tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955844379699946887.post8622076178649483628..comments2024-03-13T16:33:53.563+00:00Comments on <b>Dr Tony Shaw</b><br>: Key West and TourismDr Tony Shawhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07565448709541046337noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955844379699946887.post-78652970796038485872015-04-14T07:35:00.856+01:002015-04-14T07:35:00.856+01:00I'm almost convinced! At least I know there is...I'm almost convinced! At least I know there is something beyond theme parks and retirement homes.<br />David Binghamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09520734437016132336noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955844379699946887.post-77248522368751918942015-04-04T14:25:02.993+01:002015-04-04T14:25:02.993+01:00Many people - even including a great number who li...<b>Many people - even including a great number who live there - think that Mississippi is a cultural desert. They don't seem aware that this is where William Faulkner lived in Oxford, and where you can still see his house and grounds. Ditto Eudora Welty (in Jackson). Oxford University, Mississippi is also the original home of the splendid Southern cultural magazine Oxford American. <i>And</i> the state has much more to offer culturally.<br /><br />My partner adores America, and would pack her bags in a shot if we could afford to live there, but even she felt some trepidation about Florida. We returned home a few days ago after a three-week driving tour of Florida, and she has to admit that she loved it, although she's seen it and just wouldn't want to see it again.<br /><br />I can only describe the 127-mile drive from Florida City to Key West as one of the most remarkable I've even made, a really exhilarating experience, and not at all frightening like, say, going up and down the notorious Monteagle Mountain in Tennessee. Key West is full of tourists in parts, but like anywhere else as soon as you leave the main drag you start to discover many other things, and often there's not even a person in sight. Also, this of course is America, which contains multitudes, so you only have to filter onto the nearest interstate and within no time you're in a very different world although still in the same state. Even in Florida, there are no clogged-up motorways, everything is on a huge scale, and Americans are the politest drivers you could hope to find.<br /><br />How can you miss Coral Castle, miss all the exotic birds and butterflies and lizards? Even Perky's Bat Tower? Hemingway's house is a haven even with all the people, and it has its quiet corners. Or is it that you're a dog person rather than a cat person? Go on, give your wife a treat! :-)<br /><br />(But I don't think I'll ever feel the urge to go to Australia.) </b>Dr Tony Shawhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07565448709541046337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8955844379699946887.post-5523972069571917072015-04-04T00:13:29.712+01:002015-04-04T00:13:29.712+01:00For some reason my wife is keen to go to Florida -...For some reason my wife is keen to go to Florida - it always sounds like hell on earth to me. These recent posts make me feel that maybe it isn't quite the cultural desert I had always assumed.....but I'm still going to do my best to avoid going there! David Binghamhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09520734437016132336noreply@blogger.com