Bookworms in Key West

Not being your typical touristy types, we do find some of the restaurants that are considered tres-tourist  appealing. And Hemingway's house and the Lighthouse are our embarrassing "Raise-your-hand-if-your-a-tourist" must sees. But, we are not terribly likely to spend our money on the Sunset tours that abound just offshore each evening, preferring instead to watch the sunset at Zachary Taylor Beach. And we are not likely to find ourselves on the glass bottomed boat  peering down into the water with crowds of other looky-looers at the sea life as it was more fun to snorkel at the beaches and gaze at the sponges and sea urchins (watch where you step!) at our leisure up and even a bit too close and personal for comfort in some cases. The Nurse shark!!! we swam some yards from was fairly spectacular! And another day at Zachery Taylor I swam just above a large school of fish and watched two bright blue fish stalking them, clearly waiting and watching for a chance to snag a snack.(My camera isn't so high tech that it does underwater shots and I don't think a disposable water camera would have done any good so, alas, no pictures) But we also spent a lot of time zipping from one end  of the island to the other on these...

Scooters! 

Scooter cam 

Most years we rent bicycles and find that an adequate means to get from place to place if we aren't going too far afield. But our last trip to the Southernmost we did a bit more toing and froing and rented a scooter to share for several days and found it was great fun We were able to tool around from one end of the isle and found some sanctuaries unavailable to mere pedalers. 

We were not alone in our scootering as you can see! Key West is a bicycle/scooter friendly island and is, in indeed, hostile to the auto. It's hard, if not downright impossible, to park your nonresidential motor vehicle and the island is so small that it seems superfluous to waste so so much of your island time looking for a place in the roasting and humid sun to park your then too-hot-to-sit-in automobile once you do find a parking spot.

So why exactly would you drive on the Southernmost island when you can scooter in around in your flip flops with your arms around your boyfriend singing a song or kissing his neck?

So as we do-do-do-do-do around the island letting the gulf breeze blow through our hair, we might pass an antique store or this...

And we, being the book nerds we are, will always risk tumbling head over heels to find a parking spot and hit the shelves here (hint: scooters are not bikes and will be ticketed if you attach them to a bike rack)   

All the lovely, lovely books. Row after row, shelf after shelf. We scan and scour, root and rummage, poke and probe in hope of finding some treasure that we might not have at home...

 perhaps a treasure such as this

In the inkblot test of vacation and hot tourism spots, it is probably no surprise to anyone that a majority of people see keys, palms, think of west and sees limes throughout the test (okay it's not a scientific study). Although the little isle doesn't have the svelte white sandy beaches that other cities of the Sunshine state cities advertise nor does it offer the body to body crowds that also greet the beach comber. But when it comes to the books, the Southernmost city has the Southernmost party with books going on! LOL 

I am such a nerd!!!