Travel Photo Thursday
Last week I shared some photos of the vintage Florida attraction, Cypress Gardens, which has been swallowed up by Florida Legoland©.
This week I’m back to the same year,–1998, the same state–Florida. However, we’re visiting Key West, which never seems to change. Thank goodness. Same weirdness, same beautiful ocean, same graceful 1900′s homes, same feral chickens, same Cuban food, same love of all things retro, and even Ernest Hemingway still hangs around. You’ll also find the spirit of President Harry Truman, a civil war fort and one of the more famous sunsets in the world.
Key West natives love to brag about being the southernmost point of the United States, closer to Havana than to Washington D.C.
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- Marker of Southernmost point in the United States.
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- Beach at Key West
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- Key West isn’t seceding, but they do have their own flag: The Conch Republic
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- Ernest Hemingway typed here starting in the late 1920′s
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- Ernest, looking very much like Ernest
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- Key West has a mixture of historic houses and retro buildings with punny names.
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- This graceful historic home is where we stayed–and you can still stay there.
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- Chickens clean up crumbs at outdoor restaurants and freely roam all over town
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- Key West is known for its wild life–and not the kind you find in a zoo. This iguana came to see the sunset at Mallory Square
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- One of many entertainers at Mallory Square, as people wait for the sunset
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- Some people sail out to get a closer view of the sunset.
We took dozens of pictures of the sunset at Key West, but the thing we will never forget, we could not catch on film. We saw the Green Flash. We had first heard about it in San Diego, where there is a restaurant called the Green Flash in Pacific Beach. But as much as we stared at sunsets, we had never seen it.
We sat on the pier in Key West, snapping pictures and watching the sun sink into the ocean. When it finally dipped below the inky waves, we simultaneously turned to each other and said, “Did you see it?” We did. We saw the green flash that appears just before the sun dips below the horizon. If you want the science, go here, but frankly, I’d rather just think it is a mystical moment visited on very special people.
Did you ever see a Green Flash? Where?
This is my weekly Travel Photo Thursday contribution to the idea hosted by Budget Traveler’s Sandbox. Go to that site to see many more travel pictures from around the world.
And do come back tomorrow for Brette Sember’s review of a Key West Cookbook!
I took these pictures in 1998 and they are scanned from slides. Please respect my copyright.
Vote for my article on WorldTravelist.com, sharing the best travel content on the web.
About the Author:
A freelance writer who loves to travel. When she is not traveling she is reading about travel. When she is not reading or traveling, she is sharing with the readers of A Traveler's Library, recreating her family's past at Ancestors In Aprons. She writes frequently for Reel Life With Jane and other websites. Also co-author of a biography, Quincy Tahoma, The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist. Contact Vera Marie by e-mail.
Vera Marie Badertscher – who has written 684 posts on A Traveler's Library.
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Tags: Conch Republic, Florida, Key West, Travel Photo Thursday, travel photos
My husband and I were just in Key West in December. (I have a very similar sunset photo on my Key West blog post.) If you have the time to check out my post, I\’d be very curious to know whether my description of Key West at the beginning of the post comports with your impressions. We both picked up on a \”weird\” vibe.I didn\’t see my green flash in Key West. I saw it in Honolulu, Hawaii. My husband missed it because he was busy taking a picture of the sunset. It\’s a nice photo, but he missed the green flash which I was pretty sure was apochrophyl after looking for it for years without success. We\’re heading back to Hawaii in two days, but I\’m thinking that the green flash is probably a once in a lifetime thing and I\’ve been there and done that.
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Just One Boomer would like you to read..Key West, Florida – The Literal End of the Road (Or Maybe the Beginning)
Key West is definitely calling to me after seeing your photos.
Oh, the green flash. People line the roads on Maui to blow their conch shells and watch for the green flash. It’s tamer here on the Big Island, but nonetheless, if you’ve got a view of the horizon, you always watch. Have I seen it? I thought so. But it wasn’t spectacular. Maybe I just imagined it.
