Exploring Key West

 We ate breakfast at the hotel and took the shuttle at 9:00 a.m. to downtown Key West.  It was a sunny day and we walked 5.3 miles.  Before the day was over it was hot and humid and we were very tired.

The shuttle dropped us off at the Key West Historic Seaport.

We didn't know that Key West was the birthplace of Pan American World Airways.

Our first stop of the day was to the Harry S. Truman Little White House.

No photography was allowed inside the house to preserve the many  original pieces of furniture inside.

  The house is located on a naval base and was originally the home of the commander of the base.  President Truman visited this house in 1946 and spent a total of 11 working vacations during his term as president.  

This is President Truman's limo.

We noticed that the car has Firestone tires on it.

What's with all the chickens"  In 1837 cock-fighting was banned and many of the chickens were left to roam.  Eggs hatched and as the chicken population grew, they began to spread across the island...and the rest is history.

Not only are there the normal tropical palm trees, but other unusual trees like the one above and below.

US Highway 1 begins right here in Key West and ends in Maine.

This is the lighthouse on Key West.  As there are 89 steps to the top, we opted not to visit it.

Next stop was the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum.  He lived in this house for eight years with his second wife.  The house had been empty for 40 years when the family of his second wife brought it for $8,000 which was the total of back taxes.  They spent the eight years remodeling and updating it.

A picture of Hemingway at the time he lived in the house.  This is a marble fireplace and is one of two in the house.

The Hemingways traveled extensively and Mrs. Hemingway purchased these chandeliers and installed them in several rooms of the house

The tile on the floor was purchased during one of their travels.  An inside bathroom was rare in the 30's when the bathroom was added.

Master Bedroom.  The chair at the foot of the bed is a birthing chair and Hemingway found it perfect as a fishing chair.  Two of the 31 cats are on the bed.  The cats are very pampered.

This pool cost $20,000.  Hemingway had a boxing ring at this location.  Mrs. Hemingway wanted a swimming pool so when he was on a trip overseas, she removed the ring and put in the pool.

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When he returned and saw the pool, he said "You are going to spend every last red cent that I have." She had this penny placed in the concrete around the pool as a reminder of how she had spent every last red cent.

This is a house for the cats.

Another cat house.

When the cats die, they are buried in this cat cemetery.

This house is known for six-toed cats.  The first one came from a sea captain friend and the rest have descended from the original named "Snowball."  Look closely at the feet of this cat and you can see six-toes.

Even though the streets of Key West are narrow and crazy, the names of the streets are well-marked on light posts on each corner.

 

There are so many beautiful and. unusual homes.  This is just one

The beach and the Atlantic Ocean.  Cuba is just 90 miles away

This is the southernmost point of the continental USA.

It is tradition that couples kiss as they are having their picture taken with the buoy. 

About 2:00 we finally stopped for lunch at Willie T's.

The inside of the restaurant walls and beams were covered with one dollar bills.  We don't know the history of this but it made for unusual wall covering.

Lunch was a bacon/turkey club and fries for me and chicken and shrimp pasta for Carol.  They were both delicious but mine was so large that I could not eat it all.

Our last stop was the Mel Fisher Shipwreck Museum.  Mel Fisher discovered and recovered one of the largest ship treasures.  When he discovered it, the State of Florida and the United States both tried to claim it.  The case went all the way to the Supreme Court and Mr. Fisher won.  The treasure was his.    This museum contains some of that treasure.

Silver ingots.

Gold chains.

Our feet finally gave out and we took the free bus back to where we would meet the shuttle.  It was a good day.  A day in Key West ends with a big party and celebration at Mallery Square.  One things most people do during the celebration is take a sunset picture.  At the start of the day, we had planned to stay until we had gotten a sunset picture, but were just too tired to stay.  We have a long day tomorrow and needed to listen to our bodies and go back to hotel and rest.  Had we stayed, we may not have been able to walk tomorrow.  We left the party, celebration and sunset pictures for the young people.