apparently it was coconut trash day on our last day in key west. these garbage cans were everywhere. we noticed them as we walked back over to the southernmost point marker. we hadn’t yet taken a ‘real’ photo with it yet, and figured we better.

this answered my question about where all the hens were! all we saw for the first few days were roosters everywhere. also: one of the babies had to be corralled by human feet to catch up to mama hen. it was freakin’ adorable.

unlimited opportunities in key west!

we finally went to glazed donuts. i had been looking forward to this visit for about a month, on the recommendation of a friend. the donuts were quite tasty, but — the coffee! holy geez it was amazing. and i don’t even like coffee, you guys! seriously. i should have had a second mug, if only i had realized we wouldn’t be visiting again…

next to glazed is the tropic cinema that i posted the nighttime photo of at the end of my last post. this time i posed for a more ridiculous photo with marilyn.

after dropping off a bunch of postcards at the post office, we continued on to the aquarium.

the front pool is full of critters you can touch and pick up. jason was all about it.

sharks actually kinda have a texture, i found out.

green heron! you know i like birds.

i worked up my courage to pick up a horseshoe crab. EEEE! he was fine for a few moments, but started getting impatient when jason kept taking photos to try to figure out the right exposure and focus. his little legs started poking at my fingers so i would let go of him. it worked! creepy.

what i don’t have photos of was feeding the juvenile stingrays, because neither jason nor i wanted to give up the opportunity and there was only a short time frame for feeding. it was really neat — we held a chunk of fish hanging out of our closed fists, then the stingray kinda sidled up to you and ate it. their bellies are actually in the spot you expect to just be their stomach. my stingray kinda lingered a little, too, so me and those nearby got a little extra view of the action. very fun!

it’s a little aquarium, but the tour and the special feeding were very nicely done. the interaction was so great!

afterwards we wandered down duvall for lunch and some tourist shopping. when we got back to the hotel, i spent a little time at the pool. it was a little too shady to be really warm, but i figured i should at least check it out. we went back to the beach a little later and i got in the ocean again, because i could.

we decided to eat more cuban food for dinner that night. we visited el siboney, which we had heard so many raves about. we ate essentially the same things as we had at el meson de pepe, but yeah — the food was incredible. waiting for a table was even kind of fun: it was so busy that when your number got called to get seated, everyone cheered for you. it was like winning the lottery! the ambiance inside the restaurant is pretty plain — that’s where el meson won.

for dessert we got guava cheesecake.

that was our final day in keywest! the next morning we got rolling back up the keys to spend a day and a half in miami: that will be the final post in this honeymoon series! bummer.