Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Heading to the Florida Keys

Plan B; a trip to the Keys.
Our original plan had us leaving home on the 15th of this month and drifting very slowly up the Atlantic coast through the Outer Banks, Virginia, Maryland & Delaware then through Pennsylvania, etc.
My mother is 93 and lives in an assisted living facility in town. Carol & I look after her. About three weeks ago she fell and broke her left arm. The arm's in a cast and will require followup X-rays and doctors visits into June. So much for Plan A.
The Florida Keys are among the most unique and beautiful places in America and it's only a three hour drive from here. I went to high school in Key West; a fun place to be a kid. I was in the submarine force in the Navy when we got married and our first duty station after we got married was at the sub. base in Key West so we're both old hands in the Keys. Our oldest daughter was born in the navy hospital in Cayo Weso. Semi-conchs maybe?
There are four great state parks in the Keys. Our favorites are Curry Hammock followed by Long Key. In both cases the campsites are right on the waters edge. I would have thought that by late May, we could just cruise into any of the parks with no reservations. Wrong!! I was able to reserve tomorrow, Thursday, at Long Key then next Monday through Thursday at Curry Hammock. Nothing open on Friday or Saturday. We're hoping to be able to stay over at Long Key for at least Friday night. We'll see. Plan B on that is our favorite commercial campground in the Keys; Knights Key. It's in Marathon just before you get on the Seven Mile Bridge. From the campground you can walk to the old bridge that was left in place after the new one was built years ago. We've stayed there before. They have a nice beach area and a small cafe/bar and it's only a mile or so walk into "downtown" Marathon.
Assuming all goes well with my mothers broken arm, we'll head East in mid-June. What's the trite saying? Plans are something you make and then along comes life?

2 comments:

Jim and Gayle said...

Your trip to the Keys sounds great. We loved Long Key State Park until it rained and we got eaten alive by no-see-ums, even in our pop-up. Hope all goes well with your mom.
Safe travels!

suzanne said...

Have fun! Wish I was there. Raining non-stop here!