After faithfully following our blog for years, Paul's brother Perry decided to join us. He flew in from Montreal to Key West Thursday night, rented one of the notoriously cute Fiat 500s and motored up the causeway to Marathon. We made a serious dent in the beer stocks and retired for the night.
Friday we reversed his trajectory and returned to Key West for lunch at Hemingway's hangout, Sloppy Joe's. The joint was jumpin' as I suppose it always is, so we ate outside on the tiny deck. Paul foolishly opted for their trademark Sloppy Joe sandwich and suffered indigestion for the rest of the day, Reggie was more successful with a seafood sampler and Perry enjoyed Crab cakes in the perfect 72F sunshine.
Afterwards we took the Conch train ride through the city and were treated to a 90 minute discourse on the history of Key West. At one time in the early 1980s, Federal agents were stopping all vehicles coming out of the Keys to search for contraband and having a deleterious effect on the city's tourist revenue. After the Mayor's protests fell on deaf ears, the City Council voted to secede from the Union, named itself the independent Republic of Conch (pronounced "Conk"), and declared war on the U.S.. The Mayor then marched to the Naval base, media circus in tow, and beaned the first uniformed man he met with a loaf of Cuban bread. Embarassed, the Feds relented. Naturally, this news made us thirsty, so we repaired to a bar near Sunset Pier and sipped Margaritas under their umbrellas while we watched the boats and pelicans come and go.
Happy, we returned to Marathon in time for supper at the aptly named Sunset Grill on the west end of the Key to wrap up the day.
Reggie at the very bottom of Key West
Lunchtime at Sloppy Joe's
Sloppy Joe's Menu
Hemingway's Home
Pelican mooching near the waterfront bar.
View from Sunset Pier
Supper at Sunset Grill
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