A Day in Key West

Key West is a party town. The only industry is tourism these days and all things revolve around the tourist.
We decide to drive into town as we are told that a small van like ours can find a place in a lot. We are first directed to a parking garage. Oh No! 7 foot 2 inch height limit. Our fans will remember that we are nine feet. Around the corner we go looking for an open lot. We find one with big signs, No RV's. We figure we do not count as an RV as we are parking lot legal. But the bikes hang out. We back the bikes into some bushes and make the mark. I get us a one day ticket from the machine.
We plan to take the on and off trolley around town, but William has to go back to the van. That is how I wound up in the Schooner Wharf bar with a beer. We find out that the town is having a second St Patrick's Day celebration in addition to a Pub Crawl and not to forget the great moon and the normal sunset celebration. Every day is party day here.
We find the silver one day ticket trolley and have an enjoyable ride. But I have to tell some of the stories about Key West. In 1982 the federal government decided that they needed to search all cars coming in and out of Key West for illegals. The blockade caused a 19 mile long traffic jam and people quit coming to Key West. The locals decided to secede from the union and voted to form The Conch Republic. They declared war and threw stale bread and tomatoes at local military. They immediately conceded defeat and demanded reparations of one billion dollars. They did not get the money but the feds called off the blockade and the tourists came back. I bought a Conch Republic flag.
Truman liked it here and vacationed often. It was his other White House. Robert Frost spent 16 winters here writing poems about snow. I spotted a sign for a clothing optional bar, upstairs.
The Southernmost Point in the USA.
The Caribbean chickens.
After a too huge lunch at The Conch Republic Seafood Restaurant
we stagger back to the trolley. I want to go back to Ernest Hemingway's house to do the tour and see all the 6 toed cats.
This cat watering trough was made out of a urinal Hemingway brought home from Sloppy Joe's. His wife at the time, Pauline, dolled it up with the urn and tiles.
They have about 48 cats at this time.
We walk back to sunset beach to find a good spot to have a drink and watch the sunset
.
As we drive home (back to Sugarloaf Key KOA) we are treated to the Great Moon high in the sky.