Talk about a whirlwind day. Rather than spending another day at the beach, we decided to take a day trip to Key West, especially since it's only 45 minutes from here. We arrived at 9ish this morning and already the thermometer was pushing the high 80's. First in order was checking out the town on bikes. Being that it was a holiday weekend, it was difficult finding a parking spot, but I befriended an elderly Cuban man sitting on his porch and he let us park in front of his home. First up was a bike ride around the town, checking out the streets and getting a feel for the vibe. Most of the residences are picturesque cottages hidden among dense tropical foliage. Some of the streets are bricked and the cock-a-doodle-doo of roosters is not uncommon. In the historic area, especially on the main street, there is every kind of food you can imagine; Cuban dishes, French crepes, Mexican tacos, and of course local fish specialties. Bars are everywhere serving up daiquiris, rum runners and touting "Papa Hemingway drank here." Ironically, I actually think he did. As we rode our bikes down Duval St, you would get the occasional waft of cigar coming from the various "Dominican made from Cuban seed" cigars. It also seemed that Spanish was the most common language we heard. Or maybe I just felt that way because everyone just assumed I was Cuban and spoke Spanish to me. Well, we couldn't come this far without having our picture taken at the Southern Most Point in the Continental US. It was pretty funny, there was a long line of people queued up to have their picture taken. Apparently, the protocol was to ask the people standing behind you to take your picture. It made for a very congenial wait! Next we rode our bikes over for a tour of Hemingway's House. It was a fun, interesting tour and they pretty much let you have the run of the place. The Hemingway stories and anecdotes were really enjoyable, but I was a little creeped out by the 40 some odd 6 toed cats running around. A bit much for my taste. After more biking and exploring the various streets, we came upon Harry Truman's Little White House and decided to take a tour thru that as well. We learned a lot about President Truman and are even more eager to visit Independence, Mo in a couple of weeks. BTW, I had no idea he started his day at 7:25 with a glass of oj and a shot of bourbon "to kick start his day." Dude! By this time we had worked up an appetite and decided that a Cuban restaurant was most apropos. Mojitos, pork, rice & beans, plantains, beef & chorizo sandwich, and the most delicious bread that came with two spicy sauces pretty much did the trick. After this rather large meal, we rode bikes over to Fort Zacharay Taylor to check out the beach. We heard from several locals that this was the best beach in Key West, and it looked pretty damn good to me! The temperature as pushing the high 90s by now and a short nap under a shady tree just wasn't quite cool enough. The great thing about traveling with your home is that you can be flexible. We decided to ride bikes back to the van, change into our suits and drive back to the beach. This turned out to be an excellent decision. We not only swam, but got in the best snorkeling of the trip. All in all, we spent a good 3 or so hours playing in the water. Knowing that we wanted to spend the night in town, we made the best of the outdoor showers to get spruced up. The Sunset Celebration is a big deal in Key West. By the time we walked to the wharf several hundred people had congregated for this event. In true Key West style there was singing, musicians playing and lots of good people watching characters all waiting for the sun to set. Unfortunately, the sun was hidden behind a huge cloud making the event slightly anti-climatic. We walked around town and were bombarded with loud noisy bad musicians playing in the bars. New Orleans this ain't. We searched for awhile for a little restaurant we had read about in the New York Times. Thankfully, it was quite a few blocks off the main drag. It was packed, but they were able to fit us in at the 4 seater bar. We had the best meal of the trip here and became good friends with Brent, the bartender. We each had fresh local fish. How do you know it's fresh? As people ordered, we watched Pete, who was the host, take it from his ice chest that was in the back of his pick up truck to the chef. We also heard lots of local stories that can only be repeated when several glasses of wine have been consumed. Good times! We didn't get back to the campsite until midnight..we're tired it's been a long day, good night! today's pics Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Bahia Honda State Park
