KEY WEST

Clinton Square

Madagascar Sausage Tree in Clinton Square.

These sausages (seed pods) were hanging from the tree... very weird!

Fountain in square of boy playing with a conch shell.

Shops...

Sponge man outside Sponge Market.

Custom House Museum

Seward Johnson's Dancing Couple

Chickens are protected in Key West so you can literally find them anywhere. This rooster was across the street from the dancers.

A favorite hangout of Ernest Hemingway.  The original bar was down the street but they raised the rent one dollar a month so Sloppy Joe and his patrons, including Hemingway, moved the bar, stools and all, to this location one evening. 

 

Audubon House

View of the garden from the balcony, there are balconies on both sides of this house with two small 6x6 foot rooms on either side of each balcony.

The small rooms were often used to hang a hammock and sleep in during the warm summer months.  On the opposite side was the captain's office where he could see ships that ran aground.  Captain John Geiger built this home in 1830, he was in the salvage business and made his fortune from the shipwrecks of others off the Florida Keys.

White-crowned Pidgeon, Audubon artist proof; in 1832 John James Audubon came to Key West to study and sketch the birds of the Florida Keys.  The Geiger home was dedicated as a public museum to Audubon and his work in 1960.  The tree featured in this proof is found in the Geiger front yard.

Bananas!

Green bananas and banana blossom.

Cock-a-doodle-do

Fun spot... Scott did eat a "cheeseburger in paradise" here!

African Tulip Tree

Hemingway House

Pauline and Ernest Hemingway called Key West home for more than 10 years.  He finished A Farewell to Arms soon after moving to Key West.  He enjoyed writing in the morning and exploring the area in the afternoons.

One of the famous Hemingway cats; there are 40-50 cats on the grounds, all descendants of the original 6-toed pet of Ernest Hemingway, named Snowball.

Southernmost Home

This elaborate Queen Anne style house was built in 1894 by E.H. Gato.  He was instrumental in changing Key West from a fishing village to one of the wealthiest cities in America by developing the Cuban tobacco industry.  He built Key West's foremost cigar factory where millions of cigars were rolled and boxed for shipment worldwide.

Southernmost Point

Art-o-matic... I thought this was such a great idea - we need one in Eastern Oregon.  It's a repurposed cigarette vending machine.  For only $5.00 I bought a token and selected my choice from 20 different artists.  I chose one marked Joyce Lyman "folk art sculpture".  And I got piggies!  There was everything from bookmarks to jewelry to henna tattoos to miniature watercolor paintings.  Very cool!

Architecture

Key West is famous for it's architecture especially gingerbread, eyelash houses, and shotgun houses.

First schoolhouse in Key West; I like the gingerbread railing on the upstairs balcony.  See the school bell?

Hurricane shutters.

Gingerbread fence.

Love the gingerbread on this house, very intricate.

Marrero Mansion

Eyelash House, it gets its name from those windows that are above the door and covered partially by the porch roof, like eyelashes cover eyes.  Houses were designed this way so that the windows could be opened to create a breeze no matter what the weather.

Another Eyelash House.

Shotgun Houses get there name because you can stand at the front door and shoot a shotgun through the house and out the back door!  If you look closely you can see the back door to this house!  Again houses were designed this way to keep them cool; a breeze could flow right through the house.

Kapok tree on courthouse lawn.

Look at the huge buttresses.

Chickens scratching around under the Kapok tree.

Kapok Trees

More amazing buttresses!

Highway 1

You can't go anywhere but NORTH from here... Scott and I drove Highway 1 from the Canada border to Key West.  See if you can follow it on the map and see all the places it has taken us!

Smathers Beach

Rainy today so beach was deserted... there were a few fishermen out on the dock.  The beaches of Key West are all part of a coral reef so there is no sand.  On Smathers Beach all the sand is brought in from the Bahamas!

Sea Grape Tree

The grapes grow on the bumpy gray twigs in this photo.  Crackers (Florida pioneers) would make jelly from the sea grapes.

Sunset at Mallory Square

All along the boardwalk were different entertainers - everyone said "don't miss the cat man"!  Crazy guy but he had some awesome cats.  This cat jumped through the flaming hoops!  Twice!!

Oh yes, I took a giant cookie back to the hotel with me!  Couldn't resist!

Another day in paradise...