Real Tourists in Key West, March 20th

We thought we'd celebrate the first day of spring with a trolley tour around the island.  We were able to pick up the CityView Trolley about a half mile away from the condo.  You can get on or off at any of the eight stops and the trolleys run every 15 minutes.  We made a list of potential places to visit, a list of the prices for museums, and set off for the trolley stop before 9:00 a.m.

The first stop was by the Butterfly Conservancy, so we hopped off and went in to look at butterflies.  It was a very humid start to the day, so now I have curly hair.  We didn't want to take the camera bag (too heavy), but we wound up using our phones to take pictures.  There were many beautiful butterflies and the pictures were pretty good (especially with a little cropping), but I'm just posting my two favorites here.

I couldn't believe how close I could get to some of the butterflies.  I love the shot of the butterfly on Nancy's hat.  Dennis took a nice video that shows how active the butterflies were.  I don't know if we can post that here.  Maybe he'll post it on facebook.

After the Butterfly house, we hopped back on the Trolley and rode all the way to stop number one at Clinton Square.  We got off there, bought tickets (they let you ride until you can buy tickets at a stop), and headed to Margaritaville for a munchie and some margaritas.  The food is good but a little overpriced, but the maragaritas were really good.  We headed to the Audubon House next.  The gardens were nice and the Audobon originals were awesome.  The house gives you a look into housing in the 1800s for well-to-do families - no indoor plumbing or running water and the kitchen is in a separate cook house.  Really, we live like kings and queens today in even the most modest homes.

We wandered back to Clinton Square and hopped back on the trolley heading for our home stop, but we got off at stop three to see the Florida Keys Eco-discovery center.  It was free admission and was really cool.  There were many displays about the ecology of the Keys and of Florida.  We hopped back on the trolley and went back to the stop on White St. where we had started.  The four tour guides we heard were all very entertaining (one was a former fourth grade teacher - a job that requires the skill to hold an audience's attention) and we learned several interesting things from them including the origin of all the roosters and hens and the origin of the Conch Republic.  This was a good way to get the lay of the land and to see places that we might want to come back to visit.