First of two.

I was going to write about Julia but I just can't bring myself to finish it without watching the movie again which I'll do a little later tonight. Instead I'm eating artichoke hearts out of the can and watching old episodes of Murder, She Wrote. I still have five more seasons to go so at this rate I'll be done by May.

I'm not going to lie, I've become a little disheartened by blogging. I just don't see the point of writing about every insipid thing that passes through my mind. Maybe it's just the Ides of March approaching soon or the other blogs that I've been reading are seeming a little pointless, but I just don't want to write anymore. I think if I'm going to keep going I'm going to have to start some sort of routine or have a sort of theme to this. Maybe a certain devoted to a specific topic or I should start regularly chronicling about the things I have going on in my life. I've spent the last couple of months glued to the wedding plans of Beantownprepster and while I have no such plans of my own, her regular updates were fun to follow. I also may blog a little less until I can come up with a new direction. So eventually look for something a little different. Spring is only a week away which means a new theme update too.

I received a lead on some good news today hopefully it will turn into something. 

Day Nine: Home.

Days eight and nine were mostly travel days. I spent early Friday packing and wandering around the islands for a little while. We had lunch at the marina and then lounged around for a while. We were on the road by 4pm and I must say that driving through Florida is the most boring of all drives. I fell asleep at some point and when I woke up around 9pm we were only in Vero Beach (another of Lance's many brief stops before my mother) however, we did get to stop at Steak 'n Shake for dinner so I was extremely pleased. I fell asleep again soon after and didn't wake up until Washington D.C. and my then I didn't care because I knew exactly where I was on the map. I find it easier to travel long distances with my family when I can track exactly where were are and how long it will be until the car officially stops.

Day Seven: Lost at sea.

So this morning we decided to go over to Sombrero Beach off the bottom end of Vaca and almost against Boot Key. It's a great beach with palm trees lining the edge instead of sand dunes and a long expanse of white sand. It used to be coral beach but has been replaced with some very nice sand. The beach also has small pavilions for luncheons and areas for volley ball and a place for small children to play. It's also one of the very few excellent and free beaches in the Keys. About two hours into some fabulous beach time, tropical storm force winds came in and blew everyone off of the beach. Now this wouldn't be a problem for me, but Lance and Samantha were out at sea kayaking when this happened. My mother of course was on the phone at the time and left me to pack everything up and it wasn't until the beach umbrella was half blown apart that she got off the phone and went right into panic mode. I had to be the voice of reason and snap her out of it. Seriously if there was anyone in the world that you would want to be lost at sea with in a kayak, it's Lance. Mind you if I were Lance I definitely wouldn't want to be stuck with Samantha. Anyways I managed to pack everything up and get a hysterical quinquagenarian to the car to wait for the kayakers to return.

To end the exhausting day and to celebrate our last night in the house, I was rewarded with some fine spiny lobster. I'm going to huff it back over to Sombrero in the morning o get some sun in before I have to return to the great wet Mid-Atlantic.

A pleasant start to a beach day.

The backside of Sombrero.

Smoothing and expanding the beach. 

Sailboat! There was also a dolphin out there somewhere too. 

Storm's a brewin'. Get off the phone MA I'm already feeling rain.

From inside the car. This started long before I made it to the Silver Bullet. 

I broke away from studying to find a pleasant surprise in the pot. 

Day Six: 1983

Today my mother took me around the island to all of the places that she and her friends lived and worked. We spent the day mostly down on the southern end of the island by Sombrero Beach and the marina. My mother came to the Keys after a brief stint in Virginia Beach and stayed for almost two years until she and Lance decided to get married in 1984. It took her a little while to find everything, with age comes memory loss, but eventually we got there and no stone was left untouched.

Where she worked when she first arrived. 

Pancho's, the place to be after work. 

The duplex apartment she shared with her roommate. 

Annette, my mother's roommate. 

What used to be the Captain's Galley where Lance worked. 

Lance's apartment on 11th Street. 

Herbies on Marathon

Herbies is a small shack off of Route 1 on Vaca Key in the city of Marathon. Small and without the pretentiousness of other established restaurants next door, Herbies serves simple, delicious food that has stood the test of time. Already a local institution in 1984, my mother took me back there today for lunch where it was still packed as ever. The menu is a simple selection of local seafood cooked to comfort and perfection and nothing suits your fancy Herbies will clean and blacken your catch of the day for only $10.

Daily specials.

Conch fritters the size of my fist.

Sparse decorations on plain walls, but we just came for the food.

Fried oyster sandwich.

Buoys hung on the walls. 

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).