Heading to the Keys

The Conch Republic, also known as Key West, was born on April 23, 1982, after the U.S. Border Patrol blockaded the Keys with a "border". Mayor Dennis Wardlow seceded from the Union, declared War, then surrendered demanding Foreign Aid; thus creating "The People Who Seceded Where Others Failed".

Enough about the history lesson.....tomorrow I am heading down to Key West with some friends for the week. I plan to do a whole lot of nothing there except bike riding, drinking, and having a good time with friends and locals. I am sure there will be a lot of conch fritters, key lime pie, and gorgeous sunsets. I am looking forward to the drive from Miami to Key west on US-1. I'll take plenty of pictures with stories to follow. Above is a picture of the famous Key West sunset that I took last year while down there.

Happy Hour

Happy hour is typically a 2-3 hour time period before dinner in which bars offer discounted alcoholic drinks. In the 1920's this term was used to signify a period of time in the Navy for on-board entertainment . During prohibition it was called cocktail hour and people would go to speakeasies or sit in their homes for some before dinner drinks. It was not until the 1960's that "happy hour" replaced the undercover cocktail hours and people enjoyed drinks after work.

Modern day happy hours have become something a little different when compared to the days of speakeasies. Since today was our last day we went out strong and early. Luckily we beat the happy hour crowds at 2:00pm and got nice outdoor seating. From there we ordered bucket of beer after bucket of beer until we finally concluded the school year capping out at 14 buckets of Sam Adams Light. Pretty impressive. Above is a picture of an intense game of circle of death with a warm tequila shot in the middle for the poor soul who picked up the 4th king. I am not sure the pioneers of cocktail and happy hours could have ever pictured this. (Faces were blurred out to protect the innocent)

Good-bye Harlem Line

What would be a better way to kick off the summer than knowing that I will not riding Metro North to work tomorrow? Today is the last day of school and tomorrow I will officially give up my seat on the 6:32 train out of Katonah. It will probably be occupied by some moron who feels the need to excessively check his Blackberry for the entire one hour trip, but only to find there are no new messages. Oh and I am sure the AC will be cranked to a brisk 47 degrees F. My life will no longer be reduced to standing on a platform at some ridiculous hour at the beginning of my day and sprinting throughout Grand Central Station (even jumping an entire flight of stairs on occasion), just to watch the train doors close at the end of my day. Don't get me wrong, I was flattered to be called "great train real estate" by a fellow male rider back in the winter, but it's back to driving the car all summer with the occasional off-peak train rides to Manhattan.

Above is my $251.00 monthly train pass that I misplace at least once a week. I might burn it tomorrow night.

45 Days

As part of a summer vacation routine, I tend to do one purposeful thing a day besides going to the gym. By purposeful I mean anything other than sitting on the couch and watching TV. This summer I decided to learn Italian and I am already a few weeks into my self-taught lessons and speaking with my father. I told myself if I succeed in Italian then I would take a trip there next year. After contemplation, I thought, "why wait a year?" I decided to book a trip to Europe that would begin in Madrid and 14 days later conclude in Rome. And in-between I would hit Barcelona, Avignon, the French Riviera (Monte Carlo), Le Spezia, and Florence. It is a solid Mediterranean tour that I was going solo on until my friend Dom expressed interest in this voyage and joined in. I am not sure how my 3 years of Spanish will fare in Spain and let's just hope the French speak English, but I will do my best speaking Italian in the home land.

Above is a picture of Le Spezia, slightly south of Cinque Terra. I was told by a fellow Italian to drink all the wine I can here since they do not export it. This shouldn't be too hard :)

Ciao for now......

The Brooklyn Bridge

Being a New York City teacher has a few perks...one of which is going on field trips throughout the city. Another is West Village happy hours. I recently took my 7th graders to visit the bridge after studying its history and the physics behind it. The thought of walking over the bridge did not sit well with them, especially when I told my students the entire walkway on the bridge was approximately a mile. One student asked if we can walk halfway over the bridge because he was way too tired. I told him that would be fine and he was satisfied with that answer; not realizing if he walks half way over, he still has the other half to walk to get off the bridge! We ended up walking from Manhattan to Brooklyn, then sat down to have lunch by the water. This picture was taken in a park in DUMBO. The Brooklyn Bridge is in the background with a gorgeous Manhattan city-scape.