Blog

Today I hung out with Sara for most of the day. We started out at the Ernest Hemingway House, where I mostly spent my time following around the polydactyl cats, of which there are 48 currently on the property. They are all descendants of Hemingway’s cat, Snowball.

 

We stopped for cuban sandwiches, and this roaming gang of teenage chickens tried to steal our food. Chickens run wild around Key West, and are a protected animal.

 

 

After a couple of happy hours, we took a long meandering bike ride back to Sara’s- it was thunder storming most of the ride.

Sara made a salad and a delicious lentil soup for dinner. Tomorrow I am sad to leave Key West- I’m driving up to the Everglades and then back to Miami for a day before I head to NYC.

This morning I got up pretty early to take a bicycle tour of downtown Key West led by my amazing host, Sara. It was leisurely and totally entertaining, and at the end of it we got slices of Key Lime pie. I had missed the “mile marker 0” sign yesterday, so I had to get a photo with it today.

 

After the tour, I had lunch at The Half Shell. I gorged myself on peel and eat shrimp, potato salad, and an IPA. The inside of the restaurant was covered in these license plates:

 

After an afternoon nap, I headed out to take the Ghosts and Graveyards ghost tour at sunset. I took this as an opportunity to people watch while listening to the stories of murder, illness, creepers, and death.

What I was most looking forward to on the tour was visiting Robert the Doll. I first read about Robert about 6 months ago and was determined to come visit him. He’s basically a creepy doll with a legend. He was given to a boy named Eugene in 1906 by a Bahamian servant who was displeased with the family- thus, giving a cursed doll to their child, naturally. The family claims that soon afterwards they would hear a voice that was not Eugene’s coming from his room. Neighbors saw the doll moving from window to window when the family was out. People also claim to have seen Robert’s expression change and see him blink. He would also move and knock over furniture and just generally be threatening. Legend is that if Robert is displeased with you, your life will suddenly become more difficult and terrible.

When we arrived, we were told that we must introduce ourselves to Robert and ask politely to take his picture or else the curse would be passed onto us. I had to ask twice:

 

After the ghost tour, I walked around Duvall St. photographing some night life. I stumbled upon the “Smallest Bar in Key West” where I had a drink before stopping on the street to chat with Rudy, a fellow traveler and really genuinely nice person.

If this trip is in part about doing things that scare me, I’ve knocked another one off the list by biking around town at night- I rode the almost 4 miles back to where I’m staying while a lightning storm lit up the sky around me.

Today I left Marathon at 7 AM with the sunrise to bike 52 miles down to Key West. I actually made really good time today, averaging between 12-13 miles per hour. Getting up early and knocking out the miles before the hot hot heat is brilliant, and I’m kind of mad at myself that it took me until the last day to really figure that out.

Today I also made the decision to forgo taking “the emotional way” i.e. the Overseas Heritage Trail, in favor of riding on the shoulder the whole way. Honestly- the bike trail sucks, mainly because of the 106.5-miles, 70 miles of those are actually completed. So the trail will go on for awhile, then stop abruptly without a clear path back to the road- or, there will be construction and all of the construction vehicles will be parked in the middle of the bike path. Or, the bike path will share space with driveways, other roads- and cars will just pull out in front of you without looking.

Because I was trying to make good time, this is the only photo I took on the road today- this was maybe 15 miles outside of Key West.

 

 

The first thing I had to do was go to the southernmost point in the continental US- just to prove that I made it. 160 miles total on the bike!

 

 

I’m staying with a fantastic girl that I met through a bike trip website. After a shower and some time on the couch with some episodes of Orange is the new Black, I ventured out to Mallory Square for sunset.

I’ve decided to change my original travel plans a bit. Instead of biking all the way back up the Keys, I’m going to stay in Key West an extra day and then rent a car and drive up to the Everglades and then back to Miami. This affords me more time to see things, and less time worrying about my achey knees and heat rash.

Today I hit the road at 8 AM on the dot. I biked another 40 miles down to Marathon Key, and the ride was much more pleasant and picturesque. Overall, my body is much less in shambles today.

 

I stopped for lunch at the The Wreck & Galley Grill.

 

 

Then I biked a bit further south and met up with my Couchsurfing host for the next few days, Jay. I’m sleeping on a boat for the next few days, and we have plans for a sunrise sail tomorrow.

 

 

We hung out by the pool for a bit.

Today I biked another 40ish miles from Florida City down to Islamorada. To say it was rough is an understatement. Today I learned the valuable lesson of starting early in the morning- I had every intention of leaving around 7 am, and yet somehow I didn’t get on the road until 10. This means I did the majority of my biking in the hottest and brightest part of the day.

Photo taken around the 19 mile mark- see that haze? It’s sweat on my phone camera.

The first 20 miles to Key Largo were great- I biked on the 1, which has a comfortable enough shoulder even though the cars are speeding past at 60 MPH.

I stopped for lunch at the Hobo Cafe, which a college friend of mine wrote about when she biked the Keys. I had a delicious blackened Mahi Mahi quesadilla and a beer. The nice guy at the bike shop in San Diego told me that if I ever started to get dehydrated, I should drink a beer and then immediately down a few glasses of water. So I obliged, which I’m not sure helped or hurt the second part of my day.

With about 13 miles left to my motel, I started to feel…off. I would bike a few miles and then have to stop and rest. This was made worse by the fact that the “bike trail” was under construction for roughly 10 miles, which meant that it was a total mess with no shoulder to speak of on that part of the road.

I kept finding air conditioned places to pop into, if only for a few minutes. By the time I had only 2.5 miles left to go, I had to stop at a Dunkin Donuts because I had started to sweat profusely and then get chills. I was also feeling dizzy and disoriented. I know I looked awful and dirty, because I got quite a few strange stares whenever I stepped into a public place. I’m pretty sure I had the beginnings of heat exhaustion.

