What a great night sleep. I slept for 13hrs (thank goodness checkout in the US is late) and I needed it. I think I had been up for almost 36hrs the previous day/s with very little sleep. The motel was quite nice once looking at it awake and in daylight. The room was fairly big too with a proper kitchen in it (and the biggest microwave oven I have ever seen).
I checked out and headed back down to Key West. I found a park in one of the side streets away from the main drag and walked into town. Wow, what a sight. I found out exactly what the Fantasy Festival was…Florida’s version of Mardi gras that goes for one week before Halloween. Hence all the naked people (and most of them really old…so gross to look at!) and lots of body painted people, more pirates, devils, men dressed in tutu’s – you name it, they were wearing it.
I headed to the southern most tip of mainland USA first up and lined up with about 70 other people just to get my photo taken next to this ugly concrete buoy shaped thing. Then I headed down the main drag of Key West, window shopping as I went. I stopped by the oldest house in the Keys and walked all the way down to the min square which apparently is full of live entertainment every night. There were chickens just walking around everywhere. They seem to have right of way over everyone else. I bought a slice of Key Lime Pie which was absolutely beautiful, although a little on the $$ side. On my way back to the car it started raining, so I ended up getting quite wet.
From Key West I headed back up the Keys and stopped off to see a National Park on one of the islands. It is one of the last places where Key Deer are found. I did a few walks along the nature trails and caught a glimpse of a deer running away from me. I then headed over to another part of the Park passing a residential area on the way. And wouldn’t you know it, there were several deer just hanging out on people’s lawn munching away on the grass. Of course, the moment you try and take a photo of them, they run back into the Park and hide under vegetation. They are quite small though and its amazing to think this animal lives in an area where it essentially has to get its feet wet every time it moves from one lot of vegetation to another (the uncleared areas are quite swampy). It was starting to get late by the time I headed off so I stopped and took some photos along the way and drove straight back to the hostel in Florida City.
Driving in Florida is strange. Everyone does about 20 miles above the speed limit, including the police, yet at a stop sign they sit there for at least 30sec, even when there is nothing coming in either direction. Obviously speed is ok, but not to potentially run a stop sign.
I arrived at the hostel around 1930. It’s a nice old place with rooms here there and everywhere. It has a well equipped kitchen, computer room, TV room, gazebo, waterfall and small swimming area and much much more. I went into a 6 bed dorm which is one of the largest dorms I have ever been in that hasn’t been overcrowded (not like the 60+ bed dorms in Fiji!). It had a lounge and study desk area with bookshelves, desk and chair. The hostel has all these quirky little things around it, like being in someone’s home who has collected stuff over the years…oh, that would be like me! It had old bottles, microscopes, animals bones, feathers etc. Plus every hall way, room annexe, kitchen and toilets had bookshelves lined with National Geographic magazine. The oldest I could find was from 1956. They also had general magazine from back as far as the ‘60’s. It was pretty cool looking at all the old fashions and food recipes.
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