We had our most interesting day in Key West on Wednesday (St Patrick's Day ).

That's the day we visited the Lighthouse, Hemingway's House, the Southernmost Point in the Continental US and had our chance to be optional with our clothes and finished up with Mallory Square at Sunset.

We drove down to the end of RT 1 after we finished with the lighthouse and Hemingway's and continued on to the Southernmost Point for the obligatory photo op.




While we were there we also saw what used to be the southernmost house (and is now a hotel).



Here's the appropriate taxi to take to this hotel-




I actually took this photo for someone on another list who is known as The pinkplaidpocoladyofpennsylvania. She likes pink.


We were still in this area when it was time for lunch so i went in search of a restaurant that I have a card that gives me a discount- unfortunately I had left the list in the room and wasn't sure of the name.

We were walking along road nearest to the beach and I thought I saw the right place so we went towards the beach where it was. We got as far as the top of the ramp leading to the area where the restaurant and the adjacent sunning area of the establishment next to the pool. It was apparent that it wasn't the right place- it was a clothing optional establishment. We opted not to stay- the world is not ready for that. Sorry guys- no pictures from here.

We found another place to eat and went back to the hotel for a swim.

We went down to Mallory Square for the daily Key West ritual- Sunset in Mallory Square. This is where the diversity of Key West gets it's most public view.

We saw jugglers, sword swallowers, cat ranglers and a general assortment of somewhat unusual individuals- as well as the ordinary and the ever present Spring Breakers.

Here's thw juggler- his speciality was knives and burning torches while on a 6 ft "suicycle".





Here's the Sword Swallower-



Unfortunately, I didn't get any of the Cat Wrangler since my batteries died in my camera. I also only got a couple of shots of the Sunset. The one the night before on the Sunset Cruise was nicer- unfortunately I didn't have my camera along on the boat.

Here's one of the Sunset on St Patrick's Day.



We walked around a bit more and then went to dinner. We ate at another great restaurant called Michael's. If you love steak and don't get too upset about prices this is a great place to eat. It's a bit pricey, but the service , food and atmoshphere are very good. They have a mixture of steak, pasta dishes and seafood.

We left Key West the next morning on our way to St Augustine for the Main Events.

Dennis

So what is a Cat Wrangler Dennis???

It's a very strange guy who speaks what sounds sort of like the French language who makes regular house cats do tricks like you are used to seing Lions & tigers doing (ecxept for the bit of the person putting his head in the mouth of the cat)

He's very popular- he sells posters, videos, etc.

He's been doing his act there for years.

Dennis

That's quite the travel log Dennis. Thanks for taking the time to post all the pictures. Nice shots and commentary. Sounds like you were busy and on the go! Sometimes you have to go home to get a rest from your vacation.

John and I were able to climb the Cape Florida lighthouse on Monday,March 15. I think they lock the entry gates if you're not there for the 10:00am or 1:00pm tour. They have a sign-up sheet and only allow 10 people on each tour time to climb the lighthouse.

We were just a few days too early for the St. Augustine event.

Lorie,

That's what I had read about Cape Florida. I guess that I'm geting a little less Wacko- I don't worry about trying to get to every Lighthouse near where I'm vacationing.

The way the times are set up or the amount of driving off the main path is sometimes a bit difficult to juggle everything. I try to get good views of the lighthouses and get into them when possible.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't. I figure we were lucky on this trip- wew got to 9 Lighthouses including 5 we could climb or get into (that's a pretty good ratio as these things go) and had a great time with some wonderful people.

Dennis

A weakening Wacko?!?!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.............we have to take you to the secret labratory in my basement and fix that! You may be forgetting what a lighthouse is!

Looks like lots of fun! I would love to get down to FLA. I think I say that every time I see another post from the regional or a personal trip these past couple of weeks. Each one makes it more appetizing.

How long does it take to drive down there for us New Jerseyites (the official name for a resident of New Jersey)? With seeing the SC and GA lights I missed (all but St. Simons)? I then can go into PPM ( P arental P ersuasion M ode.

Greg,

A straight run from the area of NJ you live in to Jacksonville, FL is about 950 miles and about 16 hours driving- 2 days.

You'd have to add 2 days to the trip for a total of 4 days just to get to the tip of Florida to get to all of the lighthouses in SC & GA. There's a great little FL guide book that gives you a 5 day trip around the state to see most of the Lighthouses. It could be difficult to accomplish even with this time frame- you have to do a bit of bacxktracking to get back and forth from the Lighthouses along the coast.

Of course this doesn't take into account any of the days or times of day you have to be at a certain Lighthouse. It does give some of this info, though. It also contains some directions.

I've got a copy if you'd like it.

Dennis

I snapped a photo of the 'Cat Wrangler' way back in 1989 (if it is the same guy) at the square. I will have to try and find the shot sometime. The cats were jumping from one platform to another when I snapped the shot.

A guy also layed on a bed of broken glass, then had 4 or 5 people stand on him. Was kind of neat capturing the expression on his face.

Dennis,

Thanks for the photos and commentary. They brought back memories of - uh - three weeks ago. I think your being there during spring break was better timing than our being there during bike week!

I like your shot of Hemingway's bed. It was interesting to hear that in a time before king-sized beds, he made one from two twin beds attached to a headboard which in turn was made from a Spanish gate, complete with posts, hinges, and latch.

Sounds like you had as good a time as we did. I would definitely go back, but in snorkeling weather next time.

Bruce