FLORIDA: THE LITTLE WHITE HOUSE AND A LONG JOURNEY HOME

Our last significant stop in Florida was "The Little White House," a large home in Key West where Harry Truman spent his vacations.  We have enjoyed previous visits to several Presidential libraries, and this site, although not a Presidential library, was a similar look into some interesting American history.

We were there on the day of the Presidential Inauguration, and the staff of the Little White House was getting ready for an inauguration party.  Note the sign on the tree below:

We got there shortly before the last tour of the day began, and much to our amazement we were the only people on the tour.

Scan of the tourist brochure given to us at the site

No photography was allowed inside the house, but I found this picture of Harry's poker table on the internet.   Bess didn't like others to know about her husband's poker games, so she had a top made for the table that completely covered up all signs of fun and games. That's it leaning against the windows.

Photo from here

Harry and Bess had separate bedrooms.  I think this one is Harry's.  It doesn't really look like a Presidential suite, does it?

Photo from here

There was a little museum area with great information on Truman's Presidency:

There were also a few exhibits that encompassed other Presidencies, including this catalog of White House Christmas cards and another one of the annual White House Christmas ornaments:

I was excited to find the one that hangs on our own Christmas tree every year.  Andrew brought it home to me from his sixth grade trip to Washington, D.C.:

Florida may have voted for George Bush, but it is clear that Key West is all about Barack Obama:

Our wonderful trip to Florida ended with a less than wonderful trip home. We were scheduled to fly out of Miami on American Airlines on a Monday at 3:30 p.m.  We boarded the plane on time, left the gate on time, started our taxi down the runway on time, and then, just after the plane's nose came up, it went back down and the brakes were applied.  We taxied back to the gate, and after some time, we were told the flight speed indicator had not come on.  We sat on the plane for 2 1/2 hours before they finally told us we could get off for a stretch, but to come back in an hour. (Just as we were leaving the plane, we heard an announcement that everyone they had to get off because somehow the plane's passenger list had been erased and they would have to check everyone back in.) We checked back in an hour, then in another hour, then in another . . .

Eventually American brought in another plane and changed our gate, but by then the flight attendants had walked out in what the lady at the desk announced was a "contract dispute." I think that's a euphemism for "Hey, dummies, we aren't going to stay here all night like the rest of you."  At 11:00 p.m., 7 1/2 hours after we had started down the runway, we were finally told that our flight had been rescheduled for 6:00 a.m.  They sent us on a trek to the other side of the airport to get in line at the American Airlines Booking Center.  There were lots of people who had to rebook connecting flights, and since we had a direct flight to Los Angeles and didn't need to do that, we didn't push to get at the front of the line.
The airline was offering hotel accommodations, but they only had ONE LINE for over 400 passengers, and so it moved at a snail's pace. By the time we got to the front of the line, it was 1:30 a.m.  By the time we would have gotten to the hotel, we would have had only an hour or two before we would need to return. It seemed pointless, so we opted for alternative accommodations:

In their defense, American Airlines did one thing (kind of) right: They gave us one of their super lightweight blankets. It was really cold in the airport, and we had no access to our luggage. In addition, everything was shut down, so there was so way to get anything to eat. It was a pretty miserable night.

People began to report to the gate at 5:00 a.m., and boarding was complete by 5:45. Then we sat.  At 6:15, a flight attendant came on the intercom to tell us the pilots had not yet arrived. They finally showed up, and then we waited some more.  A disembodied voice finally told us that the routine safety check before take off showed that the plane had a leak.

SERIOUSLY?

Finally, after having sat on the plane for three hours, we began the journey home.  Our last meal had been at 6:00 the previous night, and nothing in the airport had opened before we boarded the plane at 5:15.  We were hungry, and the flight attendants were generous with what they had--sodas and dry granola bars.  About three hours into the flight, Bob asked if there wasn't something else on board to eat, and they comped him a pretty bad ham and cheese croissant that would have normally cost $9.  They had a very limited number of those and were only giving them out when someone asked for food.  We couldn't believe that they hadn't loaded extra food on the plane for the hungry passengers who couldn't possibly have found anything to eat before boarding the early flight.

