher than being in the air. The water was really choppy from the wind and we were bouncing around a lot. I started feeling a little sea sick, but I figured I'd be fine since I'm pretty good at holding it in and we were almost done. The ride back to the dock was really smooth and I was feeling much better. As soon as we docked though, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was the last one off the boat, and as I was getting off I just kept thinking "there's a bathroom a hundred yards away... I can make it!" But no. I did not make it to the bathroom. I took about 10 steps away from the boat and lost my lunch. And in doing so, I broke the number one rule of throwing up: NEVER try to catch your puke. I tried and I failed. I somehow managed to get puke from my forehead all the way down to the ground. Our poor captain looked a little horrified but was kind enough to bring me a hose to clean myself up with. But no matter, I still consider the day to be a raging success. Not only did I cross para sailing off my bucket list, but I can also now say that I have thrown up into my own eye balls.

We made it back to our room, showered and changed, then set out for dinner. Our para sailing guides told us about this little hole in the wall Cuban restaurant called El Siboney and we were really excited to try it. Sure enough, we found it and it turned out to be the best place we ate the whole trip! There was a bit of a wait to get in, but it was so worth it and I would gladly go back and wait again. After we stuffed ourselves, we walked back downtown and found these lovely ladies:

Now, I'm 5 foot 4 and I was wearing 6 inch shoes. Standing next to these gals I felt like a dwarf. But they were fabulous and very friendly! I'm still sad we missed their show.