The New Year in High School

Lots on the schedule this year.  High School is in full swing.  But before we hit our full stride we took a long weekend to get some sun in FL.  I decided a couple of years ago that I'd reached the point in my life where I need to get some summer during the winter.

Pete didn't have much time and we didn't want to waste money and time getting to Cali, so he suggested the Keys.  The airfare to FL always seems to be cheap, so the Keys it was.

The best thing we did was to follow Pete's whim that we stop on the drive from Miami to Key Largo at Everglades National Park.  As always at the Nat'l Parks, we wanted more time, but it was still a great day.

The "resort" we stayed in at Key Largo was fine, but really phoney.  They had created a beach-like area, but the actual piece of real beach they had was some sort of concrete covered in sand.  But the views were great, from the fake beach and from our room and we were able to rent stand up paddle boards on site--absolutely the best part of the trip for me.

**note**

Completely forgot that I had stared this post and thought it had been published long ago!  Now we have to rely on my sketchy memory--oh no!

OK, so maybe the next day we went to the glass bottom boat.  We had hoped to snorkle but it was very windy for the whole trip so strong swimmers only and Katie and Pete are not that strong in swimming.  But Katie needed to get out to the coral reef--she loves that stuff, so the glass bottom boat was the only option.  Again, Pete saved the day buying enough dramamine for us.  3-5 foot swells in a flat bottomed boat is a nauseating combination.  Katie and I had to go up for air a couple of times but then got used to it.

We stop for Rhinos!

The last full day we went out to Key West, which was about what I expected except for the Super Bowl wrinkle.  I check the guide books to be sure that the town didn't shut down on a Sunday but didn't realize that on Superbowl Sunday, everything closes by 1pm!  Lots of places had ticketed events to watch the game, but getting lunch was a major undertaking.

There was a cool fort and interesting beach but it was a very long walk and then lunch turned into a death march through town!  If you ever go--grab bikes or scooters the minute you get there and you'll have a much better time than we did.  Still--the pay off was a pretty fine panini shop and ice cream bigger than your head after.

And--then there was the sunset:

Greatest find by far was Harriette's which we ate at every morning for breakfast and the most amazing biscuits--and the muffins were to die for.

Now whenever we go out to breakfast we mourn Harriette's.

Last day we headed to Miami for our flight, but got there very early and hung out at the beach for a while.  It was very funny to see a school group go by.  We were dressed in light summer clothes.  The FL kids were bundled up in sweaters and hoodies and looked very put out that they were expected to be outside in the winter. 

If we ever go back, we decided that Key Biscayne was a better choice for us, for its proximity to Miami and Biscayne NP, which we didn't have time to hit. There's always next year.  The sun did us all good.

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