Margaritaville - Key West

December 3
Wednesday

After being on the road from California for six months and not staying any more than a day or two in each place, I am ready for some R&R from this constant road trip. I'll be in Key West for an entire week. In one place. Margaritaville. Perfect.

My own personal Jimmy Buffett, Willow Glen friend, Bob, had shown me around Key West yesterday. Now I'm  on my own to explore.

The Doodle is parked at Leo's Campground on the outskirts of town, which means I get to take public transportation into town each day.

Riding the bus is a great opportunity to meet  people like this young couple from England who have been doing just what I'm doing,  touring the US for an entire year. 

Poking around town
  I find the Museum of Art which was formerly the Custom House.

In front is a giant statue of a couple dancing which is a larger than life enactment
of a Renoir painting.

Was surprised to see a mounted police presence.

Hard to imagine things getting out of control in this tiny town.

Here they don't get rid of old cars, but decorate them and enter them in the Art Car contest

 This is last year's winner. The sign on its side:

SOME ART ROCKS

SOME ART  ROLLS

At Mel Fisher's Maritime Museum I oogled over the 3/4 of a billion dollars worth of treasures Mel's salvage diving company brought out of the water in 1985.

It was recovered from the Spanish galleon Atocha, that sank in a hurricane off Key West in 1622.

I was intrigued by the many strands of pure gold that were hanging like ropes in the cases. 

The Spanish taxed bullion at a higher rate than jewelry so many people had their pure gold made into rope chains which were easier to transport from Mexico and South America to Spain.

Since gold is a soft metal, the pre-measured links could be twisted off as a form of payment.  It would have taken a sailor aboard the Atocha 23 years to earn the value of the gold chain on the left.

In the Courtyard of the Museum sits the Mariana, one of the chugs which made it safely to Key West from Cuba in August bearing 23 men and one woman  It is one of many that have made the trip since 1994 when Fidel Castro announced "those who wish to leave the country may do so".

The US government in 1996 responded with  the "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy which allows those Cubans who set foot on dry land to stay and apply for legal residency after one year. Conditions in Cuba must be very bad for so many people to take such a chance with their lives on 90 miles of open sea to come to our country.

Near the museum is this water tower which is no longer used for water but is now used to mix martinis. The Orchid Inn has 100 different kinds of martinis.

Key West is known as a great party town with over 800 bars on the island,  most of which are open until  4 a.m.

Captain Tony's Saloon is the original bar where Hemingway drank, just a few blocks from his home.

When the rent was raised $1,  it was moved one block away to Duval Street and named  Sloppy Joe's where  Ernest continued to drink with friends until Pauline threw him out and he moved to Cuba.

As you wander down  Duval, the main street, it seems every bar has live entertainment, even during the day.  There are 200 bars on Duval.
That would seem like every other building.

Each evening the Duval Crawl begins. The idea is to have one drink in each bar until you are crawling or your friends are carrying you home.
I probably won't do this (the crawling part) since my self imposed limit is one.

 Saturday 

Dec 5

Friends Bob and Nancy agreed to accompany me for the Crawl to keep me out of trouble. Darn it!
We headed toward Mallory Square to watch the sunset and see some entertainment first.

 
 A lot happens waiting for the sunset. We caught  Dominique's act with his trained cats and  agreed he would have been a lot funnier if we had more to drink but it was too early in the evening so it was mildly entertaining. The cats were good.

But Key West isn't only about bars and booze. There is art. I had to get a closer look at this installation behind Mallory Square. And I'm not the only one getting a better look.

The Key West version of Rubens.

Nancy and me

We stopped for  a snack of conch fritters, a new food for me.
Yummy.

They are pronounced conk,

 unless you want to be known as a tourist.

Bob explained how the meat is extracted by cutting off the tip of the conch, then the empty shell is sold to tourists.

Finally the sunset.

Not much cheering for the sunset tonight as there was a heavy cloud cover.
Rain has been more frequent than normal here lately.  El Nino?

Now we start the Duval Crawl.  You haven't been here unless you've done it.
  Or maybe it's like the 60s.  If you remember the 60s you weren't really there.

Tonight also happens to be the annual Christmas parade when the entire town turns out. It was packed with spectators.

Wandering down Duval we met some of the more interesting locals.  This guy was so beautiful I just had to let him know and he responded with a hug.

It was 93 degrees at Christmas 3 years ago.
Tonite only about 75.

