Sunset Key....

Day 46 - Key West - Sunny mid 80's:

We awoke early again today to make our way to the mainland to visit some of the sights that we had driven by on the Conch Train Tour. Our first stop was at the southern most point in the United States. The tip of Key West is located just 90 miles north of Cuba. It is crazy to think how close it is and yet how different the two worlds are...I have now been to the easternmost and southernmost points in the continental United States.

From the southernmost point we headed the Hemingway House.

Ernest Hemingway lived in Key West for more than 10 years and wrote some of his most famous novels including A Farewell to Arms and Death In The Afternoon. The Hemingway home was and still is the largest privately owned land on all of Key West measuring just under one acre. The house is surrounded by a brick wall built by Hemingway and Joe Russell. Joe was the owner of Ernest's FAVORITE bar in town called Sloppy Joe's. The bar is still in operation today although it has moved locations to a larger venue than the one that Ernest frequented. Hemingway owned the home from 1931 until he passed away in 1961. It has the first pool ever built in Key West. The pool is very large at 65 feet in length and was built at a cost of $20,000. It was built while Hemingway was out of town by Pauline, his wife at the time, (who did it because she was NOT happy with him) and replaced a full size boxing ring that he had previously had in the spot. When he returned and found the pool...and not his boxing ring...he was furious. When he found out the cost, he took a penny from his pocket and said to Pauline you've taken everything I have so you "might as well take my last red cent" as he put the penny in the wet cement surrounding the pool. You can see in my pictures that the penny is still there.

Behind the house is where Hemingway did all of his writing. The building was originally a carriage house and he built his studio on the second floor. The studio today looks just as it did when Hemingway was alive and writing. Along with a great number of novels in Key West, it was also here that Mr. Hemingway got his first cat, Snowball. It was given to him by a ship's captain and was likely a MAINE Coon cat. This cat was unique because it had six toes. Today there are 43 cats living at the Hemingway House and all of them are descendants of the original six toed cat of Mr. Hemingway. The cats were EVERYWHERE! The most famous cat water fountain in the world is also here...you can see it in the pictures...the top is a Spanish Olive Jar while the bottom is a urinal from a local bar in town. The property is surrounded by beautiful gardens and is truly a wonderful place to visit.

After we left the Hemingway House we headed over to Truman's Little White House. The building initially served as the command headquarters of the naval station during the Spanish American War, World War I and World War II. In 1946 the historic building first served as the winter White House of President Harry S. Truman and a site for the Cold War response by later presidents. We were low on time so we didn't go inside but if we make it back to Key West it will be one of our first stops.

We headed to find lunch next and made our way to MARGARITAVILLE!! One of my favorite songs of all time is Cheeseburger in Paradise by Jimmy Buffet and here you can get it just as he sings. I only had the burger in paradise as I don't care for cheeseburgers. It was great! I was so happy to make it there before we left. After lunch we headed back to catch the ferry to Sunset Key and enjoy the pool again. After a few hours of lounging we cleaned up and walked around the island to try and catch the sunset. Yet again, it was cloudy and we weren't able to see much! We finished our walk at Latitudes and AMAZING restaurant on Sunset Key. It was an incredible meal. I had Cesar salad, New York strip, potatoes, and bread before finishing with chocolate cake. Ben had lobster bisque, baked stuffed shrimp wrapped in bacon, yellow fin snapper, potatoes, and vanilla ice cream for dessert. Needless to say were were STUFFED.

After dinner we boarded the boat back to the mainland for our long drive back to Delray. Due to unforeseen circumstances we had to cut our Key West trip short by one day but such is the life of the travelers. We had a smooth drive until we reached Miami where it rained like I have never seen rain before. It may as well have been a blizzard because we couldn't see much as we drove. Ben did a great job though and got us back to Mark and Becky's safely!!

Three Questions for My Students. The first person to answer them correctly gets a prize.
1. What is the easternmost point continental US?
2. If you started walking from mile marker 1 in Key West and walked north all the way to the end where would you be?
3. How far would you have walked?