Brown Pelican--Key West

Sugarloaf Key: Just hung out today waiting for the Super Bowl to start. Rooting for the NY Giants. They’re having a big Super bowl party at the clubhouse. We opted to stay home and watch. Mike read in the paper that people consume more food on Super Bowl Sunday than Thanksgiving—not to mention alcohol. Wonder how many people call in sick on Monday? Another beautiful day.

Blue Hole--Big Pine Key

Blue Hole--Big Pine Key

These little ditches were dug in areas throughout the Keys. They're only 12-18 inches deep, but the little Key deer fawns fall in them and drown. That's how small they are. They're trying to get rid of them. Notice the rock. It's very hard to plant stuff down here. You need a jack hammer to dig a hole.

Sugarloaf Key: Went to Sugarloaf Lodge for breakfast this morning. Decided since the bikes are still on the truck that we’d go out and bike to the Blue Hole. A spectacular day! Biked down to the end of the road past the Blue Hole and then hiked the Buttonwood Marsh trail for a little way—through a transitional buttonwood marsh and mangrove forest. Biked back up the road and stopped at the Blue Hole. Saw 2 key deer. Bikes back on the truck and we stopped at the bicycle shop on Big Pine Key and had new rear-view mirrors put on the bikes and he adjusted my seat. Then we went to Pizza Works and ordered a spicy chicken stromboli for two. This thing is wonderful—a huge bread thing stuffed with spicy chicken, two different cheeses, chopped tomatoes, and jalapeño peppers. Brought most of it home for Superbowl Sunday. Back home with a detour to Venture Out—a private community with modular units and they also have RV sites for rent and for sale. Very nice place. A little too big for our tastes, but if Lazy Lakes closes down we need an alternative. This is only one key away—on Cudjoe Key. Our attorney owns a place there. Back home and made a reservation for brunch at Little Palm Island next Sunday. Floyd and Terry and going with us. Will either kick back tonight or play jokers at the club house.

Chicken hanging out on a fence--Whitehead Street

Sugarloaf Key: Just relaxed and hung out today. Washed out some things. There is a woman in the park that uses an assist dog. She’s blind. The dog is a beautiful golden lab. Yesterday while we were gone a motor home came in with a pit bull. While the woman was walking with her assist dog, the pit bull attacked the poor thing. They had a hard time getting the pit bull off of him. When I found out about it I was livid, because the park manager let them stay. We went over to the office today and expressed our concern. Everyone in the park is upset. Mike suggested she check with the insurance company which she did. And they were told to leave. Thank goodness. Why would anyone want a pet that could kill them? A beautiful day today—in the 80s.

The old 7-mile bridge

Historic Pidgeon Key

Pidgeon Key--we're going to snorkel here

Sugarloaf Key: Put the bikes on the truck and headed up to Marathon Key. Stopped at the Stuffed Pig on Marathon for breakfast. I had a tomato and spinach benedict and Mike had steak and eggs. Really good. Drove over to a little shopping center on Highway 1 and got the bikes off and biked down a bike path through a residential area to Sombrero Beach. A really nice beach and park. Saw some dolphins. Started getting cloudy and really windy. Wanted to bike the old 7-mile bridge over to Pidgeon Key, but not sure with the wind. Figured we’d at least start and if it was too windy we could turn around. Started out and it was really nice. The sky had cleared by then and the water was beautiful. The last time we biked here we saw lots of rays and other fish, but nothing today. Pidgeon Key was used to house the workers on the overseas railway (circa 1910) and then later when they were building the overseas highway. The whole key is now a museum. Most of the buildings are still there. When they built the highway, they built it on the old rail bed. And on the bridges they removed the old rails and used them as guardrails. The old road is really narrow and is hard to imagine two cars being able to fit. Almost all the old bridges are still there and being used for walking, biking and fishing. On the bike over it was great—wind was at our back. Coming back was a different story. Had to REALLY work. We’re going to take our wet suits and snorkels and snorkel out there next time. Had an early dinner at Porky’s and then back home. Staying in tonight.

Hemmingway Home

This home was built by a man named Tift in the 1800s. He owned a salvage operation in Key West and made lots of money. It's the only home in the Keys to have a basement. The rock quarried was used to build the house.

Hemmingway's Studio/Office

This used to be the carriage house on the Hemmingway property. He had the upper level (hay loft) turned into his office.

Hemmingway's Studio/Office

This is where Hemmingway did his writing. He used to tell his publisher that the Royal typewriter he used made more spelling mistakes than any other.

The Hemmingway Pool

The pool cost $22,000 to build because it had to be dug by hand. The Keys are all granite and fossil coral. Pauline (his second wife) couldn't get a dynamite permit, so it had to be dug by hand. To put this in perspective, the house only cost $8,000. Ernest was not very happy since Pauline had it built while he was in Spain for 6 months or so. And she had it built where his boxing ring used to be.

Sugarloaf Key: Slept late this morning. No hangover though. A cloudy morning. So we decided to drive into Key West and go back to the Hemmingway home. We were there a couple of years ago, but it’s always fun to go back. I bought “A Farewell to Arms” to read. Have never read anything of Hemmingway’s. I have lots of interesting books to read. After leaving the Hemmingway home we stopped at Meteor for a couple of drinks and then drove back. Ran into Floyd and Terry on the way to our site and decided the four of us would go to Little Palm Island next Sunday. Should be fun. Baked some tilapia fillets for dinner. Staying in tonight.

Cosgrove House--Old Town Key West

Sugarloaf Key: Started out cloudy and cool. Mike started getting things together to put back in the storage area. I went for a walk and when I got back vacuumed the storage area and then we put everything away—finally. So now our site is back to normal. Decided to take mimosas to the clubhouse to have with dinner tonight, so we headed to the grocery store on Big Pine Key to buy some champagne and orange juice and after shopping went to Pizza Works for pizza. Came back, put everything away and then kicked back. I read my book and Mike got on the computer. At 5:30 we headed over for dinner. After dinner we played jokers with a bunch of people. Craig brought over his stereo and a bunch of CDs from the 50s and 60s. A fun night.

Doors of Key West--Truman Annex, Old Town Key West

Sugarloaf Key: A beautiful, sunny, but cool day. Mike went off to the RV dealer on Cudjoe Key and they had the fitting he needed for the hot water heater. He installs the new fitting, turns the water back on—and it’s still leaking! So, back he goes to the RV dealer and set up an appointment to have someone come here and fix it. He was told it would be two days or more. Jeeze. So he then called the service department where we bought our fifth wheel and they told him to check one of the straight, threaded fittings. He found the fitting, took it out and back to the RV dealer he goes. They had that part also and he came back, reinstalled it, refilled the tank and no more leak. YES! So we now have hot water again. In the meantime, everything from the storage area is sitting all over our site. We look like the Clampets. Mike played shoes this afternoon and I drove to Big Pine and got my hair cut. Hot shower tonight. Mike did such a good job.