2nd Half of the Pictures...

This was a result of me messing around with the shutter speed settings on Em's camera when we were out to dinner one night.

While in Key West we visited the Hemingway House, which was the home of Ernest Hemingway for a few years in the 40s.  While living there he wrote The Old Man and the Sea (which was about his Cuban best friend).  While there, he also acquired a bunch of cats, most of which had 6 toes on each paw.  The offspring of those cats still live there today - there are over 40 of them!  And they all have movie star names.  

Me with Zsa Zsa Gabor

Em with a cute kitty.

Ok I really liked these cats...

This really awesome restaurant called No Name Bar that was covered in about $25,000 worth of $1 bills.  I found a very special one that I'll post some other time.

Em in front of some pretty flowers!

SWEET TEA!  Even in Key West :D

A cute turtle at the Sea Turtle Hospital (I didn't take very many pictures there... I think because you can only take so many pictures of turtles in a pool...)

A GORGEOUS sunset that we watched on the beach at our hotel in Key Largo.

Me catching minnows!!

Snorkeling at the 3rd largest Coral Reef in the world.  Snorkeling was really, really fun - Em and I went on a trip with John Pennekamp State Park, which I would recommend to anyone because instead of pumping money into private charters or anything, you're paying money to the state park system, which is great.  The snorkeling was great... scary for me at first, because I'm not the best swimmer ever and I really am not used to seeing underwater (or breathing, while seeing underwater!).  It was definitely a great experience - probably in the top 5 of my life.  Em and I took a bunch of great underwater pictures with a disposable camera...Em is going to scan those in at school, so I'll post some of those soon.

After snorkeling for 45 minutes... you can see the lines on our faces from the masks.

After snorkeling we relaxed on the beach at the hotel.  I finished my book for class and Em read a novel.  It was probably the most relaxing day of vacation.  I took a long catnap after I finished my book, and woke up just in time to watch the sun set.

The End.

Great vacation... I really miss just the attitude of the keys.  Everything was so laid back and I never really felt like I HAD to do anything or felt obligation towards anything.  Sigh.

On another note, I got a job!  Well, it's not completely set in stone yet, but I'm 99.9% sure that I got the job.  I'll be transcribing interviews (pretty boring, yeah..) but atleast the interviews will be interesting.  One of the sociology professors at UNCG (actually, he's pretty famous in the academic world apparently) is doing a huge study on Hurricane Katrina victims, and he has gone there numerous times to interview them.  I'll make $13 an hour, which is better than babysitting.  I'm excited to actually be pulling in some money, even if it is sitting and listening to a tape and typing what I hear.

Em and I were just discussing that we hope things get back to normal soon.  Our routine has flown out the window for the past two weeks, and I think it's affecting my sleeping.  (I'm such an old man).  Things will get back to normal by next week, I think.

Time to go head to REI to look at fun toys!

Kris