Fun in the sun

It's-a-me, reporting live from my family vacation in the Florida Keys.

On Tuesday we went out boating again, but I didn't go fishing this time. On the Florida Bay side, the water is very shallow, and we got stuck in it. The Atlantic Ocean side is much deeper.

Later we took Speck (our dog) to this marina where they charge you to go out on the dock and see the tarpons that hang out there. They had small fish you could feed them with also. I thought it was interesting that if you throw the fish out as far as you can, the tarpons will gather to where it's going to land. I didn't know they could look up. I guess it makes sense, though. While we were there, these Japanese tourists -- it looked like a mother and her teenage son and daughter -- were getting a big kick out of the tarpons, as we stereotypically imagine Japanese tourists. The mother lay on the dock, tarpons behind her, so the others could get a picture.

After that we went to this beach called Anne's Beach. (I don't know who Anne is.) It was really shallow there, and you could walk a pretty good distance into the water. Since I wasn't prepared to go swimming (and didn't want to), I stayed on the shore with the dog. And who should be there also but the Japanese tourists. They had the older woman take a picture with Speck. I should have asked them to e-mail it to me. It was too funny.

On Wednesday we went to Key West. This is what I had been looking forward to. It seemed like it was going to rain, but it stopped before we got there. It remained overcast and cool for the rest of the day, which was fine by me. It's better than getting sunburned.

We pretty much visited the two spots I have to see every time I go to Key West. The first is the end of U.S. 1, which stretches 3,846 km up the Eastern Seaboard to the U.S.-Canadian border. Probably the most famous end of any U.S. highway, it's a sign/road geek's dream.

The second, located just down the street, is the marker marking the Southernmost Point in the Continental United States. You know how, during discussions of the Cuban Missile Crisis, etc., the oft-repeated fact the United States is only 145 km from Cuba at its closest is often repeated. Well, this is the spot they're talking about, so if Castro ever decides to nuke America, this popular tourist destination is going first.

It isn't really the southernmost point (the house next to the marker is a good contender, and so is the naval base on the other side), but, looking at maps, I guess it is the southernmost point on public land (if the White Street Pier doesn't count as land). It sits in a corner where the road turns 90 degrees. Just behind the monument is the ocean. When I was there a few years ago, there was a lot more space around the marker, but now the road cuts closer. On the plus side, the road consists of brick at the turn and there are little bench-type things all around. Tourists are always lined up to take their pictures with the giant nun-buoy-shaped marker, so being able to sit down is a good idea.

We didn't do much other than walk around town. On our walk, we saw the many free-roaming chickens for which Key West is famous. They're a protected species in town, being the descendants of cockfighters from back in the day. It's hard to walk around the old part of town without hearing a rooster crowing.

We tried to watch the famous Key West sunset in Mallory Square, but it was still cloudy and there was a big old island full of rich people's houses in the way. That has to be new; I don't remember it being there before. I hope you can still see the sunset sometime during the year.

Yesterday I didn't do much. It was finally clear outside, meaning it was too hot. On the plus side, I got to see the stars of the night sky. It's hard to believe how many more I could see here than at home. A distant cloud flashing heat lightning every second provided illumination. I tried to take a 30-second exposure (the longest my camera can handle) of the brightly flashing cloud, but it was still too dark.

Today, our last full day, we went to Theater of the Sea. Opened in 1946, it's a sort of proto-SeaWorld. Actually, it's more like Miami Seaquarium, which I've been to. But I digress. At Theater of the Sea you can see dolphins, sea lions, sharks, birds, and myriad varieties of fish. So it's basically an aquarium with a few avian extras. We spent a few hours there, and it was quite a bit of fun.

So we have to leave tomorrow morning by ten o'clock if we want to make it back to reality without being charged extra. Somebody be prepared to poke me awake.