This is the famous Bourbon Street Bar where Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffith drop a high heeled shoe at midnight on New Year's Eve signaling the beginning of the new year.

And yes, those people on the top balcony are probably nude.

A bar we didn't investigate on the top floor of the Bull.
They say those who should, don't go,
and those who shouldn't, do.



If you are into nudity, the time to come is during
Fantasy Fest
the last week in October when you will see some sights you wish you hadn't.

 

Bob and Nancy

Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, of course, is here where he got his start at Captain Tony's and still maintains a recording studio on Lazy Way Lane.

I was disappointed not to be able to connect with one of his Parrotheads concerts while on the road. Next time.


"Hi sailor, new in town?"
The Green Parrot has been here since 1890 and is both the first and the last bar

on Hwy 1 since it sits near the Mile 0 marker for the highway
Many well known musicians play here with customers hanging out on the sidewalks that surround the place to avoid the cover charge. No one seems to mind.

The Green Parrot was the only place I  had to have a t-shirt from since it is in my fav green and purple colors.

My laptop has gone wonky for formatting.
 Bear with me, it should go back to normal shortly.



Mile marker 0 is either the beginning or the end of Hwy 1 depending upon which direction you are headed.

Like California's Highway 1 which travels the length of
the Pacific Coast,
 the East coast version of  Highway 1 travels
 2,450 miles from Maine to Florida thru small towns and big cities like New York and past some of the best historic sites in the country.

After the Christmas parade which started off our Duval Crawl, we had a night cap, Senior style, stopping at DQ for a Blizzard.

The next morning,  a bike ride two miles into town for sightseeing.

Past beautiful beaches. There are no waves for surfing because of coral reefs. 

Sorry, Tyler and Dyl.

Where a music video was being produced on the pier.

Had the best Key Lime pie in Key West at Blue Heaven for breakfast. Why not?! 

Washed it down with a rum drink and half an hour later thought what was I thinking?!

Toured Truman's Little White House. Harry loved it here, Bess not so much.

 Pan Am had their first office here in 1927 where they sold tickets to Havana for $525, 

a lot of money then.    A lot of money now.

Southern most point in the US with the southernmost tourists.  

It is 90 miles from Havana and 137 miles from Walmart.

Had to have a tattoo here in front of Hemingway's bar,

Sloppy Joe's.

After stopping to watch a 9er game at a bar, I rode down Duval end to end in about 20 minutes, crossing the entire island from Atlantic to Gulf coast 

All of Key West is only 2 by 4 miles. It's impossible to get lost.

Chickens everywhere, leftover some say,

 from the days when cockfighting was legal here.

 They can be very noisy in the morning after a night of hard partying.

I imagine.

 Beautiful Key Lime colors on the homes.

As expected real estate is high here. Saw a cottage that just sold for $800K.

Home of Oscar de la Renta

The average home price here is $1.5M,  average rent $1500

Out at the Navy yard there is a Coast Guard destroyer that was a battleship and won awards for sinking Japanese U boats.

I was more interested in Sunset Key, the large private island to the right where Oprah lives. I wonder if I knocked on her door she would give me a car.

            There are 800 Florida key islands, some I imagine only barely big enough to stand on. 

Had a drink called Guarpo from a street vendor.

 It's made from sugar cane pieces that are fed into a device that squeezes the juice out 

when a wheel is turned by hand.

It took awhile. She earned her $6, and it was delicious.

Tennessee Williams holed up here while writing

 The Rose Tattoo and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.  

 After many fires officials declared all the roofs be made of tin

 which inspired the title of the play.

When I first arrived I did not know I was on foreign soil until Bob told me about the Conch Republic, a story that could have taken place in Berkeley.
  Apparently in 1982 the Feds set up a roadblock checking cars leaving the islands for illegals and drugs. After much furor by the citizenry,  the mayor declared a Proclamation of Secession from the union and to show they were serious, attacked a naval officer with a loaf of Cuban bread.
 They then surrendered and demanded  foreign aid from the United States. They are still waiting for the aid.
And they are still flying their Conch Republic flag which states:
"We seceded where others failed"

To see another dimension of Key West,
Bob took me to Blue Hole,
a wildlife refuge where we saw tiny deer,

a crocodile

and group of young German tourists
 who looked like they could have been the wildest of all.

Sitting on the porch at Bob's thinking about the best week of my trip while I do laundry.

So I sent this text to Lisa and Bobbie:

"Send $2M   ASAP!
I'm buying a small bar on Key West and staying!"