Folks are always asking why we keep going back to the Keys. I gotta admit, It's not just the food. We have traveled a lot over the years and have visited lots of cool places. But, there is a unique cultural vibe that magnetically keeps drawing us back to the Keys. The sea breeze, awesome sunsets, and cold beer helps some as well.
Key West is not the last island in the Keys. There are lots more continuing out for another 60 or so miles South and West. But, Key West is the the last one you can get to on a bridge. The island is 4 miles long and 2 miles wide at it's widest.
For such a little place it has a big history. It was home to Seminole Indians before the Spanish came. The American navy set up a base on the island to drive the pirates out. It was a union stronghold during the Civil War. (Florida was a confederate state, but Key West has always been different from the rest of the South.) Folks got rich down there as wreckers who made piles of money recovering the cargoes from the many ships that sank on the numerous reefs that surround the island. Cuban cigars were manufactured here from Cuban tobacco. (There seems to be money in smoking. Who knew?)
The seas around the Keys were full of tasty swimming things. That brought the shrimpers, spongers, and turtlers. (My spell check tells me that isn't a word. What do you call those turtle catching guys?) That is all gone except the shrimp. The navy had a sub base there for years. It was at one time the largest and richest city in Florida. That changed when the 1936 hurricane destroyed Flagler's railroad that had brought the first tourist trade to the island.
Key West had lots of ups and downs in the twentieth century, but it became a refuge for misplaced souls from all over the world. Artists, writers, refugees, musicians, gays, Cubans, sailors, drunken poets, smugglers, and anyone else who needed to be part of a weirdness of culture found nowhere else. They say most folks who moved there from somewhere else didn't move there, they escaped to there. It became a place where no one was judged. It is not obvious from a brief tourist stay, but that culture still exists if you look hard enough. Jimmy Buffett, the new highway in 1982, and cruse ships made it into a tourist haven. But old Key West is still there if you just look.
Old town Key West looks old. All of it isn't. Hurricanes and terrible fires over the years have eaten away at vintage Key West. But, when they build new they make it look old. You never know until you turn on the air conditioner and see how much it rattles and check the termite damage on the siding. It is fun just walking around the streets looking at old architecture and cool tropical plants. We ain't got that kind of stuff in the Midwest. We always log at least 2 or 3 miles a day just exploring.
I don't know how old the Old Town Bakery building is. I do know that it wasn't always a bakery. It has been a couple of different cafes and I think a gift shop once or twice just since we started visiting the island. Now it is a really homey bakery that has great baked goods and sandwiches. The day the rains came and streets flooded and trapped us in our room for half the day I made an escape down the back alley and waded the half block to the bakery. We knew before we booked our rooms in old town that there were lots of nice places to eat, but the bakery was a pleasant surprise.
We had enjoyed breakfast and sweet pastries, but this time we were looking for lunch. Nancy had a Blue LT (Bacon, lettuce, tomato, and blue cheese dressing. She knew what she wanted because she had picked up a menu on another visit); I had turkey and cheese.
With drinks, chips, cookies, and tip the bill came to $21. That was the most we had ever payed at the bakery, but we didn't mind, the storm floods had us trapped and we were hungry. The geckos on our balcony were starting to look possibly tasty.
Bon Ton Roulett Y'All
Gene and Nancy
“If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane” –- JB
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