November 15 – 17, 2018: We left Liv and Vigo home in Colorado to enjoy the snow, cold weather and Thanksgiving while we are taking a 2 week trip to South Florida to pick up the national parks in this area and have Thanksgiving with Dawn and Dan in Fort Myers.  Then we head out for a 10-day cruise to Panama Canal and Cuba among other stops.

With our trip to Key West and the Dry Tortugas we have now been to the most NW point in the lower 48 states–Cape Flattery in Washington and the SE point in Key West. We have also been to the almost the most SW point as we visited San Diego as well, but didn’t get all the way to the Mexican border.

Key West (November 15):

Key West Harbor

President Truman’s Winter White House–sounds like a great idea to me!

Ernest Hemingway’s House

Descendants of Ernest’s 6-toed cats

Great Art-Deco tile in Ernest’s House

More interesting tile in Ernest’s house

Key West art–I want these for my house in Colorado!

Dry Tortugas and Fort Jefferson on Garden Key (November 16): Dry Tortugas are located 70 miles west of Key West and were discovered by Ponce de Leon (that name should take you back to middle school history) in 1513. I love seeing where these explorers traveled! The US started building Fort Jefferson on Garden Key in 1846, but never really finished it as true fort. It acted as a military prison and was designated as a wildlife refuge in 1908.

Walking the top level around Fort Jefferson

Frigate Bird