Key West - Day 3 Morning

Day 3 of our Key West adventure was devoted entirely to touring the city.  We did so much that I'm splitting this day into 2 posts otherwise you'll spend your whole day reading about it.  We left our hotel at 8:00 am and walked 2 blocks over to the Southernmost point.  Yes folks, this is the southernmost point for the whole United States.  I advise getting here early in the morning because after 9:00 am, there are long lines all day long to get your photo taken with this monument.  Here's a link to a webcam for this spot.  I'd been watching the webcam for months in anticipation of this trip, so it was a thrill to finally be standing there.

 It's also the location for a geocache - USA, all the way South.  My Mom and Dad got a shot of us on the webcam while we were there....

Next we headed down Whitehead Street to Ernest Hemingway's home for a tour.  Ernest called Key West home for over 9 years and wrote many of his famous books while living here.

The hardwood floors were beautiful and every room had tall ceilings and an open, airy feel...

Hemingway's Home currently  houses 40-50 six toed cats.  They are called polydactyl's because they have the unusual feature of 6 toes instead of the usual 5 on each foot.  It is said that the cats that live there now are direct descendants of the cats that Hemingway had while he was living there.

The gardens are extensive, lush and green, with walkways connecting them...

I can only imagine the famous people who swam in this pool....

Across the street from Hemingway's home is the Key West Lighthouse...

We made the winding climb to the top where we were treated to spectacular views of Key West...

We stayed  up at the top for a long time just enjoying the views...

The light keepers house has been converted into a museum...

Check out this crazy car - I have no idea what it was for but we saw it several times as we toured the city...

Next up was a stop at Mile Marker Zero.  This marks one end of the Overseas Highway that stretches from this spot and runs 2369 miles to upper Maine.  I think it would be awesome to drive the entire highway, visiting historic spots and geocaching along the way.  As luck would have it, it's also the site of a geocache that I had to grab -    First and Last Cache on US 1 .

By then we were tired of walking so we decided to take a break and ride the City View Trolley for an hour long tour of Key West.  I highly recommend doing one of the available tours here.  City View's tour stops at 8 key locations around the city.  You get a great narrative of the important stops along the way as well as lots of local history.  You are free to hop off at any of the stops and then hop back on when you're ready.  New trolleys come by each stop at about 15 minute intervals.

Ok, I'm halting my tour here and will be back tomorrow with part 2 of our third day.
Link to Day 3 afternoon.