I don't want to leave this place

Today was my last full day in Key West.  I don't want to go home.  This morning one of my friends who thought I was going home today texted me the following: " It's 17 and snowing.  Don't come home. Stay there!  Change your flight!"  
I slept in this morning.  I don't remember what time I got up but I know it was after 10!  (I went back to sleep after replying to the above text message that I wasn't going home today.)
I have no idea how many miles I rode my bike.  I rode all over the place today.  I went out to ride along the ocean where I had run during the half marathon yesterday.  I saw the mile markers which were painted on the ground.

10 mile mark on half marathon course

I got a little choked up when I saw this particular mile marker because I remember passing it yesterday.  I don't know if it's just me or if everyone feels this way; there is just something about passing the 10 mile mark in a half marathon.  It's not like you are anywhere near the finish line yet but once you pass the 10 mile mark, you are on the home stretch; there's just a 5K to go!  I love passing the 10 mile mark in a half marathon. 
Today was beautiful!  It was 77 degrees most of the day!  This is the warmest it's been since I've been here.
I toured the oldest house on Key West!  It was built in 1829.

The oldest house on Key West

I saw this shop:

Pelican Poop Shoppe

It was a typical Key West tourist gift shop with brightly painted metal crabs and lizards, Southernmost Point and mile 0 stuff, magnets, etc.  (I never saw any pelican poop or jelly beans being called pelican poop!)  I learned from a sign on the wall that this was Ernest Hemingway's first house. It was later made into a hotel.  It has a courtyard in the middle of it.  You can go into the courtyard and the store clerk starts a recording telling the history of the building.  It was very interesting.

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remnants of the former hotel with palm trees reaching the 3rd story balcony

Courtyard pool of the Pelican Poop Shoppe, former Casa Antigua Hotel and former Ernest Hemingway house

I bought a Key West t-shirt at a shop near the Pelican Poop shoppe.  After lunch, I went back to the cookie place to get a oatmeal raisin cookie!  Oatmeal raisin cookies are my favorite and this one was sooooooooooooo good!!!!  Oh my!  It was awesome!!!  I ate a chunk of it and wrapped the rest for later.  

I had a postcard to send to my running friend, Erika.  I asked at the hotel desk about a stamp and they did not have any but said that the store next door sells them.  I went in and asked for a post card stamp and the gal looked in her bag and told me that she is all out of postcard stamps and began to put her bag away.  I could see stamps in the bag so I said, "but those are stamps", to which she replied, "they aren't for postcards, I'm sorry" and proceeded to put the bag away.  I explained to her that I could still use the regular stamp on my post card and that the post office doesn't care if regular stamps are used on postcards.  She had to ask someone else before she would sell me a stamp!!

I got my "One human family" sticker!!  It is the motto of Key West.  It is true there.  You will see couples of all types dancing on the same dance floor.  I think that's a good thing! 

After supper, I did one time up and down Duval street taking it all in then I went back to Mattheessen's to try their homemade ice cream!!  Yep, it's as good as the cookies!!

I can't believe I have to go back home tomorrow.  It's below zero back there.  I have my stuff mostly packed.  I only bought a few small things here but it's hard to fit them in because I only brought a small carry on size suitcase and my backpack.  I'm going to go running in the morning; I have to.  I'm in Key West and it's below zero back home, how can I not go running?  I have to be out of the hotel by 11 but my flight isn't until 5:40 pm.  I can leave my stuff in a storage room at the hotel until I have to leave.  The hotel will also take care of returning my rental bike!

Well, I better get to bed so I can be out running by 8am.

Runner Nerd
doesn't want to leave Key West