Last night dined at Banana Cabana for the first time. This restaurant is at Banana Bay Resort on the bayside. We got there at 6:00 and the restaurant didn't open until 6:30, so we had a drink at the tiki bar while we waited. This is a beautiful resort tucked in to an area of beautiful tropical plants and trees, and cute little cottage areas, they also have a marina. We were very pleased with the restaurant. The new restaurant owner partners are from Michigan, Grand Rapids and Holland, and couldn't be nicer. They even gave us a 10% locals discount, which we weren't expecting. The inside is just like out of the 70s, you can eat outside, but we chose air-conditioning. The menu has a nice variety and reasonable prices, but we had our favorite, pizza, and believe it or not, it was the best we have had in Marathon, and we are pretty picky about the crust. Next time you are down, you must try this place out. When we go back, we are going to venture into some other items on the menu.

Get Key Colony Beach City Council Meeting minutes emailed to you.
Click on the City of Key Colony Beach link to the right of this post, and then go to "automatic email updates".

Good news for shoppers!
We are really in paradise now with the addition of Daffy Doug's Discount Dollar in Marathon. I'm not kidding, this store is really nice. It is past the Hospital on the right side in the old yellow Tropical Furniture store building. It is huge, everything is brand new and arranged really nicely. "Doug" has gone all out, three cash registers, free hotdogs on opening day, and he is even having O'Farrill paint a big mural on the outside of the building so you can't miss it when driving south. Not only is there a large greeting card selection, a dollar each, but believe it or not there is a craft section. Yes, I said a craft section including knitting needles and crochet hooks in every size. I'm not kidding! There are great scrapbooking items, and just about everything is a dollar. Tools, fishing stuff, cosmetics, household supplies, clothing- well this area is a little lacking. As you can tell, I am very excited. It's way better than K Mart or Walgreens, and good for at least 45 minutes of brousing twice a week.

Lychees are in season now, and we are hooked! They have them for sale at the weekend fruit stand across from Publix and I think they bring them in from Homestead. At $5. a pound, they aren't cheap, but they are so good I'm afraid the first pound won't last until the fruit stand is open again on Saturday. They outside is hard like an egg shell, but the inside is sweet and so juicy, it makes you want to pop off the shell and eat another one right away.

The Royal Poinciana
This time of year as you drive up and down US 1, the bright orange blaze of the Royal Poinciana just keeps catching your eye. There are many bigger and brighter than this one, but I love how this tree frames the little cottage beneath. This is part of "Tropical Cottages", right before you get to Gulfside Mall. I also keep noticing these trees because of the huge seed pods attached. I'm waiting for them to fall after a windstorm so I can collect them to make some seed jewelry.