Finally, Sun! And Then More Rain!

Today I woke up and there was an incredibly bright orb of light suspended in the sky outside my window. What is this strange visitor? Hmmm! I decided to go for my long run for the week right away, before it got hot. I should say, before it got hotTER. At 8:15, it was already 85 and incredibly humid. I got to see more of the neighborhood around the hotel, which was interesting. After 40 minutes of running in the heat, I was ready to cool off, so I went to the pool at the hotel and got some sun. Yeah, I am a little tan, so coworkers, prepare to be jealous! Allie joined me at the pool at one point, and we swam and lounged for a while before heading back to the condo to shower and get ready for our day trip to Key West.

We headed out around 11:30, going down Route 1 toward Mile Marker 0 in Key West. The drive was around 2 hours. We parked near Mallory Square and started out walking around. We saw a sign for the information center and stopped in to get a map. There was a hilariously friendly woman named Dotti manning the desk. She gave us a map with ideas of places to stop and then asked us what we thought of her rather unique line of jewelry, which was made with brass wire and sea glass. Hmmm! Well, it was certainly unusual. We escaped without buying any jewelry and headed south on Whitehead St.

It became apparent to us after a few minutes that this rain meant business.

It was insanely, unbelievably hot by this point. We dragged ourselves to Ernest Hemingway's house and caught a tour just as it was starting. The guide, Steve, clearly loves his job and loves Hemingway. We learned about the Parade of Wives and heard great anecdotes about Hemingway's time in Key West and Cuba. We also saw the weird 6-toed cats of Hemingway's house, all of which are descended from one of Hemingway's son's cats and about half of which have the unusual thumb. Steve told us that the ones with 6 toes can actually pick things up. Freaky! Other than the weird ass cats, Hemingway's house was pretty awesome. They have done a great job with the exhibits. The whole house is just beautiful. I would love to live there.

After visiting Hemingway's house, we decided to forego the 8-block walk to see the actual Mile Marker 0 in favor of getting a cold drink and resting. Seriously, you guys, it was hot. Hot! I have been in rainforests and this was worse. We walked back up Duval into the main touristy part of Key West and found a bar, Fat Tuesday, that met our requirements: Excellent ventilation and TVs with the football games on. We got some frozen drinks and settled in to watch the end of the 1pm games. We would have stayed longer, but they don't serve food, so when it was halftime at the Redskins game, we left in search of dinner.

We ended up at the Lazy Gecko, a few doors up on Duval, which was also showing all of the 4pm games and served food. We ordered some Yuengling (it has really made its way south!) and some bar food and watched the Skins. There was a girl in the bar from Annapolis, and one couple was from Sterling and Arlington, so there was strong representing in the house. After the 3rd quarter, we heard the rain start. The whole front of the bar is open to the air, so we could see the storm. Of course, the rain knocked out the satellite reception, so we all went to the front of the bar to check out the storm and to squint at the bar across the street, which had cable and was showing the Redskins.

It became apparent to us after a few minutes that this rain meant business. The rain pounded down in sheets, flooding first the street and then the sidewalk, while we were stranded inside the bar watching the whole thing transpire. Our waitress didn't seem concerned, and we figured she would know, so we just all chilled out and took in the scene. One guy at our bar got a little belligerent with the people in the passing cars, since their driving caused waves of rainwater to come up into the bar. Halfway through the 4th quarter, the rain had slowed enough to let the satellite signal in, so we got to see the end of the game and the spectacular win by the Redskins.

At this point, we were pretty tired from the heat of the day and facing a two-and-a-half-hour drive back to Tavernier (they lower the speed limit at night and the cops mean business), so we took off our flip-flops and waded out into the sidewalk to walk back to the car. The rental car is tiny, a Chevy Aveo, so we were hopeful that it was parked on high enough ground that it hadn't floated into the sea. The water in the crosswalks was almost to our knees. We took some great photos in the water. It was one of those things you just have to laugh about, because it is so absurd. We found the car right where we parked it and got out of town. It rained most of the way back to Tavernier, and we could see the lightning out in the ocean. We got home close to midnight and I for one got a shower and went right to sleep. Big day!