The Last Day

It was my last day in Key West.   It was 68 degrees at 7am and it was -6 (yes, negative 6) and schools were closed back home so how could I not go running!!  I put on the same clothes I wore for the half marathon; I didn't bring any others.  I set out to run along the ocean on the half marathon course.  I saw a pier when I was riding my bike yesterday and saw a runner turn and head onto it so I wanted to check it out myself.

The White Street Fishing Pier

It wasn't much; it was a bridge-like structure out into the water for fishing from.  I looked at Garmie when I turned onto it and it said .86 and when I came back off I was at 1.31 so running down and back was .45 miles so it is nearly a quarter of a mile long.  I took the picture above and posted it to Facebook saying, "out for my morning run along the pier, no big deal!" (as if I run on a pier every day!!)  I guess I just felt like rubbing it in since I so rarely travel!  I'm always the one seeing friends' cool vacation pics so it was my turn!
I admit that I did stop and take pictures several times during my run!!  I am actually surprised that I never forgot to restart Garmie when I started running again! 
The course came within a block of my hotel so I ran down to that street and followed it out to the road that runs along the ocean.  I ran past the 10 mile mark again!

Running past the beach on my morning run! Yes, I could handle this as part of my every day routine!

Running ocean-side

There is a really nice paved biking/walking/etc lane which is separated from the road along the ocean which is where quite a few miles of the half marathon ran.
I planned to run 4 miles so I ran another mile down the ocean side path and turned back.  As I got close to my hotel, I kind of "forgot" to turn right on Simonton St. to go back to my hotel and went straight through the intersection  to run past this Key West landmark:

The Southernmost Point!

Then I HAD to head back because I had to check out by 11:00 and I didn't want to be too rushed.  When I got back, the hotel was still serving breakfast so I had some breakfast by the pool!

mini muffins by the pool after running

Then it was time to shower, dress and get ready to vacate my room.  As I was getting ready to shower, I had a thought...what am I going to do with these sweaty running clothes????  I was really sweaty and they were wet!  I ended up putting them in a plastic bag and stuffing them into the outside pocket of my suitcase! 
The hotel kept my luggage in a room in the office area so I could ride around all day until it was time to head to the airport.  My flight wasn't until 5:40 pm.
I had lunch at Cheeseburger in Key West.  It's on Duval St. and I had ridden or walked by it several times.  All the restaurants in Key West have their menus posted in front so I have looked at all of them.  This one had a cobb salad that sounded really good!  This was the only non seafood meal I had in Key West.  One other thing I keep seeing on every menu was Conch fritters.  It doesn't matter if the restaurant is super fancy and expensive or not, Conch fritters are on every one.  I asked about them at one of the places I was at and they said that they are a specialty in the Florida Keys.  I decided to try them today since they weren't nearly as much here as they were at most places.  I could also get a small order of only 6!

Key West Conch Fritters

The way I would describe them is like tiny crab cakes except that it's Conch instead of crab and they are deep fried.  The chunks of Conch remind me of clam strips.  I ate one and then just ate the centers out of a couple more since I had a big salad coming.  They were good but I doubt that I will order them the next time I'm in Key West.
I spent the afternoon riding my bike around and taking lots of pictures.  I took zillions of pictures of houses and chickens!
My last stop was, of course, ice cream!!  I had ice cream on the Historic Seaport!

Ice cream at Key West Ice Cream Factory on the Historic Seaport

All too soon it was time to get back to the hotel, have them call a taxi and give them my bike.  (They took care of returning it to the rental place.)
The flight home was uneventful.  I had a hard time finding my car back in Detroit.  I left it in the Blue Parking Deck.  I had written down "D2 across from elevator, middle row" when I parked.  I was right in front of a sign that said D2 and I was across from an elevator with one other row of cars between where I was parked and the elevator.  I thought that the 2 meant level 2 so I went to the 2nd level and began wandering looking for section D.  I found section D2 but my car was not there.  I was FREEZING!  I only had a light jacket.  I was wandering around and beginning to panic and a security truck stopped and asked me if I needed help.  I showed him what I had written and said that I walked the whole length of D2 and could not find my car.  He asked if I might be in D2 on a different level.  He explained that D2 is a section and that every level has a D2.  He gave me a ride and it turns out that I was on level 1.  So, next time I leave my car there I guess I need to determine which level I'm on along with the section number!  I was probably so excited to get going when I got there that I didn't really look at the signs very well.  Anyway, I got going and got home just shy of 2 am.  I was starving so I had stopped at a 24 hr McDonald's on the way home and got a chicken wrap.  When I got home, I had some popcorn and the rest of my Mattheessen's oatmeal raisin cookie!!  I also brought a whole one home which I cut into 4 pieces, wrapped and put in the freezer. 
So, that was my adventure, my graduation present to myself, my graduation celebration, the trip I had been planning for over 3 years was over.
I love Key West and I will definitely be back!
Well, I need to get to the grocery store and get some decent food in the house since I gained 5 lbs in Key West.  I guess it's back to counting Weight Watchers points for me!  

Runner Nerd
missing Key West