The Key West Vacation
Before I talk about what my mom and I did for fun today I will talk a little about Key West. Key West is the last island on the Florida Keys and it is longer than it is wide like a lot of the other islands in the Keys. Highway 1 enters Key West on the northeastern end of the island and then it splits into two roads which go around the edge of the island and meet back on the other end. The end of the island that Highway 1 hits is the end of the island with newer construction. It is the end of the island with large shopping areas with supermarkets like Publix and Winn Dixie. There are gas stations, K-Mart and even Home Depot on this end of the island. On the far end of the island is Old Town. It is the historic district of the island and it is where most of the tourists go to sightsee during the day and party in the evening.
An interesting aspect of Key West is the mix of people. First you would have the locals. These are the people who have lived in Key West. They are definitely the working class. Another group of people, who also work on the island, would be the people who work in the tourist industry and they are like long term tourists. They are always having a good time and probably don't need to worry about making money. Then you have the regular tourists who are only on the island for a short time. Akin to the tourists are the wealthy people who come to visit the island and are the ones who can afford to come in by boat and stay in the fancy hotels right on Mallory square. I think this mix of people create an interesting atmosphere. In Old Town people don't really show who they belong too, but on the end of the island which is newer, sometimes it is more apparent who people are.
I found a good map of Key West online. The Blues Skies Inn is where we are staying and it is located at the intersection of South Street and Vernon Street and it is on the southern side of the street nearer to the water. You can find it on the map. Just look for where Duval and South Street meet and then go two block northeast. It would be under the S of St in South St.
The little place we are staying in is in an older building. I am not sure what the style is, but Kagan would probably be able to tell me. I would highly recommend it because it is so close to the Historic district and with rooms costing about $100 per night is not too much more than the cheapest hotels and motels on the other side of the island. You can see pictures of the Blue Skies Inn in the gallery.
This morning I woke up early to walk around before my mom woke up. I walked down to the southernmost point and down some of the side streets along the way. When I went back to the Inn I had breakfast with my mom. It was relaxing just sitting on the porch watching people walk by and not having to worry about anything.
After breakfast we went to the Key West Lighthouse. Unfortunately the actual lighthouse was being repaired, so we could not climb up the tower, but we were able to walk around the grounds and visit the small lighthouse museum. Here is a short history of the museum and here our pictures of the Key West Lighthouse in the gallery. It was interesting to visit the museum to get a look into the lives of the people who spent most of their time manning the lighthouse. The history of lighthouses is pretty strong in Key West because their are so many light houses in the area, some of which are still in use today.
In the afternoon we ate lunch at Smather's beach which is near the Key West international airport. What struck me about the beach was that there were not too many people there. The weather was not extremely hot, but it was not bad either, so I spent some trying to figure out where people were. I guess that the local people have been to the beach so often that they do not need to go and any of the tourists would probably be relaxing at the little private beaches that most resorts have. Anyways, with less people it was nicer. After lunch we went back to the historic district and took a tour of the Ernest Hemingway house.
The Ernest Hemingway house is a two story home that was built by Asa Taft in the mid 19th century. For a more detailed history of the house you can visit the Hemingway Home Website. The house is full of a lot of interesting items from all over the world. There is a definite spanish influence on a lot of the furnishings. Ernest even took the gate from a Spanish church to make the headboard for his bed. Next to the same bed he has two odd chairs. One of which is a spanish mid-wife's chai and the other is the birthing chair. These chairs were not used for the reasons they were built for, but Ernest found them interesting enough to use. Another interesting aspect of the house is that it has 61 cats. Some of these cats are descended from the first cat to live on the grounds, a six-toed cat given to Ernest by a ship captain. I took a lot of pictures and you can see the pictures in my gallery of the Hemingway House.
After the tour of the house we went to a small private beach owned by a resort that the Blue Skies Inn has a relationship with. That meant we could pay a lower price for rooms, but we still go to go to the private beach and also use their pool. According to the map I think it was Dog Beach. At the beach I swam in the ocean. It was really warm water, so it was easy to swim out to the buouy and back.
In Key West there is a place called Mallory Square on the west side of the island at the end of Duval St. The square gives people an excellent view of the sunset, so we decided to watch the sun set. We made it just in time to see the sun going under the horizon. After the sun set we watched a local street performer. He is a pretty funny guy and he likes to get the crowd involved in the act, so I ended being part of a group of men who had to help hold up a rope that the he stood on, over a person lying on the ground, while juggling knives. I was the first person on my side, so I got a good view of him juggling the knives. During the act he made all the guys hold hands and then he told a joke about how we all 'came out' tonight. Then he told the crowd the man on his right was shaking, but the guy on the left, me, was not. All in all the act was fun to watch and if anyone is going to Key West they should try and find him to watch his show. You can see pictures of the sunset and some of the act in my Mallory Square gallery.