We made it to Los Angeles at about 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday (4:00 p.m. Florida time; no wonder we were starving), 19 1/2 hours late.  I had to cancel a day's worth of classes, and Bob had to cancel several appointments.  In return, American gave each of us a $150 travel voucher and some frequent flyer miles.  We weren't impressed.

We do love to travel, but I think we'll be avoiding American Airlines--that is, after we use up our vouchers and free miles.

FLORIDA: THE HEMINGWAY HOUSE

A few years ago Bob and I visited Louisa May Alcott's house in Concord, Massachusetts.  It was really interesting to see where Alcott did her writing and to place her in a physical and historical context.  With that in mind,when I learned that we were going to Florida and that Hemingway lived for a time in Key West, I knew we had to visit his house there.

It is no easy task to get to Key West.  It is about 160 miles from Miami to the tip of the Florida Keys, which is where Key West is located, and if you are driving, the only route is a mostly single-lane road known as the Overseas Highway. Speed limits are low, but the scenery is beautiful.

The road got its name from the fact that much of it is actually long bridges between the pieces of the coral archipelago that form the Keys.

At its southernmost tip, Key West is only 90 miles from Cuba.  No wonder Ernest Hemingway was so often linked to Cuban politics and politicians.  I could also understand why he would like this region with its out-of-the-way location and surrounding wild sea.

The price of admission included a tour led by a dryly humorous older man who filled our heads with the basic facts laced with quirky details.

The yard was being decorated for a wedding to be held that evening.  I can only imagine what it costs to rent the Hemingway House.  Yikes.

The house itself is filled with Hemingway memorabilia.  I enjoyed the posters for the movies made from Hemingway's books and was impressed by the line-up of very famous actors and actresses who starred in them.  There was also a copy of the July 1961 Time magazine that featured Hemingway on the cover shortly after he took his own life:

Hemingway lived in this house from 1931 to 1939 with his second wife, Pauline Pfeiffer.  He had left his first wife, Hadley Richardson, for Pauline in 1926.  Hemingway and Pauline were married from 1927-1940, at which time Hemingway left Pauline for the woman who would become his third wife, Martha Gelhorn, with whom he had been having an affair since 1937.  He was definitely a man you needed to keep an eye on.

Photo from Wikipedia

He was a very handsome fellow.  I think that helped him get away with an awful lot of bad behavior.

The most fun thing about the Hemingway House has to be the cats.  The story is that the Hemingways loved cats, particularly a breed that is know for having six toes (polydactyl cats).  The house today is full of cats, all supposedly descendants of the original Hemingway cats.  The organization that owns the home employs several vets to care for them, each kitten's lineage is carefully documented, and a stable population of around 50 cats is assiduously maintained. About half of the cats have six toes. There is some discussion over whether or not Hemingway actually did have cats here. Some believe that he only had cats when he lived in Cuba, but never when he lived in Key West.  Regardless of what the truth is, the cats are a charming addition to the house, and our guide was able to convince several to join our tour by offering them treats kept in his pocket.

 Even the window curtains contribute to the cat theme:

 Isn't this the most awesome bathroom floor?

 Behind the main house is a small two-story guest house where Hemingway did most of his writing.

 The grounds around the house are really beautiful:

The pool in the backyard cost $20,000 to build, in part because of the difficulty of digging the hole in the hard coral ground.  It was the first in-ground pool in Key West, and during the 1930s it was the only pool for 100 miles.

 Finally, next to the pool stands a most unusual fountain, made from a urinal from Hemingway's favorite Key West bar, Sloppy Joe's. Today it serves as a handy drinking fountain for the Hemingway cats.

We have another author's home visit planned for next month.  Stay tuned!