In life, there are things that you put on your must do list. For me, one of my must do thing was to go to Sloppy Joes in Key West Florida. I have wanted to go to this place since I was 19 years old. You see, when I was stationed at Ft Bragg, N.C., guys that went to Special Forces scuba school always came back to Bragg with a Sloppy Joes T-Shirt. I envied the guys, not because they went to scuba school. of course that was part of it, I envied them because they got to experience a place where Ernies Hemingway use to drink. I later learned, while I was in Key West that the original Sloppy Joes was really located around the cornor in a place now named Cpt. Tonys, but that's a whole different story. I really liked Hemingway. I didn't like the guy because he was required reading in high school. I like him because as I grew I always learned a little more about him. I saw a few documentaries about his life. I flipped thru a few books. I even heard about Hemingway while I was in the service. Hemingway, like myself was an Army Medic. He was a medic in world war 1. Hemingway married like four woman, landed at Omaha beach as a reporter in WW2 and lets be honest, he lead on hell of an interesting life. Hemingway had balls. He was a mans man. The guy did what he wanted to do and noone stopped him. Ok, He wasn't known for his parenting skills. Rumor has it, he wasn't a good Dad. My dad just passed away and I thought about being a father and how important it is and isn't to different men. My dad was a good father. I miss him. I wonder if Hemingways sons missed him after he died? Who knows! Maybe he should have worked on that while he was alive. I went on the house tour. The guy who gave the tour was this guy from Revere Mass, named Bob. He new a lot about Hemingway. I saw his bedroom. I saw his writting room. I even saw his salt water swimming pool, the first one in Key West at the time. I loved his house. It was a lot smaller than I thought, only three bedrooms upstairs. I was just happy to be there. You get to walk the same floors, and travel the same steps as this interesting man. The guy loved cats. As a matter of fact, his cats still live at the house. My favorite was Charlie Chaplin. I walked from the entrance of his house, after the tour, and straight to sloppy Joes for a drink. I imagine I must have looked at all the same stuff he did on occasions. It was one of those walks where the sights talk to you. Once over a Sloppy Joes I sat down had a drink and checked off the Hemingway/Sloppy Joes thing off my list. I made it to key west and seen what I had to see. Times like this I thought as I sat in the bar, makes you happy to be alive......You have to go there some day. I was a great trip.
p.s. you have to buy a tee shirt while your here. Also go to the website. You can see live footage of whats going on there... Its a great website....oh, I also bought a coffee mug. Every time I see my mug, I think of how I felt the life of Hemingway..