Day 11, Wednesday March 11th - Hemingway, Sloppy Joe's, Fort Taylor, Mallory Square and Key Lime Pie.

Wednesday was a full day.  We left Boyd's at 10:30 and did not get back to camp until just before 9PM. June walked my legs off, my watch says we did 20,679 steps, that is about 10 miles, gawd, I am supposed to be on vacation!

Parking in Key West with a scooter is not a problem, first town I have ever seen with designated spots just for scooters, they are everywhere and free.







We started the day with a visit to the Hemingway house.  It was interesting especially since we watched the movie Papa Hemingway just before we departed on this trip.  The tour takes you back to simpler times, and pointed out that Hemingway was so much more than a writer. It was the first home in Key West to have a pool, and was salt water until the 40s when it was converted to fresh water. 

One of Hemingway's quotes was "One cat leads to another", he had many 6 toed cats and they still roam the grounds, they even have a cat cemetery.
















We left the scooter at the Hemingway house and set off on foot to find where we need to catch the boat to Dry Tortugas on Thursday. It is the same dock where the ferry from Fort Meyers docks, about a mile. We then just kept walking and walking as we explored the water front. We visited the Key West Water Front Brewery, it is impressive but they brew almost all Lagers, so we moved on.






We eventually got hungry and just had to stop at Sloppy Joe's for lunch. Sloppy Joe's is an icon in KW, it has been open since 1933.  The food was good and June enjoyed her Kenny Chesney drink, a 'Frozen Bar at the End of the World Daiquiri'.

After lunch we took the scooter to the Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. It has both a fort and great beaches, $5 on a scooter to get in, such a deal. We first toured the Fort that was built in 1845 and was used in the Civil War, the Spanish American War, WWI, WWII and the Cuban Missile crisis. It was finally decommissioned in 1947. It saw extensive changes in 1898, it was reduced from 3 stories to 1.5 to mount 2 large canons that could shoot a 1000 lb shell 17 miles.  That just seems nuts..but that is what they did. Today only the mounting locations for these guns can be seen.

The greeting party when you enter the fort are Iguanas.









The views from the fort are spectacular. This is where one of the big canons sat that shot a 1000 pound shell 17 miles.

Touring the fort got us pretty warm so we headed for the beach. The beach is huge, it goes on forever and has nice shade trees along much of it. I took a swim, June just waded. After a bit we decided to head back to camp and shower the salt off before coming back into town.









As we drove down Atlantic Drive (A1A) we could not help but stop at Higgs Beach  and walk out on the piers. Walking out on the piers gives a great view of KW from the water.







The Edward B. Knight pier is nicknamed "The Unfinished Road to Cuba" and it is easy to see how it got its name, it is impressive.











I had read that you need to get to Mallory square an hour before sunset to have any chance of getting a rail view of the sunset, they were right. We got there just about an hour before and got a spot on the rail, (and an adult beverage) it quickly became very crowded.

Mallory square is a happening place just before sunset, there are street performers of all kinds, lots of boats setting out of the harbor to see the sunset from the bay. It truly is an experience.















We saw a beautiful sunset, and enjoyed a conversation with a couple from England here for the first time also.











After the sunset we set out to find where we left the scooter but then saw a key lime pie bakery...we had to try it.  It did not disappoint.










After pie we finally headed back to camp, arriving just before 9PM, it was a long day but a good one.

On Thursday we are taking a boat ride to Dry Tortugas Island, about 70 miles due west of KW, to see Fort Jefferson and do some snorkeling.


2 comments:

  1. You did so much walking you deserved the pie!!

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  2. Another full day; walking, sun, sand and water with some history thrown in.

    ReplyDelete