Rowdy Roosters, Cool Cats, and Dreamy Real Estate
Last night, the dog saga continued. We had them in the RV with the AC but were waking up every 2 hours to let Remi out to go pee. I think he just wanted to play with us. After a very restless night, we decided the pups would sleep in the truck tonight and we would leave all the windows open and the rear window opened up. We will see if that works better. I giggle each time Ron mumbles words of love and affection at Remi.
In addition to Remi, the roosters kept me when they all began crowing at 4am. The sun wasn’t even up yet, so I’d like to know which rooster made the decision to start the wake up call. Whoever the culprit was, his initial crowing got all the other roosters excited. Then, they spent the next few hours competing with each other.
Before we knew it, 7am arrived and Ron wanted us all to be ready by 9am. He wanted to book a golf cart for the next two days so that we could travel around Key West easily. What a great idea that was too. It was a great way to explore Key West. We’ve noticed it’s a very popular thing to do here. People in golf carts and on scooters fill the city streets. As we drove through Key West, I admired all the beautiful homes. It truly is a beautiful city with a breezy island feel.
I also noticed all the chickens walking around the city like they owned it. So funny! It made me miss our two sweet chickens at home.
Our first stop was at Earnest Hemingway’s home. He lived at that home and wrote for over 10 years. This home is also famous because of all the Hemingway Cats that live there. Many of these cats are polydactyl and have an extra toe on one or more of their feet. There are apparently 40 to 50 cats that call the grounds home. In the 1930’s Hemingway was given a polydactyl cat from a sea captain named Stanley Dexter. Sailors favoured polydactyl cats believing they were good luck. Their extra toe or toes made them better mousers and provided better balance on rough seas.
Hemingway named his cat Snow White and to this day many of Snow White’s descendants roam the grounds. Hemingway, who was a cat lover, named his cats after famous people. The house showcased his history and works. He published seven novels, six short story collections and two nonfiction works. He had a strong influence on 20th Century fiction and in 1954 he won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The house was great to see but the cats were the highlight for me and the kids.
The home featured in the James Bond movie “License to Kill” came next. This was another home that Ron really wanted to see. To his delight the house was even for sale and he enjoyed looking at it online. You will see by the smile on his face that he was pretty excited to see this house.
After our tour it was time for lunch and a little bit of shopping. We had lunch at Southernmost Brewery. It was here that I found out the story behind all the chickens in Key West. Apparently they were brought from Cuba when some of the people who immigrated here brought them over for cock fighting. Once cock fighting became illegal (thankfully) the chickens were all let loose and since then their population has grown and they are literally everywhere and protected. Now, killing one can land you in jail.
After lunch, we had fun shopping along Duval Street. I found a store called the Funky Chicken and of course had to go inside and see what we could find. After shopping we went to camp for an afternoon of swimming. The kids wore themselves out in the pool and Ron and I did some rebooking of campsites now that our trip has changed.
Tonight we enjoyed a dinner out at The Grand Café. Wyatt stuck with his strategy and ordered Mac and Cheese, but Ariel ventured out and tried pasta with marinara sauce. Ron enjoyed some Florida lobster. He was curious if it was going to be as good as the lobster in Maine and it was.
I finished my night with some girl time. The kids were asleep and Ron was doing some work on his laptop and I called some of my girlfriends. We have all been travelling pretty well together for the last 33 days. It’s a lot of time together and I am so proud of how well we are handling it. That being said it was so nice to spend an hour catching up with some of my friends back home and in Canada.
It was a fun day in Key West and I can’t wait to explore more tomorrow.
Goodnight from Florida!