Key West Revisited

From early November, 1968 through the beginning of May, 1969, I was stationed in Key West to attend school. Our school was on a small corner of the base next to the old sea plane base. This is on the north side of Key West adjacent to Fleming Key. We are now on a mooring not far off from that exact area. I really enjoyed my time that winter in Key West and have always wanted a return visit. It has brought back a lot of wonderful memories and it has been interesting to see the changes, which are many. The school no longer exist. The grounds now have Key West School Board buildings and parking for the school buses. My former classroom buildings still exist but they are boarded up. The biggest change we see is the level of tourism. Back then there were no cruise ship visits, and now we see one in port almost every day. The area that then had a shrimp boat fleet and shrimp processing plants now has modern marinas. Duval Street is much busier and even more crowded. I took the Conch Train ride back then. It is a narrated tour of the old town part of the city. I think then they had two or three trains at most. We just took the Conch Train tour and they now have fifteen operating. That about says it all.

The Famous "Sloppy Joes"

The southern most point in the United States

Too Cold in Daytona

Bikers are finding it too cold in Daytona for the upcoming Bike Week. The same thing happened last year and they had to close Duval Street to make it a parking lot for the motorcycles.