Vacation Recap: Day 3 (Friday)

You know what? I think it's taking me longer to write these recaps than it took me to actually be on vacation. Which sounds a lot grouchier than intended, but it's the truth: I really do talk too damn much. Not really sorry, it's just who I am, but ... I'm tired. Apologies. It's the weather. It's gross today, and it's all damp and yucky and I feel pleh. Wish I were back in Florida.

Sigh. Anyway. On the Friday of our vacation, it was too cold to go swimming -- only 68ºF -- so we went sightseeing. Cupcake was a total trooper, even though she had absolutely no idea what was going on. See? This conch shell horn is as big as her whole head:

Key West has a really charming aquarium, even if it is a little on the small side. It was built by the WPA back in the 30's, when Key West went practically overnight from being one of the richest cities in America per capita to being one of the poorest. The designer of the building also designed parts of Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, if I remember correctly. Could be wrong, though; I was in the tropics.

This is not a real marlin, as you can probably tell. Fiberglass, I think. There were a bunch of tchotchkes on the wall that gave the place a TGI-Friday's-meets-Old-Man-and-the-Sea-for-margaritas kind of feel. Some of the details of the place really stood out, though, like the tile work on the touch tank. Definitely check it out.

When you get out of the aquarium you end up right outside the Shell Market, which is a giant open mall-like thing with chickens in it, and if you walk through it, you end up in Mallory Square, which is apparently very Old and Historic, judging from the public restrooms. Lots of chickens here, and people fresh off the boat -- literally, as the cruise ships dock at Mallory Square. Every day they have sunset celebrations there. We didn't see any this time, but they sure sound like fun.

(Incidentally, this is one of my favorite pictures from the entire trip. Not really sure why, but I think it's the light and the look on Cupcake's face. This was taken right around noon, and the day really was just about perfect -- not too hot, not too cool, not too boring, not too busy, and at this point we have not passed the Point of No Return regarding naptime or lunchtime. YET. We'd get there about half an hour after this picture was taken.)

After lunch Cupcake wanted to ride on the "choo-choo" but we took the trolley instead because the friendly ticket lady told us that the train did not stop at the Southernmost Point Buoy. I think it's pretty much a rule that you have to go to the Southernmost Point Buoy when you visit Key West. We didn't really have an itinerary this time, but this was the one thing I wanted to do while we were in Florida. It was a lovely trolley ride, and two minutes after we got on Cupcake fell asleep.

We spent the rest of the day trying to take a nap (hahaha, complete failure) and eating dinner at Quizno's, because that's how we rolled. For the third night in a row, G and I fell asleep before 9pm. Bliss.