up right

 This may be hard to do tonight

    No, not because of the margarita I had at Margaritaville.  Or Emily's rum something that she did not like.

    But the outlet where I recharge the PC does not seem to work, so I am standing at the kitchen counter and hitting a lot of wrong keys!@

    Today we drove up to Marathon to the turtle rescue group.  We learned about the 5 types of sea turtles found in Florida waters and the impact humans have had on them.

    Turtles have been rescued here because they have eaten plastics, been hit by boats, become entangled in fishing line or have a disease they can get from eating contaminated  sea grass.  Contaminated by chemicals we put into the water.

    Some of the turtles are rehabilitated and released.  Some are not able to survive in the wild, so they may go to zoos or aquariums. Some are kept at the turtle hospital. Unfortunately, some are too severely damaged to be helped.

    It was very enlightening.

    Next we went to a tarpon feeding place.  For $5 you get a small bucket of fish and can lean over the water and feed tarpon.  Tarpon have very sharp teeth, and if your hand  gets too close to the water they will bite. A pelican took a fish right out of Emily's hand!!  I was supposed to be protecting her, but I was looking at the birds on the left and this one came from the right.  Quick as a flash of lightening.

    Another lady got bit by a pelican when it grabbed the fish from her hand.

    As a bonus, there were several manatees in the area.  They were pretty cool but almost impossible t to photograph because they do not pose.

    We finished off the night at Margaritaville, where I had a cheese burger and a margaritga.  And Emily's rum.

    I think I will sleep well tonight.

    Early day tomorrow......heading out to the Dry Tortugas.

Peace and Love

    

And more pictures

Due to my lack of technical skills, these are not in any order

Key deer

More key deer...totally unafraid of humans.  About the size of a greyhound

food for the tarpon

baby sea turtle the man

Movie theater is now a Walgreen's

Car Emily rented was a little small

manatee sticking nose up to breath

thief!!

Chemicals in sea grass cause growths on green sea turtles.  The growths are removed and the area treated at the hospital.  If the turtle responds well, they get released  after a few month.

it's a small world

 It was a too much kind of day

    I are too much.  I learned too much.  I walked too much.  I discovered there is a lot of connectivity in my world.

    First, the eating.  We had lunch at Sloppy Joe's.  We had....Sloppy Joes, duh!  Short history.  The bar was located half a block a way in the 1930s.  When the rent was increased, (from $3 a week to $4 a week) the bar owner,  Joe, was incensed.  One night, when the building's owner was out of town, Joe had his patrons move the entire bar down the street to a building he had just purchased.  He took everything....stools, bar, urinals, pool tables, and the 4 drunks asleep in the corner.

    Years later the abandoned building becomes Captain Tony's and it is in this bar that a young Jimmy Buffett gets his first regular playing gig.

    Thats a combo of learning and eating.

    I now know the mystery of Jimmy's Woman on Caroline Street.  If you ask, I may tell you.

    We saw some of Jimmy's haunts, places he lived, and his recording studio, which was actually a fish processing plant that had closed.

    On the Buffett walking tour we stopped for key lime pie.  It was pretty darn good, and I think a little better than the key lime we had last night.  (You may see a theme here.)

    After lunch we wandered over to the Hemingway House and took a tour there.  It was there we learned how interconnected we all are.

    Papa lived in this house with his third wife.  He did a lot of wring here and it was pretty cool to visit.  I have now been to 2 of his houses, one in Havana and the one in Key West.  He was a pretty complicated man.

    Our tour guide was a man named Dan.  He said, as part of his patter, that he had once been a circus clown.  He told us a lot abut Hemingway and the history of the house. 

    When the tour was over, Emily and I wandered around, looking at the 59 cats, some with 6 toes, a few with 7, that live on the property.

    I saw our guide sitting on a bench and I sat down on a bench near him.  I casually asked him if he had really been a circus clown and he said yes. He added he had had a lot of performing jobs.  I mentioned Phillip Johnson, better known as MoonIe and he knew him!  He also knew BrooN, aka Brian Howard, and had performed a Renn Faires with them.

    Small world, eh?

    Emily and I then wandered down to the southern most point in the US when we ran into people who were on the much delayed flight from O'Hara with us.  In fact, one of their group took our picture.

    Back to food.

    Ate at Onlywood, a wood fired pizza place.  Had a great pizza, or at least most of it.

    After a rest back at the unit, we went back to Duval Street and I had some ice cream.  Too much ice cream! 

    So much, I could not eat the piece of key lime pie we brought back.

    On the bright side, I walked over 4.5 miles today!!

    And I am dog tired.  But happy.

Peace and Love

And now, random pictures

a pepperoni pizza for supper

Just a place I liked

This could give you nightmares!

Just another place I liked

Uncle Dan

A young Hemingway

Dining room at Hemingway's

Where he wrote....in Havana they said he liked to write standing up.

Truman place....where we are staying

Inside Captain Tony's

Yes, there is a door.....Jimmy's recording studio in Key West

No windows and sound proof

The first Margaritaville store

Name is Bob

The original (sort of) Margaritaville store

Hemingway's house

Can you believe this tree?

Better late

 We have arrived in Key West

    I got up at 5:30 so we could leave at 6:30 to catch our 10:25 flight.  This is all AM folks, a time I am not really familiar with.

    We boarded at O Hare, and after a 15-20 minute delay, we were told a water line was frozen and we would be delayed.  After a while they said we should get off the plane because it was going to be uncomfortably hot.  Later they said we should retrieve our belongings from the plane.  Still later they told us to go to another gate where a different plane was waiting.

    Sometime after 3, or it could have been 4, we  took off.  I really lost track of time.  

    Our flight was fine, except for the 3 jackals who sat behind us.  One of the 3 seemed to think the f word was a noun, verb, adjective, and space filler.  He also used the m f word and shit several times.

    His companion asked about a meeting and the guy actually said, "We talked about some stuff and other shit."  

    They did not stop talking, and drinking, until we landed.   And of course, they were on my good ear side.  Emily used noise deadening ear plugs so she did not have the pleasure of hearing them.

    Emily and I just came back from a yummy supper....but I am tired.

Peace and Love

and pictures

First from the Key West airport

For those who drink too much.....

I am stoping for a rooftop drink tomorrow


Now from O'Hare

Seriously, a Lego machine?

Wonder what this guy is selling?

No surprise

Yes, a vending machine for Apple products

And one for popcorn

What do you mean delayed again?