Key West, Day 3

Key West is a small island, but it is packed full of things to see, and three days is not enough.  But we did our best.  If I had two more days, I would go to the Aquarium, the museum of items salvaged in 1985 from two Spanish galleons dating from the 17th century, and the Truman home.  Did you know Truman vacationed on Key West during and after his presidency?

We started off the day at the Eco-Discovery Center, where we learned about the various aquatic ecosystems in the Keys.  The coral reef, off the east side of the Keys and at the edge of the continental shelf, is the third largest barrier reef in the world.  Did you know that?  The Center also includes a walk-through model of NOAA's Aquarius, an underwater ocean laboratory 9 miles off of Key Largo.  The Center itself doesn't look too impressive, but their interactive exhibits are very well done.  I found it very informative.

Outside, we saw two cruise ships at the dock, the first we had seen all week.  

We had lunch at a French creperie, run by a woman from the Bretagne (Brittany) region of France. Yum!

Do you know the story about the roosters on Key West?  Apparently, the Cubans used to have regular cock fights, but the practice was finally outlawed.  The Cubans let the roosters go, and they still wander the streets.  They are protected by law, so they have become part of the local color. 

We finally made it to Ernest Hemingway's home.  It is the biggest tourist attraction on the island.  I really wanted to see it because of Hemingway's connection to the Academy of Natural Sciences.  The home was built by a very wealthy man in the late 1800's.  It came to Hemingway through the uncle of his second wife, who bought it for them as a wedding gift.  It is impressive by Key West standards.
  

When Hemingway and his wife first moved into the home, he was not well known.  But within a couple of years he was becoming famous, and tourists started showing up at his home in greater and greater numbers.  So he had the brick fence, below, built around the home for privacy.

Across the street from Hemingway's home is the Key West lighthouse.  The story we heard several times is that Hemingway used to tell people he used the light of the lighthouse to find his way home at night after making his rounds at the local bars.

The tree in the foreground is an African Tulip Tree, one of the many tropical plants that is also found in Hawaii.  The blooms are large and a very bright orange.

I was very excited to see several photographs in the house of Hemingway showing the large game fish he caught.  Some of these I had seen in the archives collection at the Academy, because Hemingway knew and corresponded regularly with Academy Directing Manager Charles Cadwalader, and Curator of Ichthyology Henry Fowler.  The Academy has in its collections some of the game fish caught by Hemingway - he donated them.  Clare and Bob, you will recognize the following photograph:

Here is the typewriter used by Hemingway to write several of his books:

And the room he used for writing:

I have mentioned that many of the plants in the Keys are the same as those found in Hawaii.  One of those, of course, is Plumeria:

Since we are heading back to Key Largo tomorrow, here is one last view of what we see from the front window or our RV. Pretty nice!