LUCY BURDETTE: This winter, we had quite a few guests/visitors in Key West. I cannot blame people for wanting to get away from winter, as that’s why we are here! But after we had three sets in a row, (not everyone staying in our two bedroom condo), I noticed the differences in types of visitors. Some of them have been to Key West a number of times, like our family, and they also have small children, so that makes their interests different to begin with. With that group, we spent lots of time at the waterpark, and on bicycles, and in the swimming pool, and making super early reservations that would allow for eating before the kids fell apart.
When John’s sisters came, two of the three had not visited the island before and they had a very distinct list of things they wanted to see. (Which we added to!) They were open to everything, pinging from pickleball in the morning to visiting the Hemingway house and the Little White House and shopping and eating out. They had lots of fun and so did we, though it was nice to be able to pick and choose among the items on their list. Let me not forget that John’s sister Lisa also was a good sport about a ukulele jam session and pseudo concert, and also wanted to meet Lorenzo aka Ron from the food critic mysteries.
Another pair of guests had never visited Key West, and in fact, we had not seen them in close to 20 years. They did not have a wish list and did not want to get caught up in FOMO, fear of missing out. We encouraged them to take the Conch tour train so they could get the overview of the island and visit our two favorite places, the Hemingway house, and the Truman Little White House. They might have been happy sitting for two days on the deck or by the pool, but we wanted them to see a little bit of our quirky island. There was also a ukulele and harmonica and singing fest involved--so much fun! I'll share the photo but save you from the video:)