Key Largo...

[fajrdrako]

I saw the African Queen. Yes, yes, I saw the movie The African Queen long ago, and many times. It's one of my favourites ever. I didn't know that the boat was in Key Largo. In the movie, it was in Africa.

We all wanted to go to Key Largo because we'd never seen the Florida Keys, and redmtl said Key West was too far to go in a day. So we headed off southwards on the highway, and saw many amazing sites along the way, and got to Key Largo, starting out at the Visitor's Information Centre, looking for a place to eat lunch.



1. The first sight at the Visitor's Information Centre: a seahorse.




2. With Key Largo in mind, there's a display for the movie in the Visitor's Centre, along with the t-shirts and the pirate books:



But it was that other Bogart movie, The African Queen, based on the C.S. Forester novel, that I really loved, and saw had a Key Largo connection other than the lead actor. As far as I'm concerned, that picture ought to have been Charlie Allnut.

3. There was a cannon in the Visitor's Centre too. I saw the sign (sadly) and remembered climbing on the cannon in Valletta with rosiespark.



4. We went to Mrs Mac's for lunch. Quite a place. Here's the exterior.




5. Inside Mrs Mac's, they have a huge collection of licence plates on the walls, mostly from the US, but also from such places as Canada, the UK, Germany, and Kuwait. Also airlpanes made of drink cans. The waitresses wear t-shirts that say: Eat Well, Laugh Often, Live Long. We agreed this ought to be my motto.



6. A view of the water, Ocean Side.



7. A fountain at the Holiday Inn, Key Largo, where the African Queen is berthed.




8. The African Queen herself.



9. The boiler on the African Queen.



10. The bench on the African Queen, where Charlie and Rose were snuggling.



11. Going home, we had a terrific view of Miami from the highway. I thought of Castillo and Crockett.