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Kris would like you to read..Recipe: Homemade Mayonnaise
I don’t think I’ve been to Key West, but do recall going to Cypress Gardens as a kid with my family. I didn’t realize it’d been swallowed up by Florida LegoLand! What the heck…
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Jane Boursaw would like you to read..Movie Review: Warm Bodies is a Sweet Teen Romance
Beautiful. I’ve always wanted to visit Key West to see Hemingway’s house and those 6-toed cats. Maybe one of these days I will get there.
It’s been so many years since I was in Key West, but your photos brought up such nice memories. This made my morning!
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Alisa Bowman would like you to read..An Exercise in Love
I’ve never heard of the Green Flash. Am thinking I can use it as an excuse to return to Key West, which I love. Gorgeous photos.
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ruth pennebaker would like you to read..Lost in the Pages
since you seen the flash of green at susnet, makes me wonder if you’ve seen the movie Flash of Green? Ed Harris and Blair Borwn star in a story of land developers’ greed vs community good set in small town Florida — and mostly filmed there though in places far north of Key West.
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Kerry Dexter would like you to read..saint bridgid’s day, and music
Kerry: I have not seen that movie. Does it have anything to do with the sunset phenom?
as I recall, it’s more of an analogy as there are quick moments of turning point/epiphany/chane in the characters’ lives, and green money and green ecology are part of the story, but it’s been a long time. the story is based on a 1960s John D. MacDonald novel, though, so maybe that would provide more information. I remember the film because the director, Victor Nunez, directed a couple of later films (Ruby in Paradise, Ulee’s Gold) that were filmed in north Florida and that friends of mine worked on.
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Kerry Dexter would like you to read..Carrie Newcomer: Kindred Spirits
Key West i one of my favourite places in the USA, so quirky and pretty. Great photos, Vera Marie.
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Sophie would like you to read..A Garden with a View
Well, I have been living under a rock! I have never heard of the green flash, and like Tonya, I want to see it. Sunsets will never be the same again:) Key West looks like a fun place to visit. Maybe I need to plan a vacation to North America (besides Nova Scotia).
I’d love to visit Key West, it’s been recommended many times. I’ve never heard of the green flash, but now I want to see it too!
Tonya would like you to read..Why I Visited the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans and didn’t take pictures of the Animals
Still need to visit Key West! Would love to sit on the beach and watch that amazing sunset.
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Debbie Beardsley would like you to read..The Gorton Fisherman in Rostock!
I would love to visit this place that celebrates all things retro.
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budget jan would like you to read..Marrakech to the Dunes of Erg Chebbi – The Sahara – Part 5
The sunset at Key West looks beautiful…nearly as good as the sunsets we have off the West Australian coast! We spend a lot of the summer on a boat in one of the bays off Rottnest, an island off the coast, where we often go ashore to sit on the top of a nearby hill, drink in hand, and wait for the sun to set and the green flash to appear! It’s not often we see it but we have been lucky a few times!
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jenny would like you to read..The Giving Lens Gives Back in Jordan
I’m impressed, Jenny–you casually say you’ve seen the Green Flash “a few times!” I’ll wager that’s quite a few more than most people have seen it.
These vintage key West photos are beautiful especially the sunset ones. I have never heard of the Green Flash phenomenon and now I need to be more aware during sunsets. I live in San Diego so will try to head to Green Flash soon to check out the food. Thanks for the tip!
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Mary would like you to read..The Romantic Charm of Venice
The Green Flash restaurant has been around forever. It’s a rather typical beach-side restaurant, right on the sand. We enjoyed the food there, but its been many years, and things change, so let me know how you find it.
Key West looks amazing and I’m so envious of you seeing the Green Flash!
Johanna at ZigaZag would like you to read..Day to Night, the WA Way, and Win a pair of his or hers Airflex Shoes.
So far, it’s a once in a lifetime experience, Johanna. I didn’t read the entire scientific explanation, I’m afraid, but I wonder if maybe it only happens over water, so we won’t see it here in the desert.