Wednesday, December 19th - Today we took the bus to Key West - Jo and Mark, Henning, Joanne and Erik and Ron and I. It would be a two-day boat trip and very expensive dockage. The bus was only $1.50 each way if you are over 60 years old! We were up early and at the bus stop for 7:40. The bus didn't arrive until 8:00 but still we were in Key West by 10:00. We walked around the town, stopped at the southern most spot, 90 miles from Cuba. Note that the closest Walmart is further away than Cuba. The Conch Republic (the unofficial governing body for the keys) will not allow Walmart into the keys. Ron and I took the train tour through the historical old city. It is beautiful, filled with many restored homes and worker's cottages from the 1820's and up, including Ernest Hemmingway's home. The tour was well worth it to hear the interesting and sometimes comical history of Key West. These old homes are all surrounded by huge palm trees of all different varieties and beautiful flowers. We had a lunch at the Hog's Breath Saloon then met up with the group again. We had planned to stay for the sunset celebration but everyone was tired and some cloud had moved in which was going to block the sun, so we hopped the 4:30 bus and headed back to Marathon for a quiet evening on the boat.