Tired sees to be a continuous existence for me on this trip. The overnight on the 11th really did a number on me. I felt the exhaustion when I picked brendan up from the airport, but it didn’t really hit me till clearwater beach. The hostel was un-airconditioned, humid, and hot. I felt fine at first and we went and got lunch.

Afterwards, my stomach really started to bother me. I could barely keep my eyes open but my stomach hurt too much to be able to sleep. I called Sandy and asked if we could come up there, to air conditioning and not sharing an eight by eight room with three other people. I drove up and by the time I got there, I felt better.

Things seem outwardly okay with the family down there so far, but that may be due to Brendan’s presence. We’ll see when I go back up there.

The drive to Key West took forever (so it seemed).

Key West has and hasn’t changed. It seems much more commercialized that I remember, and hotter than I remember. At night, there’s still the warm onshore breeze that I love and only get hints of when I’m in other places. That’s the part of Key West that I will always love.

I found the old house. One of the owners chose to build a tall wall around the entire property, blocking all of it from view save the couple tallest palm trees. At least I could see the one I climbed on, though I’d like to have seen the two decks and sea grape tree in the back.

The school had changed it’s playground! All of the wooden equipment was gone, replaced by the cushy plastic stuff.

Took the tour of the Hemingway house…definately makes me interested in Hemingway and his career and his life. Poor guy had a serious suicide problem in his family. He committed suicide, but so did his sister, father, grandfather, uncle…a lot of them did.

61 cats on the property!

Sunset Festival wasn’t exactly like I remembered. The cat guy wasn’t there, neither was the guy with the bagpipes. Also, the sun didn’t make an appearance today because of the clouds. That would be MY luck. No real sunset. Very sad.

Tommorrow is hitting the beach for a bit before heading back up to Tampa.

After that, I start back to New Hampshire, hitting Atlanta, Williamsburg, Binghamton, and then done.

Been a long trip. It’s really time to head home.

june 12 photos
june 13 photos
june 14 photos
june 14 b photos

Categories: carpetbagger