Monday July 11, Florida Keys

Today I was driving down to Key West. I hoped to stop at some attractions along the way. Before I left my hotel in Miami, I took a few pictures of Mike's Pants. I'm not sure if I'll use them.

Miami turned into the Keys rather gradually. I think I spent a half hour still on the mainland before I crossed over to Key Largo. Even Key Largo was still pretty densly populated. Eventually the towns got smaller and the road got narrower. I found the first place, Theater of the Sea, without any trouble. They had a very defined schedule of shows, with the dolphin show being the highlight. I saw part of the Seal show then went on the open bottom boat which had dolphins jumping up on the sides and in the middle of the boat. The walking tour ended up at several pools of various animals from the area. I remember turtles, some rays and nurse sharks. There were also various birds (they had a show) and alligator and crocodile. There was actually a demonstration feeding in the pools. I had lunch (skipping the bird show) and then waited for the afternoon dolphin show.

Next I stopped at the Dolphin Research Center which was another half hour away. Although this had similar shows, they had several programs to allow people to come in and actually interact with the dolphins. The shows were much less formal than at the previous place which was kind of nice. I took video of one of the shows.

I was too late to go to the science museum along highway 1. I did see it, but would have had about 15 minutes before it closed. In retrospect maybe I should have missed one of the dolphin places to see something a little different.

Toward the end of the trek the bridges got very impressive. I wasn't able to stop to take pictures.

I found the hotel in Key West and unpacked. It was early so I walked down Duval Street to see what the place was like. This was effectively Old Town for Key West. Most of the historic houses were in the area and many fancy eating places. I did notice a few chain eateries (like Wendy's) but mostly it was custom to Key West. I walked up almost to the end (I also tried to see how to get to for the fort on the island, but it was too far to walk) then walked back. I chose a place that seemed interesting for dinner. They didn't seem to mind that I was rather sweaty from being outside for the last hour. I had the best fish I can remember tasting. I was very impressed. After the dinner I went back to the hotel for the night.