A guick trip for a few days to celebrate the retirement and birthday of friends.
It was a trip down memory lane for me, having vacationed in Key West repeatedly with my family as a child. The conch train still operates as Bill and I can attest to, having now memorized some of Key West history and locales after taking it around the island a few times. A gallery owner helped us locate the brick building where we kids once saw Lily Pulitzer fabric being hand silk screened. I also retraced, the history of us meeting Mel Fisher himself long ago, learning he was docked in Key West Harbor living on his boat, way before he began his serious search for Spanish treasure. I remember he seemed larger than life catching our attention, especially my brother Price's interest as Mel was actively seeking donations for his quest and talked to anyone walking by. So many other memories especially of the Naval base, most of which has been sold now to land developers and our family's fondness the Little White House and Key Lime Pie. Hemingway's home had just been opened to the public and caught the attention of my dad, big time. We had to go then, we did and returned many times.
On this trip four couples joined to relax together and separately, arriving along with an unwelcome winter cold front bringing cold temps and wind into Key West. The day we arrived, the high was 46! Wind for first three days between 15-20mph. Yet the sun prevailed and temps warmed and we did indeed get to sunny Florida after all. Taking only my tiny Canon S95 - caught a few pics of this special place and its inhabitants. It was a welcome rest from the colder gray weather in Atlanta which welcomed us back with an ice storm the next day!