Egor, thank you so much for this WONDERFUL stroll down memory lane!!! Key West was actually my first duty station after I finished language school in CA! My husband was already stationed there and after I graduated and our son was born in CA, I was stationed there as well. We worked and lived there from 1981-1983, during the secession, when we became the Conch Republic!!

After he retired and went to work for the government (doing the same job he did in the Navy) and I was discharged from active-duty and served in the Reserves, we went back to Key West from 2000-2003 where I worked for The Citizen as Executive Asst. to the Editor, an Op-ed columnist & Features writer. We couldn't afford to buy a house in Key West but were able to buy in Big Pine Key about 20 or so minutes from downtown (God forbid there was an accident on US1 on the way to work! I'd just call in & say "I'll see you when I get there!"). My youngest son played football & graduated from Key West High school in 2002. Read this the other day: https://www.yahoo.com/news/key-west-basketball-coach-teacher-013804454.html

My youngest knew him, went to high school with him. {SMDH}

In May of 2002, I started a series of "Dialogues to Change Our Destiny" on race relations. What a wonderful experience it was!! It lasted until we left in 2003.

And don't get me started on Fantasy Fest! Definitely all kinds of debauchery and good times!! My husband won a crazy-painted 1974 Maverick in a charity drawing in 2002 and was able to drive it down Duval during Fantasy Fest in 2002! And after that, there was the Goombay Festival down in Bahama Village - good times were had by all, let me tell you!

I still have many friends in Key West -- both "Salt-water" and "Fresh-water Conchs" (of which we were the latter). The last time I was there was for our Navy reunion a while ago at Truman Annex. We'll be going back some time soon!

Sory for the rambling, but it's not often I meet folk who know what it's like to have actually LIVED that beautiful experience!