The first day was just travel. We flew from Dayton to Miami with a layover in Atlanta. Then we made the ~3hr drive from Miami to Key West. It would have probably been more enjoyable of a drive if the sun hadn't set halfway through the drive. When we got to the hotel it was very late, so we ordered a pizza from good old Papa John's and went to bed. The next day we spent some time walking around the island doing some window shopping. I, of course, forgot to put on sunscreen before going out, so I got to start out the trip with quite a sunburn. That night we headed to Mallory Square for the sunset celebration and then watched a couple street performers do an acrobatic act.
The next day we started out the day with a jet ski tour around the island. This was really fun and it was amazing to see the color of the water and just how shallow the water is even when you are quite a distance offshore. Then we did more walking around the island. During our walk we went to the Ernest Hemingway house and saw the garden, pool, his writing studio, and most importantly, the Hemingway cats! I even got to feed two of them treats (I think our tour guide felt bad for me because I was the color of a tomato). After that we walked to the southernmost point on the island and got some pictures with the marker. That night we watched the sunset from our hotel's dock, and honestly it was just as enjoyable and a lot less crowded.
Thursday was the most exciting day of the whole trip. We took a boat out to a set of islands 70mi west of Key West called the Dry Tortugas. There is a fort there called Fort Jefferson. After the 2.5hr boat ride out, we got a tour of the fort and then wandered the fort on our own for awhile. We walked along the top of the fort, attempted to snorkel (I just couldn't bring myself to get in the 71-degree water), laid out in the sun, and walked the moat wall around the fort. Then we took the boat ride home. Halfway back, a lobster line got caught in the boat prop and we stopped in the middle of the Gulf for close to half an hour while our tour guide jumped in and cut it out of the prop. Jeff was very proud because he didn't get seasick while I did. I didn't really get sick, but I did get an upset stomach. I'd like to mention at this point that I came down with a cold the day after the wedding and I'm convinced if I hadn't had drainage from that I would never have gotten seasick. After we got back we did a little more window shopping, but I really did struggle with that because the whole world swayed back and forth the rest of the night.
Friday we went to the Pirate Soul Museum and got to see treasures and what not that had been salvaged from different wrecks. We also learned quite a bit about the different pirates and the laws that were instituted to try to protect the world from pirates. That evening we got a phone call saying that my grandfather had passed away that day. So we went and had our nicest dinner and a drink in his honor and then that night we went on the ghost tour we had scheduled for that evening. We got a could pictures with "orbs" that we couldn't quite explain. The ghost stories were good, but there wasn't all that much that we actually got to see.
Saturday we drove up the keys to Bahia Honda State Park. It is one of the few places with a natural beach in the keys, and it also has some walking trails and access to the old railroad bridge where you get a good view from about 150ft up. So we walked up there first and then spent some time out in the water. You could walk a couple hundred yards off the beach and still be thigh high in the water. It was very cool. Then we spent some time sunbathing, and afterwards we walked the other beaches on the key. We ended the day having dinner at Benihana's. We got to sit at a table with locals, and wish we'd met them at the beginning of the trip so we'd have known more places to go.
I also want to say that I had four glorious slices of key lime pie and a whole lot of wonderful seafood meals on this trip. My tummy certainly enjoyed the vacation.
Sunday was our travel home day. The drive to Miami was slow...it seems that people like to go slowly so they can take in the view. The plane was late leaving Miami, so we almost missed our connection in Atlanta. Because we had to run from one plane to the other, our checked luggage didn't make it back to Dayton until much later than our 9:30pm arrival.
Monday we got up, got ourselves together and made the trip to Memphis for Papa's funeral. It was a long trip, but when we got into town we met up with family for dinner and then headed for bed. Tuesday morning was his funeral, and afterwards we had a gathering at Bob and Cheryl's house. We were all sad that Papa passed away, but there is something very healing about spending time with family. I want to say it has been about 20yrs since I last saw my Uncle Kevin, and 10+yrs since I saw my Aunt Letha and cousins Shannon and Sharron, and it was really good to get to see them again. Wednesday we headed back to Dayton to get Jeff to his class on time.
Now we're in the organizing stage...putting away new dishes, getting my name changed, starting the new quarter at WSU, and working our way through the mounds of laundry we created. We have posted pictures from the wedding that we've received from guests and our pictures from the honeymoon. Check out the Photos link at the top of the page. If you have pictures you want to share with us, check the instructions that Jeff posted on that page for adding your photos.
Love you all!
-M
