Key West

We left the happiest place on earth and headed south toward Key West, picking up Danielle along the way for a long overdue visit.  This is at the beginning of the Seven Mile Bridge (where the Amazing Race Finale was).

Immediately upon rolling into town, we took a historic tour of the town with an emphasis on Jimmy Buffett history.  This may or may not have been his first apartment here.  Several places claim that fame, as it turns out. 

There are lots of historic houses here too, most of them neatly tucked behind palm trees.  This one is on Caroline Street.  The crazy lady from the song lived about a block away.  (Don't know the song?  Danielle and I didn't either.  Chris will be happy to play it for you.)

We started the next day with a kayaking/ snorkeling trip through the mangroves.   The tour company's slogan is "We do in a week what other people accomplish in a day."  I like it!

 Getting ready to launch . . .

I think this is where I got stuck.  Backing up led to getting caught in the current and thrown out of the channel.  Paddling really fast to stay in the channel led to running into the mangrove.  Repeating this cycle over and over led to much frustration and eventually requesting rescue.  Turned out I could have just gotten out and walked as the water was only three feet deep.  It seems logic goes out the window in a crisis.  Sigh . . .

 These are called Mermaid's wine glasses. 

 We saw lots of snappers and stuff.

 After kayaking, we spent the rest of the day exploring the tourist spots of Key West.  Danielle brought her trusty umbrella to keep the sun off her fair princess skin.  Smart girl . . . she didn't end up with a sunburn. Wish I could say that.

It's not an outing with Danielle without a foot picture.  This one is at the African Cemetery which was probably really cool but it was closed so we could only look through the gate and wander around the courtyard area.

It's not an outing with Chris without a getting a geocache picture.  We had to sneak into the Waldorf and look like we belonged to get this one.

When on the coast, it is of great importance to eat good seafood often.  I had conch salad and a hogfish sandwich for lunch.  Yummy!!! (Funny quote from the diving guide at Key Largo . . . "Hogfish.  Nothing should taste that good and be that stupid.)

Key West is known for its six-toed cats.  We were hoping this one that wandered over as we were eating was one of them.  It wasn't, but it provided lots of entertainment for us anyway.

 We finally found this one at Ernest Hemingway's house.

 Key West is also known for its roosters that roam the streets.  There are chickens too but nobody talks about them. . . maybe because they're not noisy.

This is the southernmost point in the U.S.  It's down the street from the southernmost hotel, which is north of the southernmost guest house, which is north of the southernmost southernmost house.

Next stop was Mallory Square where everyone gathers just before sunset for a party and photos.  It's almost completely deserted during the day but at night it's a great people-watching spot.  There was a fire juggler and a dog wearing surfer shorts that picked up dollars from spectators and put them in buckets.

I had to steal this from Danielle's album because it's so artistic.  Good eye!

Look who we ran into on the way back to the car!  This trip rocks!  I got to see Darth Vader and Spiderman!  Darth Vader was a little better behaved than Spidey.

Our last day's adventure was parasailing.  The view was amazing and it wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it would be.  I let go with one hand for at least 3 seconds!

We saved the most touristy of the Key West tourist stops, Margaritaville, for last. . .We had Cheeseburgers in Paradise (and fries with fry sauce as a nod to my hometown) for lunch.  And look, I found the lost shaker of salt!

On the way out of town, we noticed a cache near the Mile Marker 0 sign.  We had been discussing earlier whether it really existed and were excited to find that, not only was it real, but it has a "Southernmost Parrot-Head Club" sign behind it.

Only one way to go from here. . . And we're off to Key Largo . . .