Hot, steamy, moist and most of all tropical…

..And mile 0 of Hwy 1…

For decades I have imagined driving to the end of the Keys…It didn’t disappoint. The vibe in the city is borderline carnival…all the time. Where else does the entire city celebrate sunset…every day…let that sink in.

Every Day. Not just days that are nice or special…every day…every single day…all year…wow!

It takes place all over the Keys but no where is it more urgent or festive than Mallory Square…

Rain or shine…a visceral celebration of life…just wow!

The architecture of the Keys is this free-form combination of Savannah & Bahamian that is just very attractive, inviting and fully integrated into the climate. And the smell…we are so close to the Caribbean islands it just permeates everything, so intoxicating…one of the strongest things that evokes emotion is odor…this place took me back to the distant days of my youth…

Call it a Hemingway complex…Pilar fishing…cats with 6 toes…and drinking…

Yes drinking…what Parrothead, in good standing…could leave Key West without genuflecting in the original, First Church of of the Changes in Latitudes…Yes I partook of communion…

Fishing was none too bad either.

No, that’s not me…but nobody was there to take the photo…but wandering down the beach chest deep casting into the Caribbean did yield a couple of Kaku (Barracuda) and a couple of Perch-ish/Snapper-ish fish…Feeding the spirit and soul but not the stomach…I threw them back…Smiles all around…

Chickens running free all over the keys…protected. They claim they eat a metric ton of bugs every month…I am doubtful…

The Sunday before we left Key West held the “Pride Parade”. All of Duval street was cordoned off, and tropical madness was let loose!

What a riot! Sadly we retired to the RV Park well before this celebration really got underway!

From the Southernmost, the Pirate turned 60 and came to realize his One Particular Harbor…now…where’s my…Euphoria…