Key West is probably best known for Jimmy Buffet’s Margaretville and Earnest Hemingway’s home. While we walked past the first, we did the tour of the Hemmingway home first thing this morning. It has cats … how can I not go there first?

Hemmingway apparently lived here with his second wife and all the cats are descended from his original polydactyl cat, Snowball. There are cats everywhere.

On window ledges, in the bushes …

Just hanging out on the sofa or bed …

There were more along the paths, in the gift shop, out by the pool, in the writers cottage etc but I will refrain from posting all the cat pictures.

And no, I did not take one home … Bob wouldn’t let me. He thought the three at home and Jessie would not be happy with a new sibling.

On the way to our next stop Bob found a cute little coffee shop.

I think it was just called The Coffee and Tea Shop but I’m honestly not sure. (I only had one cup of coffee that Bob called “not bad” – enough said.) So I was so happy to get a real mocha that tasted wonderful. The lady who was there was great too. Definitely a place to go back to in the morning.

We then headed to The Little White House. Harry Truman made the old commandants quarters at the navel base here his vacation spot. Apparently several other presidents and high ranking officials have used it in the last 50 years, so much so that it is still considered a secure facility and you can’t have cell phones or cameras inside. But outside I did get a picture or two.

The house is on a gated street that has lots of private homes. It was really, really pretty. If you have the money this would be the neighborhood to live in on Key West. We don’t have the money.

One odd feature of Key West, which I had never heard if before, is the chickens. There are chickens, dozens of them, roaming all over Key West.

They are left over from the old days when there were cock fights. Now that Key West is a bird sanctuary you can’t kill them so they just roam everywhere. It’s a little odd.

We had a great find for lunch today. We just walked by Martin’s and decided it looked good for a light lunch. We were very pleasantly surprised

Bob and I each had the Caprese Wrap and I have to say – wow! Tons of flavor in here with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella and a dressing that was perfect.

We are heading for a view with tonight’s dinner. Hopefully the food is as good as the atmosphere but we figured we can’t do Key West without at least one beach front meal.