I’ve honestly never been happier to arrive at a place than when I reached my motel for the night. It’s lovely, and the people and animals are sweet.

 

 

Today was the start of my 9 day journey down to Key West and back by way of bicycle. Today my ride was roughly 40 miles, so I got an early start after eating breakfast at the hostel. One of the hardest things right off the bat was figuring out how to organize the majority of my stuff (the things I didn’t leave at the bike shop with my roller suitcase) into the panniers. It was also a learning curve figuring out how to balance the extra weight on the bicycle. By mid day, I mostly got the hang of it.

Have I mentioned that I’m not a cyclist, and that I don’t really know what I’m doing? It’s true. The longest ride I’ve ever done before today was 24 miles. I’ve mostly avoided bicycles as a general rule since the bike accident in 7th grade that left me with a cracked upper jaw, cracked and broken teeth, and permanent scars on my face and hands. The fact that I’m riding at all is actually kind of amazing. Maybe I feel like I have something to prove to myself- taking on a difficult task combined with my own ignorance of how to do it- there’s something very thrilling about that.

I’ve tried researching advice on bike paths and riding specifically in the Keys, and I just keep coming upon alarmist things about alligators and traffic. So I’ve stopped looking. Seriously- I’ve decided to go into this at least partially blind for my own sanity.

Before I left San Diego, I got some supplies at Missions Hills Bike Shop, and this wonderful man convinced me that I needed to go to REI and buy a pair of bike shorts. I’m so grateful that he did- I feel like my ass chafing would probably be much worse now without them. Not to mention having tight shorts meant that I could comfortably shove my phone down them and have easy access to my maps and camera. Despite this, I only managed a few shots along the journey, as I was concentrating on not falling off or getting run over.

The weather is interesting- people keep asking me in disbelief why I am doing this ride in June, of all times. Honestly- I love the heat and humidity. If I had a super power, I suppose it would be being able to withstand high temperatures comfortably and with joy. I didn’t start actually feeling hot until mid-day under the bright sun. Lucky for me, it started thunder storming shortly thereafter and I became drenched and very cool.

 

I had to stop at the Coral Castle Museum on the way. One of my favorite things are these outsider artist projects/fortresses. Some other favorites include the Beer Can House in Houston, and Salvation Mountain in Niland, CA.

 

 

Since I was cheap with food all day, I treated myself to beer and seafood for dinner. This photo was taken outside the seafood restaurant:

 

 

I’m staying in a motel tonight, which- after the hostel feels absolutely luxurious. Honestly, I’m having the best time- exploding my stuff everywhere without worrying about it getting lost/stolen, not wearing pants, watching a Forensic Files marathon- I’m in my happy place after a very tiring day.

Because I’m generally a very nervous flyer, I barely slept en route to Miami. This meant that I passed out in the Atlanta airport between flights, and also that I was in a daze most of my day/night in Miami Beach.

I stayed at the Sobe hostel in South Miami Beach- my first hostel stay ever! Everyone was very friendly and helpful, and I had really lovely German sister roommates. After I checked in to my hostel, I picked up my bike from the bike shop, which will be my transport for the next 9 days. I managed to bike around South Beach, to and from the grocery store- without killing myself.

Upon returning to the hostel, I passed out and had a glorious 3 hour nap. It started thunder storming while I was napping, which was somehow magical and comforting from the haze of sleep.

I decided that I needed to at least take a walk around Miami Beach, as I knew I would be leaving relatively early the next day. As I was shooting, I realized that I kept taking photos of people and creatures in alone moments- my mind is stuck on the fact that this is the first leg of my solo traveling, and I’m wondering how I will do now that I’m not in the company of friends and familiarity.

Yesterday Melissa and I drove out to Julian, CA by way of the 79- through Cuyamaca Rancho State Park. This area is one of my favorite landscapes of all time. When I used to do preschool photography, I got sent up to Julian to photograph a school. I remember driving through this landscape for the first time in total awe. It’s part desert meadow, part burnt out nightmare. There was a big fire here in 2003, and as a result, there are a lot of dead trees mixed in with brush and older growth. Matt and I like to call it “the forest of no return,” but I feel very peaceful here.

 

 

 

You can’t go to Julian without getting a slice of pie at Mom’s.

Today is my last day in San Diego. I leave tonight on a red eye to Miami, and thus begins my adventure from the known into the unknown. I’ll be renting a bicycle and biking from Miami Beach down to Key West and back- a total distance of around 320 miles. Did I mention that I’m not a cyclist and have never done a long distance bike trip before? Needless to say, my nerves are alive and well. But that’s part of the adventure, I suppose.

Today (after taking my morning dance class) Melissa came over for some adventuring. We decided we wanted to go down to Little Italy because I’ve always wanted to photograph the airplanes landing. I stood in one spot for about 20 minutes and captured as many as I could. Here’s my version of the composite airplane photo:

 

 

We passed a few brewery/tasting rooms on the way and stopped in for a beer flight. The best one was a curry coconut stout, which I might have to go back and drink again tomorrow.

 

 

Then we ventured to the Spruce Street Suspension Bridge, which is another one of my favorite things in San Diego. I stumbled upon it accidentally on one of my long walks when I used to live here. San Diego is actually full of foot bridges, but I think this one is the most majestic. People like to leave padlocks locked onto the metal cables with their names and dates on them- like carving your lover’s initials into a tree. We also encountered some people having a beer and a sandwich, just hanging out in the middle of the bridge.

 

And of course, the day would not be complete without a trip to Balboa Park and…doing this on a rock. Naturally.