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A Toast to
the Keys
Story by
Andrea Gross;
www.andreagross.com
Photos by Irv
Green;
www.irvgreen.com
I immediately learn three things on
our visit to Key West.
First, the weather is glorious. The
average temperature is 78º, the coldest ever
recorded is a balmy 41º and the warmest — reached
only a few times more than 30 years ago — is 100º.
Second, the ambience is seductive. As
Jimmy Buffet sang in his hit song Margaritaville,
all you want to do is sit on a porch swing and strum
on a six-string.
And third, getting there is half the
fun. The 128-mile Overseas Highway, which leads from
the Florida mainland to Key West, links the numerous
keys [small islands] by means of 42 bridges. In 2009
it was named an “All American Road,” an honor that,
when it comes to national scenic byways, means “the
best of the best.”
At first I’m disappointed. In Key
Largo the road is lined with shops offering a
variety of water-based activities, restaurants
featuring fish and key lime pie, and gift stores
hawking sandals and seashells.
We stop at the Kona Kai Resort for a
90-minute tour of one of the few ethnobotanic
gardens in the United States. In a small,
densely-packed plot of land, we learn about the
relationship between people and plants as the guide
points out a moss that was responsible for the first
automobile recall. It seems the moss, which was used
as seat stuffing in the early Model T’s was filled
with chiggers, leading to a massive outbreak of
itchy rears.
It’s not until an hour and a-half
later, when we start across the Seven Mile Bridge
that the road seems to open and…. Oh my, we feel
like we’re driving on water. To the right is the
Gulf of Mexico. To the left is the Atlantic Ocean.
In the distance there are small keys of green, but
the overwhelming color is blue — the soft blue of
the sky, the teal blue of the water.
It’s evening when we reach Key West,
which is not only the end of the Overseas Highway
but also the end of U.S. Highway 1, the
approximately 2,500-mile long interstate that begins
at the U.S.-Canadian border in Maine. There are a
multitude of signs to commemorate this fact, as well
as a big buoy to mark the town’s status as the
southernmost city in the United States.
Down on the waterfront the Sunset
Celebration is in full swing. Performers are walking
on tightropes, telling stories, doing dances,
juggling torches. Juried craftspeople are selling
everything from handmade scarves to palm-tree
paintings. And hundreds of people are watching
schooners, catamarans, glass bottom boats and
sailboats as they return to the pier, backed by the
fading light. Here, I realize, is what
differentiates Key West from the rest of the world.
In most places, a carnival like this would be an
annual event; in Key West, it happens every night,
weather permitting, which it usually is!
The festive feel persists on Duval
Street. Many people are shopping, intrigued by the
mix of high-end crafts, mid-range souvenirs and fine
Cuban cigars. But most are simply ambling and
listening to the music that blares from the
restaurants and bars.
The next morning, hoping to catch
some inspiration, we tour Key West’s literary
haunts. This is the place where Tennessee Williams
wrote his first draft of A Streetcar Named Desire,
Robert Frost wrote The Gift Outright, and
Ernest Hemingway wrote parts of Death in the
Afternoon, For Whom the Bell Tolls and
The Snows of Kilimanjaro.
Williams’ and Frost’s former homes
are closed to the pubic, but we go into Hemingway’s,
where we’re greeted many of the 44
cats that
roam the property, all direct descendants or close
relatives of a cat given to Hemingway during his
ten-year stay on the island. A guide regales us with
tales of Hemingway’s escapades, some of which
involved writing, many of which involved fishing,
drinking and romancing.
Equally fascinating is the old naval
office residence that served as a Little White House
for Harry Truman, who spent 175 days of his
presidency in Key West. Truman’s writings were of
another sort. They included memos that dealt with
the use of nuclear weapons and post-World War II
reconstruction as well as frequent love letters to
Bess.
We end our stay in Key West at a
decadent dessert lounge enticingly named “Better
than Sex.” Sitting in a lounge so dimly lit that
patrons are given flashlights to see the menu and
sipping cabernet from a glass rimmed in chocolate,
we feel as if we’re miles away — not only from the
mainland, but from reality itself. |
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The Overseas Highway appears to float above the
water as it links the Florida mainland to Key West.
A schooner takes passengers on a romantic cruise in
Key West.
Performers amaze and entertain during Key West’s
Sunset Celebration, which takes place every night,
weather permitting.
Juried craftspeople line the pier during the Sunset
Celebration.
Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurant, store and
live entertainment venue captures the Key West
spirit.
An oversized buoy reminds visitors that Key West is
the southernmost city in the United States. |
