Sunday, January 4, 2009

Keys Recap Part 1

On December 27th, we all piled in the loaded down Tahoe towing a Bay Boat and we headed south to the Keys for a week long vacation! There was a total of four vehicles in our caravan all headed south west for a family get together/fishing excursion/vacation! There was another boat and three kayaks being towed as well so we stayed close together to help one another out! My parents, Michael's parents and his sister, and my brother and his wife were off for a fun filled week!
We were all so excited to get on the way!




There was a lot of this....

but all I kept saying was "it's alright, we have no where to be and it's all about relaxing!!! It's the KEYS!"
Our first glimpse of water was a welcoming sight.

The traffic was crawling and we were able to roll down the windows and have the sun roof open! It was a balmy 78* after all and the traffic was moving slow enough we were not blown away! Jay thought it was like a roller coaster and exhilerating to have the windows down! He traveled perfectly...no fussing or crying at all! Just rolled with it! He must have known it was the KEYS!

I was probably the most excited about being on the way! I have been in FL since 1993and I have never been to the KEYS! Michael put sooo much work into getting everything ready for the big trip. He and his Dad have been planning and preparing for sometime!


This leg of our trip toooook fooorrrrrreeeevvvvveeeerrrr!

Traffic was dogging and some tempers were flying...thank goodness not in our car. Although Michael only flipped off one person on the way down so it was rather uneventful, albeit, slow! hehehe All I kept saying is, it's the KEYS! Everyone prepare for some relaxing! I was ready for a margarita and some down time!
With scenery like this...who could be uptight???


My hopes of watching the sunset over the gulf were quickly dashed as traffic crawled into Islamorada!

After arriving to gale force winds and trying to dock the boats in such weather....we were all a little frazzled. Then there was the complete unloading job and organizing and tending children and 9:45 pm before we ate dinner in the room! I was super bummed out as I had visions of hammocks, sunsets, and margaritas...

The next morning jacob and I headed out at 5:30 am to watch the sunrise. Yes, we were a little early, and it was really dark. But nonetheless exciting to watch the sunrise for the first time in the KEYS!


You may watch the first day sunrise here:

And now you know why they call it the Breezy Palms Resort!

The next morning, at 10:30 am I had that drink I had been looking forward to for 24 hours!

We had heavy winds the first couple of days...so we played around the resort.

Pelican Poo
Jayda playing volleyball.
Pelican Perch
In your mind, play the vroom sound Jay makes....cause he pushed this around vrooming for about a half hour!

Monday's Sunrise:


Monday we all headed south west for Key West. It is a busy busy busy touristy place that I am glad we did not stay in. I am not into all that crazy t shirt store atmosphere. We took the Conch Train and I am glad I did! Saw it all, never need to go back.

Margaritaville
Hemingways Home
Why'd the rooster cross the road??????
Only in the Keys can you see this!

Quite frankly, only I would photograph it....hmmmmm!


Southern most point...in the process of being repainted so no words on it....







We had lunch at Guy Harveys Restaurant: Jayda, Jay and I seperated from the group as we all went on our own way! We needed to feed Jay as he was getting so owly!!!





Tuesday Sunrise:

Tuesday, Michael and I got a chance to go out on the boat and fish together.
It was awesome heading out on the water and watching the colors change! The blues and greens are amazing! We ended up on the reef and in 78 feet deep water! It was amazing! The party boat came out and dropped it's lines so we headed in to fish the channels and bridges...Stopping off at Bud n Mary's for some gas first!
I threw my bait in and we had fish on! The first was an African Pompano and then a huge school of Jacks one after another just kept on biting!!!


I have got to end here for now...I will add more later! Baby Jay needs my attention!

6 comments:

Rachel said...

wow! looks like a pretty wonderful trip. i look at those pictures and "margaritaville" starts playing in my mind :)

Anonymous said...

So happy to hear you guys had a wonderful time. Glad you are all home and bogging again. Cole has finally been told of our upcoming trip to Florida. He is excited but does not understand when we will be leaving or what DisneyWorld has to offer. Guess he will have to wait and see!!!!
Amy

Anonymous said...

Love your blog,so far. The week was great!!!{even more than I imagined it could be} Enjoyed every minute....the sunrises, the children,etc. Love, Mom C.

angie worthington said...

great pics!!!...lol, a margarita at 10:30 a.m. is an awesome way to start the day!!!....and, OMG, that man in the speedo is hilarious!!!...i had to enlarge the picture to make sure he was actually wearing "something"...did he have a clue he would become famous in blog world?...hehehe....vacations are always sucn fun....

rairie said...

No one will ever understand how 12 people could have so much fun in one place. It was an unforgetable trip with lots of fun and laughs and great memories. What a delighterful family we share. When is the 2nd annual Carter/Rairie reunion trip?

Anonymous said...

Well I am offically jealous!It looks like such a relaxing and wonderful trip. I am just wondering if that will be my dad or uncle Harv in 10 years on the bike? Kell

Scrapbooking 500 Pages in 2008