Ok, the morning of Day 3 was not as expected. Mr. I became ill, meaning sore throat probably something caught on the plane, miserable hacking etc. So I went into wife gear and went to the store. Picked up the correct meds to knock him out cause the sooner he gets over this the sooner we can have fun right?
So I tucked him in and checked my watch and it was 11 am. Hmmmm, what should I do? Should I stay by Mr. I's side listening to him sort of snore and moan or should I go get some lunch and make a list of the things I wanted to do that he might not want to do so much. I picked the later. My List was as follows:
1. Take a long walk along the Atlantic.
2./Have some lunch.
3. Drive the rental car.
4. Find Key West Cemetery and check it out.
5. Find St Mary Star of the Sea Parish to walk the church and Grotto (More on this in a separate post later)
6. Ernest Hemingway House
7. Find a Cuban Store to look at some art etc.
8. Find a good Smoothie.
9. Find my way back in one piece. And hopefully Mr. I will feel well enough to go to watch the sunset at the Sunset party that is held everyday 365, at the pier at the Southernmost Tip of the USA. (Glad someone thought to establish this way for the US to say goodnight to all.)
10. Go to the Southernmost Point in the USA at the end of Whitehead Street.
11. And finally, maybe a few surprises for Mr. I cause nobody should be sick on their vacation.
I managed everything on the list as follows:
Took a long walk about 3 miles on the Atlantic walkway that runs the length of I think the east side Key West. Great way to get a feel for the weather and the town.
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| The above pics are from my walk along the Atlantic, loved this walk warm and humid and lovely. |
Had lunch at the hotel, the only pic I have is of my little friend the lizard that ate with me. Can you see him?
Mustered courage to go off on my own in the rental car. Just feels weird without Mr. I but I did it! With no incidences to speak of.
Off to the Key West Cemetery. Now some folks have a dislike for cemeteries. Me, I love em. So quite and park like. Lots of history and reverence. Just look at the pics.
The next stop St Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Church and Grotto of Sister M. Louis Gabriel, Remember she was the nun with the vision of protection over Key West. Fantastic. Really is so awesome to go into an empty church with the shuddered doors all open around the entire church to say some prayers and light a few candles.
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| Sister M. is buried here on property with other nuns and priests |
Then off to the Hemingway House. Definitely cool. He lived in a nice place with good weather. The room he wrote in is in a building in back of his house that is sort of a guest house. It was cool to see the office/den that he wrote in.
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| This house has character, it's about the same size as my house but Location Location Location. The style and grounds with natural botanicals was just the best. I was thinking he probably never did yard-work. No leaves or pruning. the Coconuts just fall to the ground. No carpets, I guess all you'd need is a mop. |
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| Love Love the upstairs wrap around veranda lined with these shuddered windows, keeps all the rooms nice and cool. |
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| Hemingway's office |
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| Hemingway's bedroom, note the cat, The cats were everywhere. I love the painting above the bed by William Faulkner. |
I self guided through the house, went to the gift shop etc. If you go, don't pay for the tour. The gift store and website will fill in the gaps.
Ok, so now I'm feeling pretty comfortable roaming around town so......
off to the Cuban store, which was really fun. I love love the Cuban art and I picked up a few things. Which I'll share later. Wouldn't want to spoil a surprise.
Found a great place for a smoothie on Duvall Street. Cantaloupe, Strawberry and Orange. No alcohol, I considered it, but I had that pesky rental car.
Rushed to the hotel, and Mr. I was sort of ok, so we decided to check out the "Southernmost point in the US, and catch the Sunset Celebration at Mallory Square.
The Southernmost Point of the United States is at the end of Duval Street. It really feels like your at the edge of the country. Must see when in Key West.
We then made our way to Mallory Square which is at the opposite end of Duval and Front Street. Each evening there is a Sunset Celebration. Meaning, everyone sort of gathers at the huge pier there and watch the sunset. Magicians, palm readers, acrobats street folk all try to gather the tourist dollar for some open air entertainment. And the sunset is guaranteed beautiful every single night, 365. After the sunsets, there's a Cuban outdoor bar that has music and fun. It's also a must do in Key West.
We hung around Mr. I enjoyed some Cuban coffee. It was a great night and we went home early hoping the Mr. I would recover sooner. But I'm sure the sunset helped. All in all it was a good day. Love Mamabus
We went to the Pumpkin Patch, which we haven't done since Andrew was little. The Pumpkin Patch is a farm on the island that has a HUGE barn full of veggies and fruit. A huge barn of animals to see. 2 complicated Corn Mazes, one haunted one not. It has a huge field of flowers to U-Cut (My personal favorite), free hayrides a gift store, a cute cow train that hauls the kids around the farm. Little Booths with food, elephant ears burgers etc. Plain and simple fun fun fun.
