January 08 – Hemingway House and the Little White House

Today is for walking…all over the town of Key West.  It is a lively and vibrant town.  Our hotel is a very short walk to one of the marinas. 

There were a number of interesting souvenir shops…

the old town hall,

some beautiful Christmas decorations were still up,

An interesting sign,

and beautiful homes, colorful and many with balconies.

Other interesting sights.

Our wanderings took us by the Audubon House but we didn’t go in.  But the gardens were lovely. 

We hit the Little White House.  This house was originally built for the navy and used by President Harry Truman when he was ordered by his doctors to take a rest.  He liked it so much that he returned many times during his presidency.  And it was soon called The Little White House.  We took a tour but there were no photos allowed inside.

These gates to the area are only opened when a president visits the house.  A number of presidents since Truman have visited.  The last was Bill Clinton and Hillary.

Then it was on to the house owned by Ernest Hemingway.  

We had an enjoyable tour of the house and grounds.

One of the odder things about the house was the cats.  Hemingway had a cat named Snow White.  All of the cats on the grounds are her descendants.  There are currently around 60 cats.  Most of them are polydactyl or have six toes instead of five.

From the house we had a view of the lighthouse.  We will save a visit to it for another day.

After lunch we headed to the Key Lime Pie Bakery where we all indulged in a slice of Key Lime Pie.  This may become a pilgrimage.

They also had a ton of Key Lime products.

And we stopped at another shop that claimed to be the birthplace of Key Lime Pie.  We didn't buy pie there but we did investigate.  They also had tons of Key Lime products.  

Our wanderings took us to an intersection where signs announced the End of the Road for US Route 1 that runs from the top of Main to this street in Key West.

And Key West is at the southern most point in the US so we saw that fact being used as marketing. 

After a rest in our hotel rooms in the afternoon we headed out for dinner and then to another shop for another taste of Key Lime Pie.  This was Matteessen’s, a bakery and sweets shop.  We all loved their pie.  Best so far.