Key West

Well, I am now a day behind.  Hmm.

We arrived in Key West yesterday.  Here is the Oversears Highway going south - 89 miles across 42 bridges of this mostly two-lane highway from Key Largo:

We are staying on Bluewater Key, a few miles north of Key West.  We drove into Key West in the afternoon, and I snapped a few pictures:

A medium-sized Banyon tree provided shade in front of an inn;

This tree, a Flaming Poinciana, was next door to the Banyon tree.  I was hoping the Poincianas would be in bloom, but they seem to be at the end of their bloom cycle.  I have found only a few flowers here and there.  I have a particular fondness for Poincianas.  When my family lived on Tinian in the Mariana Islands, there was a Flaming Poinciana in our front yard.  My sister and I would climb high up into the tree and sit and read, or play games with the flowers.  These are great climbing trees, because of the generally lateral growth of the branches.  The trees in the Keys are a bit stunted and sparse, as conditions for a tree are not easy here. 

There are many places to eat in the old downtown area, and so many bars.  We ate at a place that was first opened on Lahaina on Maui, then opened on Waikiki and Key West.  This photo was taken inside, looking out on Duval Street:

We had dinner, then followed the crowds to watch the sun set from Mallory Square.  This ritual had been described for me, but now I finally understand.  Lots of people, lots of activity:

Guy doing tricks on a unicycle;

 Crowds waiting, watching;

Tight rope walker.

There were also flame throwers, jugglers, a Scot playing bagpipes, and a sword swallower.  It wasn't necessarily professional or well-organized, but fun nonetheless.  

While all this was going on, we were also watching the sun going down.

It  turns out the sun goes down behind Sunset Key, so we didn't see it sink into the water.  But it was beautiful, colorful, and picturesque.

Lee and I are not late night party types, so I have no bar recommendations or drunken stupors to report.