The plan for the day was to leave for Key West after it was light but early enough to miss at least some of the day's heat and humidity. We left a little before sunrise, but it was already hot and humid, just not as hot and humid as it was going to get.
The ride southwest was nice. There wasn't too much traffic, and there were a ton of motorcycles on the road. I'm not sure if that is normal, or due to the Key West Poker Run which occurred the day before.
When we got to Big Pine Key, we detoured up to see the Key Deer National Wildlife Refuge. The visitor's center is in a strip mall and didn't look open at the early hour so we headed in the direction of the actual refuge area. As we got to the parking area for the Blue Hole, we saw a key deer in the distance. Given that these diminutive deer are endangered, we thought that was lucky. As we were packing our coats into the bike for the short walk to Blue Hole, another key deer walked right up to us. While there may not be many in the world, I was starting to think that the Key Deer Refuge was doing its job and the result are lots of deer that are not very afraid of humans.
After snapping a few pictures of the little miss, we walked to Blue Hole. As we got there, we could see an Alligator in the distance - too far and too low in the water to get a good picture. Blue hole is a small fresh water lake that is the result of quarrying rock for local roads in the 1930's. It is likely the only fresh water habitat in The Keys.
A local resident walked up shortly after we got there with his young daughter. We chatted with him a bit while his daughter look in the water. After a few minutes, her "binky" fell out of her mouth and into the lake. Two things happened then ... Lilly started screaming for her binky. And the alligator saw something fell into the water and came over to investigate.
I don't believe binkies are part of the natural diet of alligators, but he tried to eat it. I was glad that after he tried to chew it for a few minutes, he spit it out to lie forever at the bottom of blue hole. I'm assuming alligators have resilient digestive systems, but a plastic binky is very foreign. What looked like a large leatherback turtle also showed a passing interest. Lilly ... was not very happy.
We walked around a bit more before heading back to our bike. Across the road was this small button buck key deer. He may have been slightly more skittish, but I was still able to walk very close to him.
We drove down to another nature walk site and walked it, but it was not quite as interesting. After turning around at the expansive refuge area, we headed back toward US1. Another key deer, this one a larger antlered buck, crossed the road in front of us. He was still tiny compared to even small deer back home, but his rack was not too bad for his body size.
Back at US1, we continued toward Key West. Traffic near Key West got worse as we made our way to the Southern Most Point in the US. We did the obligatory pictures there, both in person and on the bike. Looking at the map, the marker really isn't at the southern most point in the US, but it is at least closer than the four corners is to where four states meet.
We rode around Key West a bit more before making our way to Duval Street to get something to eat. It was still relatively early and we wanted lunch, not breakfast. We stopped in to Sloppy Joes, but they didn't really have what we were looking for and were, frankly, not overly friendly.
To use a bit of time, we headed to the Hemingway House for a tour. Several Key West Roosters were running around as we walked that way. From what I've read, these are both loved and hated by the locals.
The Hemingway House is $13 to tour. There really isn't much in the house outside of some odd furniture, decorations and placards giving information. The guided tour gives some additional information, and we lurked in the background for a couple of the tours underway. The house itself is well restored and an interesting posed snapshot of a part of Hemingway's life.
Hemingway's writing studio is actually in a separate building and there was at one time a walkway between the two. I liked seeing this and thinking of him actually working here, even if it may be a bit staged.
After seeing the house and most of the tour, I think it is more like a $5 tour, not $13. But it was enjoyable all the same and the six toed cats were almost worth it alone.
With some time killed at The Hemingway House, we walked back to Duval Street and ate an awesome lunch at Caroline's. This was exactly what we were looking for - great burger, conch fritters and shrimp. The service was excellent as well.
Having seen what we wanted to in Key West, we headed back northeast. Traffic was a bit heavier, especially with the Sunday-Go-Home crowd, but it moved along well enough. I'm not sure of the history of the naming of this key, but given that we're from Ohio and on a Honda motorcycle, this seems almost prophetic?
It was into the 90's and humidity to match by the time we got back to our cottage. We rested and rehydrated a bit, walked around the water some and made plans for the next few days.
We walked down to a bayside restaurant to eat and watch the sunset. The food was much more expensive than we would normally choose, but the view was good and it was an excuse to try something we normally wouldn't.
While perhaps not the best meal ever, and not commensurate with the price, the food was good, and it was pleasant sitting on the patio watching the sunset. Lots of people sat on the beach without eating and that may have been a more prudent option.
After dinner, we stopped by a gas station to grab some sodas before walking back to the cottage. It was quite dark, almost worrisomely so. Thankfully, the only thing that showed any aggression to us on the walk back was this attack crab - like a very vicious escapee from the restaurant.
There certainly has been a lot of interaction with a variety of wildlife today.
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