Texas,RV's,Travel and Family: Florida Keys - Day 3 (Sunday)

Today was a Key West Day - we arrived there about 10AM after stopping on Big Pine Key for breakfast at the Cracked Egg Cafe.

In Key West we got an on the street parking place just off the south end of Duval Street. All day parking was about $15, but it was convenient to where we planned to spend most of the day - on and around Duval Street.
Of course first we had to go to the southernmost point of the continental US. This was Sunday (remember the boat races were going on) and the marker was mobbed. I did get a few pictures, but not without people in them - no idea who they are - but some might stumble on to their picture in this blog.

Interesting fact, at the southernmost point, you are 90 miles from Cuba and 123 miles from the nearest Wal-Mart. In the Keys, the large discount retailer is K-Mart.

We walked up Duval Street a ways and decided to take the Conch (pronounced conk) train tour of Key West. The train just looks like a train, actually a tractor designed like an train engine pulling several passenger cars all on rubber tires.

The Train Station is right across from a Denny's which does not really look like a Denny's.

The train took us through Key West with a very good narration of the history. The tour went through the historic section of town pointing out the different architecture and the how they were different and how they arrived in Key West.

We also passed by the building where Pan American Airlines started. Kelly's Carribean Bar and Grill stands at this location now. The owner is actor Kelly McGillis.

It also stopped at the Flagler Train Station,

and Mallory Square. Mallory Square is known for it's sunset gatherings.

In the same are as Mallory Square is the Key West Historic Memorial Sculpture Garden. This is a very unique area with sculptures of many of the famous in Key West's history. You get the sense that there are a lot of people watching you.

We had plans to have dinner with a business associate of mine and her husband from the Dallas/Fort Worth area, who just happened to be in Key West at the same time. We had exchanged text messages and as of the mid afternoon had no real meeting destination in mind. Then on one of the tour stops, I was taking pictures when low and behold, here came Sherry and her husband Mike on a scooter. Now we knew they were in town. They did not know we were on a tour, there were probably more than five thousand people (or so it seemed) in town all in the same area, and we run into them by chance. After a short visit, we continued our tour with plans to meet on the north end of Duval Street for dinner. Since we needed to meet our friends for drinks at the Island Dogs Bar,

and then had dinner reservations at Two Friends Patio, we were not able to see the sunset or the festivities at Mallory Square.

After a fantastic dinner, Deb and I walked back down Duval street to where we parked the car, and Mike & Sherry rode their scooter back to their hotel, which happened to be on the same street where we had parked. You see some interesting things on Duval Street.