March 19, 2017
We went to Key West, took a nice bus tour of city, toured Hemingway house which was very cool and pretty, ate an original Sloppy Joe where Hemingway drank and Key Lime Pie at the Key Lime Shoppe. The Hemingway House was the best part of the day. First, it’s a beautiful house, well-designed and built. Then all the stories about Hemingway were great. He felt six-toed cats were lucky, so they were everywhere. Then there were his many loves and marriages, the people he met and wrote about, and of course, his drinking.
The bus tour was good, giving us the big picture of Key West. I don’t know how they drive those narrow streets. With a huge cruise ship in port, the streets were packed. People rented bicycles and scooters, riding all over, not knowing where they were going, gawking at all the sights. Too many people in one place for me, but I’ve been there. It was interesting to hear how Flagler built an impossible train track to Key West, cool train station and incredible hotel. It was all destroyed by a hurricane but rebuilt only to have another big hurricane come through and destroy it again. Tourism died until the 80’s. It would have been very cool to see all of the keys in the 60’s and 70’s.
I first went to Key West in spring of 1982. I loved it then. I’ve been back twice since–the last time maybe fifteen years ago and I will never go back. It was heartbreaking. There used to be a cute little hotel called The Marquesa. It may still be around. Cruise ships ruin everything. Peter and I used to go to Little Palm Island not far from there. That too has been overbuilt since our very first visit. Too bad. It was such a cool spot. Have you guys seen the series Bloodline with Sissy Spacek that was filmed in the Keys? You must if you haven’t.
I have not seen that, but will check it out.