Gained 6 Pounds in 7 Days for a net loss of 11 LOL

I will post day by day reports separately in an attempt not to bore those of you who might be bored by its possibly epic length otherwise. lol First though I would like to give a bit of background to explain how this trip came to be in this form. My daughter was celebrating her 30th birthday and she wanted to share the experience with her parents, so partially as a gift to herself, and as a 39th wedding anniversary to her parents, and as a five year anniversary of my survival of a heart attack, she took us to Key West. She paid for the rental of the condo and told me to spend the money I was saving from that on indulging my dream vacation. This culinary vacation was my decadent, self-indulging dream. I had a heart attack five years ago after collapsing outside my hot tub. My daughter and my wife were out of town shopping and for some reason neither of them were feeling into it, fortunately for me. They arrived home after I had been laying there unable to move for close to an hour (just in time for the emergency crew to still be able to give me the shot that saved my life, which must be given in the first hour after an attack.) There are still only about 10% of the people who they have to give the shot to that survive, but I did, after flat-lining, lying in a coma for three weeks and a month stay in the hospital. Since then I have religiously followed a low-fat, low-sodium, low cholesterol diet and an exercise program (except for holidays and vacations where I allow myself to cheat.) This is with my doctor%26#39;s approval. He says he knows it is better to follow the diet in the long run by allowing yourself not to feel deprived that you will never again be able to eat certain things. I was tested right before I left on this trip and my cholesterol is great and my heart is functioning the same as after the valve replacement, with no deterioration after five years, so he was pleased. So anyhow with everyone%26#39;s blessings I was able to indulge myself for one week in what must be the best cuisine in the country! I would not expect anyone to eat like I did and I would never eat like this again. I am now freed from this dream. But WOW it was a week of living in Paradise. And Tim, who jokingly said he wanted to follow me around on my trip, I suspect to watch me grow before his eyes: the tally is I went from 205 to !88 in preparation for the trip and gained 6 pounds in the 7 days for a net loss of 11. LOL

Gained 6 Pounds in 7 Days for a net loss of 11 LOL

LOL. I%26#39;m glad you survived Key West. And I hope you have many happy returns. I love the place and the people. I%26#39;m sure you ate all the worst things for your heard and enjoyed them all. I hope you can return soon!

Gained 6 Pounds in 7 Days for a net loss of 11 LOL

Only gained 6 lbs. Didn%26#39;t try hard enough. ;-0

I look forward to the trip reports. Congrats on surviving the heart attack. I truely hope to have you around long enough to meet you in Key West.

G

With several reasons to celebrate (Happy Anniversary to you guys and happy birthday to your daughter BTW.) what a perfect place to come. I know we%26#39;ll hear about the food.... My big questions are:

Did Key West live up to expectations?

What was your biggest surprise about the Island?

What was your favorite moment... One that you%26#39;d duplicate over if you could.

What one thing would you have changed if you could?

How many doggie bags did you cart back to your hotel?

Glad you had a great time!

Did Key West live up to expectations?

What was your biggest surprise about the Island?

What was your favorite moment... One that you%26#39;d duplicate over if you could.

What one thing would you have changed if you could?

How many doggie bags did you cart back to your hotel?

Did Key West live up to my expectations? Key West exceeded my expectations in every way.

What was your biggest surprise about the island? The speedy service

everywhere. I have never had better service anywhere.

What was your favorite moment? Sorry, I have to be overly indulgent here too and name more than one: One: the day at Dry Tortugas (see Tuesday, day four, for more on that; Two: the afternoon my daughter, son-in-law and wife joined me at Schooner Wharf Bar to laze away the entire afternoon listening to Michael McCloud (see Thursday, day six for more on that, my favorite day overall) and Three: Friday morning when my wife joined me for the first time on my daily stops at Sandy%26#39;s Cafe for coffee and we rode out to the end of the pier to watch the sunrise. I would duplicate that moment for sure!

What one thing would you change if you could? Not ONE thing honestly. But I would never try to duplicate this vacation. It would be impossible anywhere anytime, including in Key West. If we make it back to Key West, which I certainly hope we will, it once again will be different from the three visits we have now made, each one of which has been totally different from the one before. The next one would be as far as eating: breakfasts ( maybe at Pepes every day; if I had eaten the breakfast I had there on my last day on the first day I was there, it would have been hard to pry me away from there) and happy hours with maybe one or two dinners, one of which would be Louie%26#39;s Backyard, which we skipped because of its snobby reputation this trip, but I rode my bike by it Friday and it is so beautiful that we both said, we would survive the snobbiest person in the world for that beautiful location (ONCE, LOL) The other would be Michaels, the only place besides Latitudes that we actually had made reservations for, so that we could set by the fountain, which they promised us. But that was for Friday, during the rain and we were forced to cancel with their blessings, and instead ate at Alices and I had the best dinner of the trip instead. LOL Plus, as a bonus, had Alice come out and visit with me. So roll with whatever happens and something better may come along instead.

As for doggie bags, I brought my daughter and son-in-law back some conch fritters from B.O%26#39;s, some plantains from El Siboney, and a half of a cuban mix from Sandy%26#39;s Cafe. All only because I loved them and wanted them to get to try them. If you mean , how many did I bring because I couldn%26#39;t finish eating what I ordered: ZERO; I licked my plate everywhere. LOL

Outstanding!!

This sounds like a well deserved vacation. I am off to read the reports!