2026 February: Key West Outing

 7 February 2026

Today was Cathy's birthday, and to celebrate this special event, we went to Key West for the day. Cathy and Franklin did research beforehand, chose a restaurant, and made a reservation for lunch. Free street parking was available near the restaurant, so we headed there to start our day. 

Before walking around Key West, we walked by and checked out the place where we would have lunch later. The reservation was for 1:30, so we had about 90 minutes to stroll around town.

Although I had never heard of the place, "Louie's Backyard", is apparently quite famous for its location and cuisine.

The restaurant is located next to a dog park in Key West. Beside the restaurant, we saw people enjoying the beach and lying in a hammock under the palm trees.

The bar at the restaurant is accessible from this beach.

The restaurant is "off the beaten track", so it was a good thing we had our walking shoes on! After checking out the restaurant location, we walked into town. 

I kept my camera (phone) handy as we walked and snapped pictures of things that struck my fancy.

Cathy, Franklin, and Clark admiring the view

Cathy and Franklin

Key West homes have a special look to them like the one below.

I pointed out to Clark the sign below. I thought it was funny but he said he "didn't get it".

So where are they hiding the guests??

Bicycles and golf carts are favorite forms of transportation in Key West. The rental companies do a great business here.

Golf carts seating up to 8 people
6 facing forwards and 2 facing the rear!

Cathy insisted we visit one of her favorite spots - "The Hemingway House". I asked her why she wants to go there on every visit to Key West. It makes her happy!

When we got there, we were not even able to enter the property without buying a ticket. Clark headed for the park benches just inside the gate and was told to buy a ticket or leave. Having fully explored this property on a prior visit, we left. Our entire view of the house is shown below!

Hemingway House - 
pay or leave!

What trip would be to Key West would be complete without roosters. We got a "special treat" today. We got to watch a real cock fight for free. Two cocks decided to go at it as we were walking by. One of them slipped under a fence to get away, but the other just followed and continued to attack. 

Franklin and Cathy got into the act and tried to break up the fight. Five times they kicked them apart, and each time the roosters just went right back to attacking each other. Franklin says they fight to the death.

Interesting decorations appear on the various houses in Key West. I liked the frogs one person's porch.

Many houses are brightly colored and quite beautiful. 

We walked by one that had a lovely garden.

Orchids

Waterfall

Weather gauge 

We walked to the "Southern Most Point". They moved it! We walked past where it was in the past and the area was all torn up with signs pointing down the street.

(picture from Google)

We walked past the southernmost southernmost house and around the corner to find the new "southernmost" spot.

The new southernmost point is located in the Duval Pocket Park.

We decided to sit on a park bench there for a while to watch the tourists lining up for their picture with the Statue of the Buoy. A rooster perched near us also watching the crowd!

Across the street from the park, we saw a statue made out of sand. Guitar says "Taylor Swift" on it.

Ev & Clark

Cathy & Franklin

"I had the best days with you"

Question: "What happens when it rains?!"

I had one place to visit on my Key West wish list. Fortunately, Cathy was interested as well. My friend, Heidi, who works at the Marlin Bay marina is part of a guild in Key West. She displays her one-of-a-kind handmade jewelry here. I had to check it out. Earlier in the day we were very near the gallery; however, it was close to our luncheon reservation time. We had to backtrack to come back to see the jewelry!

Before going into the Guild Hall Gallery, I checked the signs outside to find Heidi's name. 

I found it! Yay!

Most of the gallery has paintings. Heidi's jewelry is a unique addition.

I enjoyed many of the pictures on the walls. The gallery has two floors of displays, and each artist has a different style.

This artist does "soft" art in that the items on sale are sewn like the turtle sewn below. 

On our way back to the car, we passed a mother hen and her 7 baby chicks. They were adorable. All of them matched in color except one. As we walked by we watched the hen kicking up dirt and shooting it straight into the faces of the baby chicks. 

Mother Hen with 7 newborn chicks

By the time we climbed back into Franklin's car to drive back to Marathon, we had walked just over 5 miles. It's a good thing we had on good walking shoes! When we dressed in the morning, not knowing what to expect in terms of temperature in Key West, Clark and I put on layers. We needed the layers early in the day. By the end of the day, all but one layer of clothing was in a bag I had brought to carry it just in case! 

It is about a 90 minute drive back to Marathon from Key West. On the way there, we noticed that where there used to be one blimp in the air near the Big Pine area, we saw two flying objects. The internet shows that Fat Albert was sent "across the pond" for sprucing up. So who are these two that appear to have taken his place while he is gone!? Clark was on the "blimp side" of the car and took some pictures out the window as we sped by.

On the way to Key West, Clark said I was seeing double when I said I counted 2 blimps. He made me believe that my eyes were playing tricks on me,

and then, everyone else in the car admitted they were seeing double as well!! The internet shared nothing about Fat Albert having a friend or two.

Two??

We got back to Marlin Bay in time to see the sunset. It never gets old!