Key Largo, Montego, Baby Why Don't We Go

So previously I posted about catching up from the last two years.  This time I’ve got a more recent recap of our summer vacations.  Unfortunately both of my vacations fell within a one month period, so the rest of the summer is going to feel incredibly long I’m afraid.  But it is what it is. 

Our first vacation was at the end of May with my family to the Florida Keys.  My Uncle Neal has lived in Key Largo for years.  Ashley and I visited he and Gretchen a few years ago, but this time we had a bigger group:  Brad and me, my parents, my sister Emily and her husband Brooks, and my brother Sam.  Since we all live in different cities, we took separate flights and met up in South Florida.  While Brad and I sat in the New Orleans airport waiting for our flight to depart, I received the most wonderful phone call from my sister.  She and Brooks are expecting and I am going to be an Aunt!  Baby Dampeer is due to join our family on December 22nd (Christmas baby!) and we are all thrilled!  Getting this news just gave our vacation that much more excitement.

Our first day in Key Largo, I and all of the men, went out deep sea fishing.  I tend to get seasick so I tried one of those prescription patches that go behind your ear.  Aside from the EXTREME dry mouth side effect, I’d say it worked pretty well.  What didn’t work so well was the actual fishing.  Apparently the full moon had the fish and their eating patterns thrown off.  We caught one Mahi Mahi and I reeled it in, so technically you could say that I “caught” it!  We took the fish right back to the house and Gretchen cooked us up some fish sandwiches.  You just can’t beat fresh seafood!  The guys went fishing again the next day while us girls lounged around the pool, but they didn’t have much more luck with the fish that day either.

Fishing wore these two out!

On Sunday, we decided to make a day trip down to Key West.  Key Largo is the northernmost key and Key West is basically the southernmost key, so the trip takes a couple of hours.  However, it is such a beautiful trip driving down over all the bridges connecting the keys that you hardly notice how long you’ve been in the car.  The trip home at night, however, is a different story ha!  Some of us had been to Key West before and others hadn’t, so we did all the touristy things:  the Conch Train Tour, pictures at the Southernmost Point of the Continental United States which is 90 miles from Cuba, the Sunset Celebration, and of course yummy food and drinks.

 I love the Cat Man in Key West! He is literally insane. 

The last day of our trip consisted of lying around the pool and then going to The Theatre of the Sea.  Uncle Neal gave Sam a gift certificate he had to “swim with the sharks.”  So we all went to watch him and got to enjoy all of the other fun wildlife there as well:  dolphin, sea lions, iguanas, parrots, etc.  That night we went out to a nice dinner with Neal and Gretchen and then the next morning it was unfortunately time to head back to Mississippi.

The good news is that we were only back in the real world for 17 days before going on vacation with Brad’s family.  We joined his mom and stepdad, his sister and brother-in-law and their two children, and his stepsister for a week in Watercolor, Florida.  We all stayed in a fabulous big house and had a wonderful beach vacation.  I was in much needed of some relaxation time on the beach.  I realize that sounds ridiculous since I had just been on a vacation, but the thing about the Keys is that they don’t have beaches.  They are surrounded by a coral reef, so while there is a lot to do fishing/water sport-wise, there really is no sand or waves to speak of.  

We spent our week in Watercolor and Seaside sitting on the beach with good books (or in my case a Kindle), swimming in the pool with the kiddos, and eating lots of good food.   All of my most favorite things!  You really cannot beat the beaches down there.  They are gorgeous!  I’ve only seen comparable sand and pretty water in the Caribbean.  And I dare say the sand in the Caribbean isn’t as soft and white as it is here.  The weather was absolutely perfect all week.  Up until the day we left, it only rained at night and was sunny every day!  

So now the big vacations for the year are behind us and it’s back to normal life.  I’m sure we’ll still manage to go to Orange Beach for a weekend or two, but this girl’s about out of vacation days!  Guess I'll just have to start planning a honeymoon soon! 

Until next time...