RonnieAdventure #0198 - Florida, 2016 Part I

When my wife asked me where we were going to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, I responded that I thought we would go out to McDonald's for a Big Mac and then take in a movie. When she looked at me over the top of her reading glasses, I thought that I had better throw in a little something extra, so I quickly added, "Of course, I was also planning to get you a bouquet of flowers from Sam's Club!" Her only response was, "You had better come up with something more exciting than that if you think there is going to be a 51st!"

After pondering the situation for awhile, I concluded that maybe I should forget McDonald's and the movie and use this opportunity to work on my Bucket List -- actually, why not start with some of the top ten items on the list, but not necessarily in numerical order.

That is how I found myself in Key West (Florida) at the Southeast Corner of the continental United States! Of course, just down the street from the Southeast Corner Marker is Casa Cayo Hueso, the Southernmost House in the continental United States.

Since it was raining, and there is a severe lack of parking in the Key West Downtown area, we decided to take an Old Town Trolley tour so that we could get an overview of the City and then come back to the thing that we really wanted to visit.

The narrator started by telling us that Duval Street is the "longest street" in the world because it runs from "coast-to-coast;" i.e., Key West is two miles wide and Duval Street runs completely across town from "coast-to-coast."

Some of the places we drove past on the tour but did not come back to visit included: Fort East Martello Museum (aka East Martello Museum), Road to Nowhere (Road extends out into the ocean for a short distance then stops. However it was reported that you can see both beautiful sunrises and sunsets from the end of the road; i.e., when it is not raining.), the end (or start) of  US Highway 1, Historic St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Historic Sloppy Joe's Bar ( Hemingway convinced the owner of the bar to change the name to "Sloppy Joe's" after the original "Sloppy Joe's" in Old Havana.), Wyland Galleries, Historic Tropic Cinema and Marilyn Monroe Statue, Mel Fisher's Treasures Museum (Reported to contain over $450 million in treasure.), Old City Hall (Built in 1891 for the fire department, a retail market, the City Jail, and City Offices; but now used as a Visitor Center.), the 1856 Coast Guard Building (Only facility located in the South that remained under Union control throughout the Civil War - now a retail mall.), the 1891 Customs House (Now the Museum of Arts and History with statue of giant dancing couple in front of building.), "Sponge Man" at the Sponge Market, Mallory Square Sculpture Garden, the Harry Truman Little White House, the Cornish Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church, and many other interesting places.

There are also numerous Iguanas and wild chickens that freely roam the streets of Key West. Our guide explained that the entire City is a bird sanctuary and since wild chickens are birds, they are protected by law!

We did get off of the Tram at the Key West Lighthouse that was built in 1847 to replace a wooden tower that was destroyed by a hurricane the previous year. You are allowed to climb up to the observation deck, which provides spectacular views of Key West and the surrounding waters. The light keepers house was constructed in 1887 and has now been converted into a maritime museum.

The Earnest Hemingway Estate is located across the street from the lighthouse and is open to the public. Guided tours are offered every half-hour, or you can just do a self-guided tour if you are in a hurry. Since it was about to start raining again, we opted for the guided tour.

If you are allergic to casts, you may want to skip this tour because Hemingway loved cats and there are hundreds of cats on the property. In fact, there are so many cats that the estate has a full-time veterinarian on-site just to take care of the cats.

After a great lunch at D.J.'s Clam Shack (recommended by Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives), we walked down the street and found some fantastic Key West Lime Pie. (I only wish that I would have purchased an entire pie to take with me.)

Before going to our hotel, we stopped by Fort Zachary Taylor Historic State Park, the Veterans Memorial Garden, and photographed a Buccaneer in front of the high school.

The next day, on the way back to Miami, we stopped by the Sea Turtle Hospital, the Experimental Aircraft Association Museum, and the Dolphin Research Center (Grave of Flipper, the TV dolphin) in Marathon and the Florida Keys Memorial (Memorializes all of the people that perished in a large 1935 hurricane.) and Big Betsy (Giant Lobster) in Islamorada.