Friday, May 13, 2011

Key West Road Trip

While Ceekay was visiting we took an overnight road trip to Key West. 
We had a blast!
She really flipped over our little rental car!
Did you know that there are 42 bridges to cross from mainland Florida to Key West?  And one of them is 7 miles long!
We stopped for lunch at a marina restaurant in Marathon - the halfway point in the Keys. 
Evidently, Ceekay needed two pairs of glasses to read the menu.
The food was delicious and the view couldn't be better!
Upon reaching Key West, the first thing we did was tour President Harry Truman's Little White House.   They wouldn't let us take pictures inside.
Parking is impossible, and the streets are very confusing, so the next day we opted for a guided tour of the island.  We were able to get on and off at their many stops when we wanted to see something. 
First stop - the southernmost point of the continental United States.  See - it's only 90 miles to Cuba!
Our next stop was Ernest Hemingway's house - home to 50 six toed-cats.
This is a portrait of Hemingway as he appeared when he lived in Key West.
Here's a picture of some of those cats I mentioned asleep on Hemingway's bed.  It is a king-sized bed, made when there were no beds of that size, so Hemingway had the headboard made from the gate of a monastery in Spain.
Hemingway's kitchen.
His living room.
There's still no air conditioning in the house today.  They used these many doors for ventilation.  Layers of glass doors, screen doors and wooden shutters in case of hurricanes.
After a little shopping on Duval Street we had to stop at Jimmy Buffet's restaurant for lunch.
What did we have?  Cheeseburgers in Paradise of course!
And our last stop before heading back to Juno Beach was for some famous Key Lime pie.
This weekend, Hubby and I are headed to Epcot Center and the Space Shuttle launch on Monday - if they don't postpone it again. 
Next week, I'll post pictures of  the visit Ceekay and I made to Whitehall Mansion, former home of multi-millionaire Henry Flagler.  He is quite famous in Florida and his Gilded Age home is now a museum.  That may take several blogs just for the pictures!  It is a magnificent place.

2 comments:

  1. Loved your post about Key West. I moved to KW in 1994 from the Midwest and still love it. It's a great place.

    Sheila @ Raggedykingdom.blogspot.com

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  2. It is a long drive to Key West. Did it once and that was enough. A few years ago I had to go over a 20 mile bridge over the Bayou in LA. It was barely above the water level.
    Looks like great fun, food and fellowship!
    Like Ceekay, I love the "Bug".

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