Another Week(end) in Key West

I've had a hard time getting motivated. Every time I do anything that entails going outside, I come back and have to hang my bra out to dry. I even sweat while I'm moving full speed on my moped. For someone who loves heat to abnormal proportions, my frustration with this heat is really saying something. Between the steam and the downpours, I haven't gotten much past morning runs. I get soaked on them too, but I don't care.

With plans rained out all week, I ended up working on the calendar (among other things), which showed me all the things I wasn't doing.

This morning, we had a visit from what I'm pretty sure was a woodpecker. Cool.



Jack saw it too.

It's LobsterFest weekend and it started with over 400 people signed up for a bar crawl Friday night (yes, there's a bar crawl for every occasion here). No one's talked about it today (Saturday), so I'm not sure if it was canceled due to weather or what. Saturday brought another street fair. It also brought more rain. Things weren't looking good for awhile there with thunderstorms the whole morning, but by about 1pm, we finally caught a break.

There must have been a cruise ship in because this event was pretty crowded. I'm sure the lobster part had something to do with it too.

You've got to appreciate these guys' Lobsterfest spirit. There were quite a number of people proudly sporting these hats. Don't you wonder when this headwear will be broken out again in the future? Kind of like buying those huge sombreros in Tijuana; it seems like a good idea at the time.



Obviously there was lots of lobster. People were standing in long lines for them, so I don't think there's going to be much in the way of leftovers. If anyone ever does this with popcorn, soft pretzels, or french fries, I'm so in.

There was a free street concert too, but the bands were country or rock, as usual. Country is to Key West like soca/calypso is to the Caribbean. You better get used to it!

I normally love street fairs, but after enduring drunk people stumbling into me (with sloshing cups), spitting within inches of my feet (?!), and yelling into my ear and past me to their friends a block away, not to mention having to avoid the buttery hands of lobster eaters and the melting ice cream cones of clueless kids, I was rather glad I had saved part two of my day for last.

I finally made it to the Butterfly & Nature Conservatory. It's the first "museum" here I've had to pay for, but I did get a local's discount, so that was cool.

As soon as you walk into the conservatory, you're inundated with butterflies.

There was such a variety, and it was so much fun to look for them. Can you spot this one before the closeup?


I was surprised by all the colorful birds, too. We had a lot of this colorful foliage in our "yard" in Arizona to attract hummingbirds (and butterflies), so I was rather surprised there weren't hummingbirds in here. Maybe they eat butterflies (?).


This bright orange one was my favorite. I sort of began stalking it.

We had been told that a bird had just had two chicks, and I thought these were the two they were talking about.



But then saw these (Chinese Button Quails). Awwww.



The conservatory has recently acquired two flamingoes. It was hard to catch them with their heads up.



There was even a turtle.

Talk about fitting a lot into a small space, and yet it was so serene. At the end you could hear everyone saying the same thing I was thinking. No one wanted to leave. But eventually I trudged for the exit, checking myself out in the mirror to make sure no critters had hitched a ride.

I slowly sauntered home and thought I'd stick my new friend onto one of my favorite property walls. The fence is made up of weirdly shaped concrete with mirrors stuck into it and is totally something I would do.



I've jogged down this way a few times and never noticed this tiny park tucked in here.



And then just before I got home I noticed this. Hmmmmmmmmm.

I was so incredibly tempted to see if the keys would fit into the ignition. Road trip!!

And yes. As soon as I got home, I had to hang my bra out to dry...