Day Five: Key Lime Pie

I know I said I was  going to do all these things today, but today ended up being a nothing day. Lance didn't really want to do anything but kayaking and reading and Samantha spent the entire first half of the day burning herself to a crisp. So after some sunning and napping I made a pie. There's something romantic about making a key lime pie in the Florida Keys. Very similar to camping at Walden Pond. I kind of really wish Marg were here right now. Family time is fun for a little while but now I wish I had someone to cavort around the islands with. Or at least have a bicycle.

I think I made the key lime pie too key limey. 

Day Four: Key West

Today it was a little too cold and windy for a beach day so we drove down to Key West. Way too many cruise ships and college students for my liking but plenty of bad graphic t-shirts for Lance and rum runners for my mother. Got my hands on some conch, more tomorrow and a better beach.

Old Seven Mile bridge.

Hey Cuba! We see you!

Fully took advantage of the open container laws today.

Mile Maker Zero.

Literary Mecca: Hemingway's House.

Hemingway's dead cats. 

Sunset on the ride home (Samantha took this, I was passed out in the car).

Day Three: First Full Day

Finally a first full day of Key Colony. Cheryl dropped by yesterday and stayed until this evening. It was a low key Sunday with some kayaking, beach time, and late afternoon tennis. I finally got to sleep in, but now that Pete's posted the runs for the week I'll be up early and out on the pavement before it get's too hot. High of 85 F today and expected thunderstorms overnight.

Plenty of boats out on the ocean side today. 

Small jetties break up the beach with long piers at the end of them.

Cabana Club on the beach. Not my favorite beach, small and crowded isn't my thing. I want to go over to Sombrero tomorrow. 

Red skies at night sailors' delight!

Cheryl came to visit!

Day Two: Getting better.

Day two was much better. I woke up somewhere in a Denny's parking lot, but I can still say that I have never been inside of one. I continued to finally get much needed sleep and woke up in the upper-middle Keys. 

After I woke up and started taking pictures of each key sign. 

Not yet on Vaca Key but Marathon seems to be taking over. 

Giant dolphin. Why not?

Finally a survivable temperature. 

The house for the week. Right on the canal and close to the beach. Lance and Samantha have already kayaked around Key Colony. 

Day One: Long long looooong.

So cold leaving Philadelphia.

I couldn't find the southbound sign from the car. 

Merrie's homeland!

Samantha found my camera.

Gas station in Georgia. I had just finished driving us through the Carolinas and everything seemed really funny at 2am. I found a neon Hooters sign that only had Hoot lit up. 

Almost there.

I'm so close I can almost taste it. I have almost everything packed, I just have to go downstairs and fold my laundry and repack everything and then I will be set. Today was a monster of a day. I have been up since 4am on Wednesday and have been moving nonstop ever since. I briefly fell asleep this morning around 7am and woke up at 7am crying because I convinced myself that I had overslept my 10am midterm. It took me several minutes to realize that I still had two hours before I had to leave for school. I had to rush from my midterm to work because I thankfully switched shifts with The Ballerina. I had to get there early but I was able to leave at 8pm and have since then cleaned, folded, packed and showered and am almost ready for the rest of my family to get here. They're not expected until sometime around 2am or 3am so until they get here I'll just be up doing a little work and watching movies. Not the most exciting Thursday night I've ever had.

I'm thinking that I might not write so much while I'm in the Keys, but instead do a photo blog. Instead of lengthy posts I'll just show pictures of the day and have only a caption or two. I have family and friends that read this so posting daily photos will be much easier than having to call everyone all the time. Pictures are more fun to look at anyways than read some of the stuff than I write.

Book of the Day: Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. A story about a hermaphrodite growing up in Detroit during the 1960s and the history of how their family carried the mutated gene through the generations.

Song of the Day: Pyro by Kings of Leon. Not their best technically but still sounds good and has been getting a lot of air play.

Shoe of the Day: Green corduroy slip on Keds. 

So so so so TIRED.

Im going to make this short and sweet. Sugar. Sugar is sweet. I am super tired today, but this may end up being the longest night ever. I have so much reading and writing to do and since I stupidly told my boss I could work a longer shift than I normally do I have to get laundry and packing done tonight too and set out the spare bed and make sure I have clean linens on hand for when the rest of my family arrives on Friday. It's going to be a very long night for me and an even longer day tomorrow. Readers who actually know me, feel free to comment or text me tonight just so I stay awake. I could really use your help here.

Me after the next 36 hours.