Welcome

Welcome

I've always wanted to write a travel guide - travel is what I love to do, and I love to go to exotic and out-of-the-way places. I've been working on one for the Florida Keys, one of my favorite places to go for the past 20-or-so years, for quite some time now, but I'm still only partly through, and I suspect I will never be done until I find away to fund more research ;)

Anyway, it's about 80 days out from my annual pilgrimage down there for the Parrot Head convention (Meeting of the Minds) and I wanted to start listing some of my favorite things to do there and places to go, not just in Key West, but along the way. For me, when it comes to Key West, getting there really is half the fun, not just a cliche.

I am fascinated by the offbeat history of the islands - from Jacob Housman's failed plan to exterminate the Indians and the ensuing slaughter of Dr. Henry Perrine on Indian Key, to Richter Perky's grandiose (but also failed) plan to develop Sugarloaf - the only relic of which a curious wooden tower behind the Sugarloaf airport. From the engineering marvel that was Henry Flagler's "railroad that went to sea" to the storied history of an unlikely pile of 16 million bricks in the Gulf of Mexico, 70 miles from anywhere. Almost every island has a story.

These days, too many people fly into and out of Key West. They pour off the jets, pile into cabs and rental cars, and head straight for Duval Street, Smathers Beach, or Mallory Square. But I wonder how many of those people know that Key West was the location of the first international flight in the U.S. (a Pan Am flight to Havana)? Or that the building that is now Kelly's Caribbean Bar and Grill on Whitehead Street was, at the time, the headquarters of Pan Am and the passenger terminal? These are the stories I'll talk about here.

Later on, but still in the "old days", you could only take propeller-driven commuter planes - but now with jet service all day long, it's easier than ever to get to the island and miss the 100+ miles that make up the rest of the island chain. In 20+ years and 40 or so trips to Key West, I'm happy to say I've never flown to the island, and I will likely keep it that way unless I have a very short time constraint. There's just too much to see and do!

So anyway, whether this is your first trip to the islands or you're a seasoned Keys-traveler like me, I hope you find something interesting here. And if you've got a tale, or something you'd like to see here, drop me a line and I'll be sure to include it.