Right now it is about time for bed. Tomorrow we are going to South Beach, Miami. I think it will be fun, but very crowded since it is South Beach and the MTV Music Video Awards are tomorrow night in Miami.
An interesting aspect of Key West is the mix of people. First you would have the locals. These are the people who have lived in Key West. They are definitely the working class. Another group of people, who also work on the island, would be the people who work in the tourist industry and they are like long term tourists. They are always having a good time and probably don't need to worry about making money. Then you have the regular tourists who are only on the island for a short time. Akin to the tourists are the wealthy people who come to visit the island and are the ones who can afford to come in by boat and stay in the fancy hotels right on Mallory square. I think this mix of people create an interesting atmosphere. In Old Town people don't really show who they belong too, but on the end of the island which is newer, sometimes it is more apparent who people are.
I found a good map of Key West online. The Blues Skies Inn is where we are staying and it is located at the intersection of South Street and Vernon Street and it is on the southern side of the street nearer to the water. You can find it on the map. Just look for where Duval and South Street meet and then go two block northeast. It would be under the S of St in South St.
The little place we are staying in is in an older building. I am not sure what the style is, but Kagan would probably be able to tell me. I would highly recommend it because it is so close to the Historic district and with rooms costing about $100 per night is not too much more than the cheapest hotels and motels on the other side of the island. You can see pictures of the Blue Skies Inn in the gallery.
This morning I woke up early to walk around before my mom woke up. I walked down to the southernmost point and down some of the side streets along the way. When I went back to the Inn I had breakfast with my mom. It was relaxing just sitting on the porch watching people walk by and not having to worry about anything.
After breakfast we went to the Key West Lighthouse. Unfortunately the actual lighthouse was being repaired, so we could not climb up the tower, but we were able to walk around the grounds and visit the small lighthouse museum. Here is a short history of the museum and here our pictures of the Key West Lighthouse in the gallery. It was interesting to visit the museum to get a look into the lives of the people who spent most of their time manning the lighthouse. The history of lighthouses is pretty strong in Key West because their are so many light houses in the area, some of which are still in use today.
In the afternoon we ate lunch at Smather's beach which is near the Key West international airport. What struck me about the beach was that there were not too many people there. The weather was not extremely hot, but it was not bad either, so I spent some trying to figure out where people were. I guess that the local people have been to the beach so often that they do not need to go and any of the tourists would probably be relaxing at the little private beaches that most resorts have. Anyways, with less people it was nicer. After lunch we went back to the historic district and took a tour of the Ernest Hemingway house.
The Ernest Hemingway house is a two story home that was built by Asa Taft in the mid 19th century. For a more detailed history of the house you can visit the Hemingway Home Website. The house is full of a lot of interesting items from all over the world. There is a definite spanish influence on a lot of the furnishings. Ernest even took the gate from a Spanish church to make the headboard for his bed. Next to the same bed he has two odd chairs. One of which is a spanish mid-wife's chai and the other is the birthing chair. These chairs were not used for the reasons they were built for, but Ernest found them interesting enough to use. Another interesting aspect of the house is that it has 61 cats. Some of these cats are descended from the first cat to live on the grounds, a six-toed cat given to Ernest by a ship captain. I took a lot of pictures and you can see the pictures in my gallery of the Hemingway House.
After the tour of the house we went to a small private beach owned by a resort that the Blue Skies Inn has a relationship with. That meant we could pay a lower price for rooms, but we still go to go to the private beach and also use their pool. According to the map I think it was Dog Beach. At the beach I swam in the ocean. It was really warm water, so it was easy to swim out to the buouy and back.
In Key West there is a place called Mallory Square on the west side of the island at the end of Duval St. The square gives people an excellent view of the sunset, so we decided to watch the sun set. We made it just in time to see the sun going under the horizon. After the sun set we watched a local street performer. He is a pretty funny guy and he likes to get the crowd involved in the act, so I ended being part of a group of men who had to help hold up a rope that the he stood on, over a person lying on the ground, while juggling knives. I was the first person on my side, so I got a good view of him juggling the knives. During the act he made all the guys hold hands and then he told a joke about how we all 'came out' tonight. Then he told the crowd the man on his right was shaking, but the guy on the left, me, was not. All in all the act was fun to watch and if anyone is going to Key West they should try and find him to watch his show. You can see pictures of the sunset and some of the act in my Mallory Square gallery.
Right now it is about time for bed. Tomorrow we are going to South Beach, Miami. I think it will be fun, but very crowded since it is South Beach and the MTV Music Video Awards are tomorrow night in Miami.
posted by Jon Keto at
10:30 PM
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