This is Hemmingway's study, where he wrote most of his oeuvre.  It is located in a separate building from the main house, in a room above a room. Hemmingway used to have only a wooden plank between the two buildings, on the second floor,  so he wouldn't be bothered by anyone while he wrote. We got to access it by a stairway.

And an insufficient photo of the front of the house.  This was a truly graceful, open, airy,  wonderful home.  Most all of the interior and furnishings were original to the Hemmingways.  Of course, many descendants of his famous 6-toed cats roam the property and house.  We stopped off at the Hemmingway Bookstore and purchased "Old Man and the Sea" for a future read-aloud when we were done with Modoc (highly recommended).

After the tour of the house, we elected to lunch, and then nap or  swim.  Below, the girls liven up the otherwise staid Gardens Hotel pool.  The grandparents treated us all to virgin pina coladas. Joe napped while Doug, Jackie and Jody lounged around in the shade of some big palm trees. 

We reboarded our tour, where we learned many interesting things about Key West.  One of the most notable for me (Doug) was the story of the "Conch Republic".  It seems that during the 1980s, the Federal INS and/or Customs agents set up a full scale roadblock on US 1 near Key Largo, the Northernmost key.  The Feds were looking for illegal aliens. This nearly immediately caused a 19 mile long traffic jam, and incensed the locals, understandably enough.  The rather clever and enterprising mayor of Key West came up with a novel idea: since the Feds were treating them as if they a foreign nation, they would simply become one.  They seceded from the union, declaring themselves the "Conch Republic", declared war on the US, surrendered, and demanded one billion dollars in foreign aid.  The resulting media coverage caused the Feds to remove the blockade in short order.  They never did get the billion, though.

The tour ended at Mallory Square, a Key West institution of its own.  Viewing the sunset at Mallory Square is considered de rigueur by both locals and tourists alike.  It was quite a scene.  In a variety of self-selected locations, local street entertainers perform for tips.  We saw an escape artist, a tightrope-walking golden retriever, bits of juggling and music acts, and an acrobat who was our favorite.  In the photo below, he is executing a perfect back flip off concrete, with both take off and landing within inches of the prostrate gentleman's nether regions.

We did actually view some of the sunset at Mallory Square.  Below, my parents are framed by it while they watch their goofball son shoot one more in a series of too-many pictures.

That night's dinner was at "Caladesi Catch", a brand new restaurant a bit off the beaten path.  Mostly seafood, which pleased the non-vegetarians, but they served a healthy variety of vegetarian fare as well, including a the odd but excellent Mango-Brie Quesadilla.  This became an instant hit, and we now travel with the ingredients for this treat: thinly sliced mango, any cheese you like, and tortillas.  We inquired about the origin of the restaurant name, and the chatty owner informed us that Caladesi was a pristine island off the coast of the Western Florida city of Clearwater.  We determined to attempt to visit it later in the trip.

After bidding Doug's folks goodnight, the girls all still had energy, so we walked back to Duval Street, and entered Ripley's Believe It or Not Odditorium.  This was really pretty fun.  Most of the oddities had to do with human oddities -- an 8'11'' man, a man with 2 pupils in each eye, etc.  Doug took only 1 picture:

This is a cello made entirely from thousands of matchsticks.  It was oddly beautiful -- at least to a cellist, it was.