sights from key west

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We really enjoyed Key West despite wasting a little time looking for a pirate museum in the guide book that had moved to St Augustine. The harbor was fabulous and very dog friendly with one ice cream parlor allowing Casper into the ice cream parlor itself and several people bringing him water. We were also able to have him with us at lunch as long as we sat outside. Unfortunately I didn't get the chance to tour Truman's Little White House as it was closed when we got there and if I could do one thing over in Key West it would be to save the Harbor for after the museum as the stores and restaurants along the harbor stayed open long after 5 PM which was when the museums closed. That said it was still pretty cool to walk along the grounds and think that five presidents may have walked in the same steps that we took and to think about important decisions like civil rights being signed into law from the little white house. The museum that we did get to see was fantastic. The Shipwreckers museum focused on the maligned profession of ship wrecking. As it turned out ship wreckers had to be liscenced and play by certain rules or they could be barred from not just ship wrecking but also from ever working again in any profession....most played by the rules. Their pay was roughly $7 a day which was a huge amount in the 1800s....to be considered as a diver you had to be able to hold your breath for six minutes. Most citizens benefited from shipwrecking one way or another. At one point Key West was the richest city per capita due to the share of recovered goods that they got when helping a ship wrecked upon the rocks...which was a pretty hefty share but if it weren't for wreckers many more lives would have been lost in shipwrecks. And it was also pretty amazing to view Key West from up on the tower there. The last pictures are from Mallory Square and the harborwalk nearby where all the entertainers perform for tips...loads of almost free entertainment. All in all a pretty good day.

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