| This is the view from my balcony at the palatial Marathon
Wellsley Inn. It was adequate accommodations. Basically this was the obligatory
"first shot just in case the film hasn't forwarded enough so when it comes time to
take a picture of something I want to take a picture of I'll be sure it comes out." |
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| A photo of the southwestern tip of Key West. This is in
Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. Actually if I'd taken this picture before World War
II, I would have had to have used a time machine. But also I would have been under
water. This part of the island was created by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers from
fill. |
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| This is from a window in Fort Zachary Taylor. Before
there was land around it, the fort was just of the coast of the island and surrounded by
water. Now it just has a moat around three sides. Not far from this old fort is a
small naval base. |
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| Cuba is ninety miles that way. In the morning, the wind
was still blowing and the ocean was still choppy from Hurricane Gordon that passed nearby
and up into the gulf a few days before. |
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| No particular point of interest here, but it is a good
example of the architectural style of Key West. Interestingly enough, Key West was the
largest city in Florida in the mid 1800's. Go figure. |
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| A pelican on a post. A postcard shot. |
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| Mallory Square, Key West. This is the Old Town district
of the city. While I was on the island, I walked though the part of town where
everything is called "Southernmost something-or-other." But I couldn't
figure out why, since on the map it really wasn't. Then I figured out that before the
area around the fort and the base was created, it was the southernmost tip of the island. |
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| That Sunday was the end of Biker Week or something. I
had just missed Lesbian Week the week before. Then again, if I want to walk around
town with a bunch of women who have absolutely no interest in me, I can do that anywhere
any day of the year. |
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| A heron by the water. A bad postcard shot. |
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| This is the old Seven Mile Bridge. Yes, it is seven
miles over the water. The one in the background is the new modern one. The
Overseas Highway bridge was built in 1938 over Henry Flagler's original Overseas Railway
bridge, completed in 1912 for his Florida East Coast Railroad. This photo was taken
from Pigeon Key, a small island that was used to house workers and equipment during
construction of the Key West Extension of the railroad. There's a small historical
park there now. For you movie buffs, the bridge scene in "True Lies" was
filmed here. Look familiar? |
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| A view of Florida Bay from across the street from the
motel. The establishment on the right is a nice restaurant called The Quay. (That's
pronounced kee.) I suspended some of my dietary restrictions for a few occasions on the
trip, allowing myself a nice conch chowder at The Quay. |
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| This is a little bit of wind and rain from the extreme outer
part of Tropical Storm Helene, which also went north into the gulf. |
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