I was awaken early to a cacophony of roosters crowing. Up before the crowds, we grabbed a coffee and strolled down Duval Street. We took special note of the number of roosters and chickens that roam the streets, alleys and every nook and cranny of Key West. We arrived at Mallory Square. This is the main tourist destination. It has lots of bars and T-shirt stores. It was a brisk day with the winds generating some real chop on the water. We sipped our coffee gazing across at "Tank Island". Tank Island was a Navy fuel depot during the cold war. It was reconfigured to be high-end condos and renamed “Sunset Key”.
Thanks to Trip Advisor, we then found the Cuban Coffee Queen
. This became our “go to” place for coffee. Their breakfast Cuban bagels weren't too bad either. Although we did note more than a few folks having their Cuban roasted pork, black beans and yellow rice for breakfast too!
I then purchased tickets from Old Town Trolley Tours. You can jump on and off, it does a full tour of the island, you can use the tickets the second day for free and there is a 100% satisfaction guarantee. When the first trolley arrived it was full and we could not get on. No problem. They dispatched a new, empty trolley to pick us up. This trolley remained mostly empty for the bulk of our tour. This was now a recurring theme. Private tours at group tour prices!
We got off the trolley at the second most visited tourist location – The “SouthernMost Point of Continental USA”. Just to prove I was there, I included a picture of Casa Cayo Hueso “The Southernmost House”. We discovered there are a LOT of “southernmost” things in this area. The Southernmost House, Really Southernmost House, Southernmost Hotel, Really Southernmost Hotel, Southernmost Tattoos, Southernmost Dentist, etc.
The Southernmost Tourist area and Mallory Square are connected by the main road – Duval street. Our cottage was conveniently located about midway between the two near the “Ernest Hemmingway Home”. Note the fine brick fence that Ernest himself constructed
. Local lore tells us that he stole the bricks from the city when they were tearing up a street. They ended up settling the case out of court for $1/brick.
Our lunch adventure destination was at the well-known establishment called “Blue Heaven”. With its kitschy décor and roosters, hens and chicks wondering around, this place is quite a destination for the ambience. What we learned was ... not so much for the food. Their specialty appears to be some kind of Lobster Eggs Benedict. Didn’t know that, not sure I would have ordered it anyway. The Bloody Marys were great! I did not take advantage of the ping pong table, but enjoyed the live music.
One of the “Must Do” activities of Key West is to attend the “Sunset Celebration” at Mallory Square. The Sunset Celebration is a nightly arts festival that consists of arts and crafts exhibitors, street performers, food carts, psychics and tourists from around the world. Each night around two hours before sunset masses of people, both locals and tourists alike, flock to the water's edge to experience a multicultural happening and to watch the sun sink into the Gulf of Mexico
.
We grabbed two Mojitos from a street cart, staked out a seat on a giant planter and watched the world go by. The sunset was awesome and we spent quite a while talking with another couple who tried to sit on the planter with us, but couldn’t quite make the jump up. She was a widow, he was a widower and they were re-kindling their romantic relationship after a respectable period since the passing of their prior mates. She told me she was from “The Poconos”. I made the mistake of responding by asking her if she was familiar with the town of “Jim Thorpe”. We learned ALL about Jim Thorpe!
Seaworthy vessels of all kinds navigated the waters between our dock and Sunset Key (aka Tank Island). Sailing ships were the most popular with tourists enjoying their “sunset cruise” with all the beer and wine you can consume for 2 hours.
Casey’s research had selected our entertainment for the evening
. The venue – “The Cabaret At La Te Da “ – specifically “The Crystal Room”. The entertainer - Christopher (Chris) Peterson. The act “EYECONS”. EYECONS is a live one-man show with Chris becoming the legendary ladies of showbiz including Marilyn Monroe, Carol Channing, Madonna, Patsy Cline, Bette Davis, Tina Turner, Julie Andrews, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland, and Cher. This is no “drag show”. This was a very talented actor doing great female impersonations. I especially like the way he did his costume changes on stage. He didn’t run behind a curtain and change, but engaged us with dialogue as he disrobed then re-robed.
Key West has Roosters!
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Key West, Florida, United States
Other Entries
2025-02-06