May 5, 2026
On my early morning walkabout I walked though the tourist area of the city that is normally crazy busy with cruise passengers who are all hurrying about in do everything in the few hours they have on shore. The streets were so peaceful as I strolled only encountering a few locals on their way to work and of course the chickens.
We had one item on our to do in Key West list and that was to sample Key Lime pie. A tough task we thought we were up to the challenge. Key West claims to be where the Key Lime pie was created in 1856 and if you search there are over 20 places that claim to have the best or original pie. We started our tasking tour at Kermits Key Lime shop. In addition to pie they have everything key lime from cookies to candy. The pie was very good and the lady who was running the shop gave me a green rubber duck to add to my collection. Our next stop was Key Lime Pie Bakery who claims to be the originator or the Key Lime pie. The pie was good but Kermits was better. OK at this point we are on sugar overload so we went for Pizza!!!
Over pizza we decided we had enough sugar so how would be fill the rest of the day?????? Bars are important to the tourist trade in Key West especially some of the famous ones like Captain Tony’s and Sloppy Joes. We had passed by them many times but now was the time to check them out. We are going on a bar crawl!!!!!
Capt. Tony’s was our first stop. It is in the building that was originally Hemingway’s favorite bar Sloppy Joe’s. Capt. Tony was mayor of Key West and best buddies with Jimmy Buffet. The inside of the bar is filled with dollar bills staple to the walls and signed bars hanging from the beams. We decided we needed to leave our mark and our signed dollar proudly hangs on the wall!!! A pirates punch, their signature drink was consumed as we people watched.
The streets were really crowded at this point and it was hot so we retreated to our B&B for a swim.
After the cruise ship departed we headed out to resume our bar crawl!!!
Sloppy Joes was our next stop. It is filled with lots of Hemingway memorabilia, multiple frozen drink machines and live music. All the bars in Key West have live music!! I had an orange slushy drink that was no where close to the creamsicle I had on Sunday!!
On to our next stop….
Hog’s Breath is a fun bar. The drinks all have fun names but are awful. I had a Hog’s Wash and it tasted like it was used to wash a hog….lol!! Music was good and the atmosphere was fun
Since we still had some time before sunset we headed back to Ram’s Head where I had the famous creamsicle drink!!! The bar has great music, a Bloody Mary bar and even a resident dog Lucy. On the bar they have squirt bottle labeled Chicken Repellant. Chickens are everywhere and they are protected so you just have to coexist with them. They were originally brought over from Cuba for rooster fights. When rooster fights were dreamed illegal they were released into the city. Then they received their protected status and now roam wherever they want. They are very pretty with unique coloring it when the start crowing at 4:00am there are lots of unhappy people.
My creamsicle drink was as good as the first so I was so happy. I rarely drink so I am sure my credit card company is going to be contacting me to see if my card has been hacked…..lol!!!!
Off we went to Truman Park to enjoy the sunset! We were not disappointed!!!
Tomorrow is a travel day as we leave the keys and head to the east side of Florida. Kim and Ernie live in New Smyrna Beach and that will be home base for the last few days of this trip. So excited to be going to Kennedy Space Center on Friday!!
