Last of the Freebies?

I think I've done it. I think I've exhausted the free things to do here. I also had a 2-minute conversation with someone today, so I think I'm up to 10 minutes of face-to-face human contact over a 6-week period. I'm still sane, and I'm wondering if I should be concerned about that. As a follow-up to the recent infestation, I only had 2 more tropical roaches (none hissing, none flying - and I thank the readers who suggested solutions). Not a bad week overall.

First up, I decided to go to the Key West Wildlife Center.

I run past this place all the time and always thought it was just a building with a few indoor/outdoor cages to help rehabilitate wildlife. When I checked into its hours, I was surprised to find that there was more to the center than met the eye and headed over. I'm not sure why there were so many chickens.



Then I was off down a nice, shady path. (Ok, that part wasn't shady, but most of it was.)

The path took me to some outside cages currently holding a few seagulls, a great white heron, an osprey, and some black birds I'm clueless about.



And pelicans. I love pelicans. If I stood to the side, I got the eye. If I moved in front of them, they ever so slowly bowed their heads and stared at me over their beaks. I had a rather good time with them. Unfortunately you can't quite get the effect thanks to the fencing, but I tried.

Then a nice path wound to a pond with lots of places to sit and ponder along the way.



Very nice. There were a lot of turtles. A lot.



I had a nice conversation with a rooster that walked right up to me (I didn't count that in my face-to-face interaction minutes).



There were iguanas everywhere, including overhead. I kept waiting to get pooped on (the stuff was everywhere) but luckily escaped that fate.

Then I walked across the street (sort of) to the third fort on the island (West Martello). Both of these places are near Higgs Beach.



We've already seen Fort Zachary and Fort East Martello, but I've always assumed this structure was just a small ruin, so never bothered to check it out. I was surprised to see how wrong I was. Wow. What a great place. West Martello took 21 years to build in the mid-1800s but didn't really get used until the Spanish-American War in 1898. It was almost demolished in the 1940s, but the Key West Garden Club saved it and made it all pretty.



Does anyone else feel stupid doing selfies? Once I got through the fort itself and came outside, a huge iguana scared the bejeezus out of me as it ran across a branch just above my head. I really thought I was going to end up catching the thing as the branch bounced wildly under its weight, but I am happy to say that didn't come to pass. The grounds cover a surprisingly large area and had lots of butterflies in some places.



The fort/garden covers 1 1/2 acres and just winds around, taking you into all kinds of great nooks and crannies. My camera battery died just as I got to some of the best parts - waterfall, fountain, low archways to go under. If you come down here, be sure to visit. As a matter of fact, both these places were worth bringing Michael to see, so we'll be back.

I also fit in a walk out onto the White Street Pier to enjoy the breeze (before the fort). I'm not getting that at my place, and it sure did feel good.

In two more weeks, we have a lot of decisions to make. We rolled the dice, and they're still tumbling. Wednesday is an important day for Michael, so let's send him some luck, shall we?