Key West, Day 2

I learned quite a bit about the history of Key West today.  Key West first became connected to the rest of Florida in 1912 with the construction of a railway.  In 1935 the railway was destroyed by a hurricane, and in 1938 the Overseas Highway was opened.  Key West is itself about twice its original size due to dredging and landfill, but the Army Corps of Engineers stopped the practice in the early 1960's because the activity was destroying the coral reef.

We stopped off at the "buoy" which marks, supposedly, the southern-most point of the island.   I took only one photo, and after arriving back at the RV to look at it, I laughed and laughed and laughed, I found it so funny I just couldn't stop.  It has to be about the worst photo ever taken of this landmark!  Just as I snapped the picture, everyone stepped in front of it so you can't even see what the signage says.  Lee is standing, arms akimbo, to the right.  Go ahead, laugh, I don't mind, honest. It really is pretty funny.

We visited the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory today.  It is the largest indoor butterfly exhibit I have ever seen,  A large enclosure holds over 45 species of butterflies, as well as several species of small birds.  It is two stories high, and the footprint is about the size of a medium-sized house.  It includes a stream and a small pond with colorful fish.  It is humidity and temperature and controlled, as are most such exhibits.  The butterflies, at least while we were there, were very active.

 

There were many flowering plants for the butterflies to feed from, but they also enjoyed fruit:

The small birds included button quail, small doves, and these little fellahs:

Afterwards we walked down Duval, the main street.  There are many Victorian style homes that now server as restaurants or inns:

We ended the day with dinner overlooking one of the (many) harbors:

Another day in paradise!