Key West

We left the Tampa area on a 6 day trip to Key West. Neither of us had ever been out there. It is getting kind of warm and sticky in this part of the world about now. First we drove the motorhome to Fort Lauderdale as a base of operations and there were a few things to do in this area. Then from here we drove the pick up truck out to Key West. We could have taken the motor home the entire way, but instead we stayed at two different Inns right in the heart of Old Town so it worked out a little better. We were able to walk or ride bikes everywhere.This place reminded both of us just a tad of New Orleans. It is both a laid back and a happening place at the same time. Bars, restaurants, and a lot of history. Nothing happens very fast here so don't plan on that because by the local area residents own admission, it has one of the worst work ethics found anywhere in the country. Numerous losers congregate here and if they decide they would rather go fishing than show up for work, they just do it. Good one. However, the food is good and the people are mostly nice and everything is pretty close to go see. As I look through the pictures, I noticed that somehow I forgot to include the Mini White House. It was used primarily by Truman. He was here a lot and he used it as an active White House too. Other Presidents used it too, mostly as vacation get aways. You can go on several different kinds of charters like the one out to the Dry Tortugas. It has a fort built during the Civil War but never finished. It became a military prison for a time. The most famous resident was Dr. Samuel Mudd. All Sammy was guilty of was fixing the broken leg John Wilkes Boothe after assassinating President Lincoln. Darn guy. Dr. Mudd didn't even know about it but the gov't was hanging people left and right and throwing just about everybody in jail for a while after that happened. Dr. Mudd was released after a time eventhough he was initially given a life sentence. The temperature here doesn't vary much. It is in the mid 80's when you go to sleep and in the low 80's when you wake up in the morning.

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