Picnic time, only Wallace and I decided it should be at a table in Key West. Since you are about to hear of the perfect day, you get extra photos. This first one is of a beautiful chick. Look closely and admire the innocence and sanctity of youth. Then look to see how it kept pecking at the cell phone screen of the lady in the blue bikini on the left. It was not its own reflection, as my cell phone did not produce the same result.
Heading out before sunrise, we were just passing Card Sound (the shortcut to Ocean Reef) to the scenery of an Atlantic dawn, something everybody should see. Last evening, I packed a huge lunch of sandwiches, cucumbers and potato salad, as we were determined to keep the trip on a budget. This was off-season, and the Overseas Highway the quietest I have ever seen. We made the 185 miles in 4.5 hours flat, stopping several times for photos and to let Millie out. We stopped for coffee on some Key, it is hard to tell them apart and there are something like 42 bridges along the route. We arrived in Key West before noon and took the scenic route along the northern edge of the island, the part that is covered by Navy houses. Hey, I’ve seen “True Lies” and you never know what them middle-easterners are going to do next. Therefore we need those perfectly restored barracks in paradise as just the thing to keep them terrorists in line. Maybe throw the flower pots at them, too.
Patriotically, we parked at the Navy museum lot (for free) and walked all around downtown, stopping on Whitehead street for a juice and the picnic. This is the most completely restored area of Key West, although plenty more restoral is required. The biggest attraction is the Hemmingway House, a hotel where Hemmingway stayed a bit. The marketing gets tourists to think they are touring his ancestral fief, suckers. We continued on to the concrete pylon representing the “southernmost” point, which it isn’t but is always good for the views scantily-clad women and other indigenous wildlife.
At this point, Millie was over the sea wall and into the Gulf of Mexico. We had not factored in that the entire area was paved over and it was hot on her paws. This drew the attention of the every kid in the vicinity. We should have started charging a dollar each to let them take pictures. Millie was in the water at least twenty minutes. That’s good because just moments later, the little chick in the above photo, not much bigger than a softball, walked up to Millie and pecked her three times on the nose, showing who is boss. Wallace points out that Millie had never seen a chicken before. Yeah, but she must have seen birds, right? Ha-ha, Millie, tock-tock-tock right on the shnoz!
The other neat street in Key West is called Duval, and although the walk was a bit much for everyone, we got all the way to the north end, billed as “8 venues with 13 bars”. That’s an adequate portrayal of what’s there, with the usual 3-for-$10 t-shirt outfits enticing passersby with frozen A/C pouring out onto the sidewalks. A friendly lady on the way up gave Millie a welcome bowl of cold water and presented us with coupons of a place called “Rick’s”. We had little choice but to duck in there, get it Millie, “duck”.
We headed back by mid-afternoon. It was too hot to stay outdoors and we had made up our minds not to shop. Well, except for women that is. I’d say we talked to a dozen women in three hours, that’s incalculably more than back in Broward County. Blonde women, from Denmark, and of course, the babe in the blue bikini who, alas, was with her boyfriend. Alas, because she was totally my type, she’ll never know how close she came.
Last photo for today. We took a stroll along a nothing beach, only to find signs of pollution every few feet. It is sad. Lots of broken fishing paraphernalia, strings, chunks of manmade material. Wallace found a container of shrimp bait, but moments later we found some shoes on the shore, so it was somebody out snorkeling in that water. Still, it was along the Caribbean Sea and the shore breeze was invigorating. And salty. You know how some beachcombers find only driftwood? Well, take a look here, this lucky fellow has found some driftplastic.
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