Key West, FL
Alright here's what happened on this vacation: (yes this could turn into a novel)
We took Dad's suburban alllllll the way to the southern most tip of the United States-and back again. Dad, Mom, Kait, Nick, and I all pile in at about midnight on the last Thursday before April. Our big dumb idea was that we would drive all the way to Key West, because we sure as hell did not want to pay what they were asking for in airfare to go to the Keys. We didn't stop til Georgia, when we picked up my mom's other sister Aunt Joy-who is a riot to listen to. After that we pretty much didn't stop until we got to Daytona where we stayed for the night. I swear I've never been approached by so many weirdo's in one night, and the sidewalks were so clean that 2 minutes down the road I already had glass in my foot. So that was our big night there.
The next day we decided we weren't going to stop til we got to Key Largo. Dad's big hissy fit that day was over the fact that he couldn't find the turnpike to get around the traffic in Miami. He drove like a crazy man down city streets, pulling U-turns and kicking the suburban sideways. Nick and I watched him pass the turnpike twice in his rage, but said nothing. Because in that situation-no good deed goes unpunished. You're better off just keeping your mouth shut. We finally arrived in Key Largo and stayed in the Marriot where Dad decides to cash in his elite member rewards thing. So we got to stay in these gorgeous rooms. The beds had actual frames, and were very high off of the floor...which you don't realize til you have to pee at 4 am. Everything was just really nice-and the beach was beautiful. We saw these cool little clams that some birds like to eat as a lovely little snack. The waves from the ocean uncover these little clams. As soon as the waves retreat back the clams bury their way into the sand very quickly. It's pretty cool to watch. If you pick up a hunk of sand before they bury themselves you can feel them climbing down into the sand.
Finally make it to Key West where we rented a house and guest house to stay in. Mom, Dad, Kait, and Aunt Joy stayed in the main house, and Nick and I stayed in the guest house-which was super cool. The main house had this cool outdoor shower where some guys head spit out the water onto your head. The guest house had a small kitchen and living room. Upstairs was the big bedroom and bathroom. It was a no smoking house but there was this big fan upstairs that sucked anything and everything out of the air-so that changed the no smoking status for us. The pool was aweseome too. The way it was set up-you could walk out of either house, take a few steps and fall right into the pool. It had this waterfall set up where the water would come down this big coral thing with purple crystals placed randomly throughout it.
The next day we decided to rent some mopeds to ride around on. Now I know nothing about riding on anything that has two wheels and is motorized. I have no problem admitting that- I did so when I got the damned moped. The guy who gave me the moped knew and gave me a very quick overview of what the thing did and how it worked. Which basically went like this: this button does this and that does that blah blah. So I go to take off and ride the thing around the block-it comes time to turn and the thing just ain't doing it. I crash into the curb-no biggie, I figure human error. Get up, dust off, try again. We make it back to the moped rental place, they okay us, and we take off. In the little crash the throttle got fucked up, so next time I took off it got stuck. I tried like hell to stop the thing or to even turn it. Once again that wasn't happening and there wasn't much space or time between the stop sign and this gray car parked on the side of the road. Yes I said parked car. I hit it going-I don't even know how fast w/o a helmet on. Two eyewitnesses heard me going "OH SHIT! OH SHIT! OH SHIT!!!" right before the collision-and said the moped didn't sound right. The guy witness said he knew something wasn't right with that piece of shit when he heard it. They also said that I hit the car really hard, bounced off, and hit the ground. Nick and Dad skidded around when they heard the crash and came flying back. Now, when I hit the car it felt like while I was still on the car someone grabbed my elbow and gently laid me onto the pavement. Everyone said that was impossible, because no one had gotten there that quickly. Weird. So they called an ambulance, I ended up with a bruised rib, lots of other bruises, scrapes, and cuts. I also fucked up my shoulders and can't really even reach behind my back or above my head. It's very painful and the muscles are very tight. However not much that can be done about any of that so I refused to go to the hospital. I was lucky enough to walk away with what little injuries I had. I ran into the guy who gave me the moped on my way back to the house with Nick-he explained about the moped and apologized to me. He said he was just happy I was okay, because when he got to the "scene" he thought I was dead. Whoo! Do I know how to have fun or what. To those who like to point fingers and make people feel stupid about things like this : Do understand, I have just admitted to crashing into a parked car....I have no shame left in my body. Sorry. Was I embarrassed? Hell yeah, and I felt bad for ruining the moped thing for Nick and Dad. But shame? Nah, none of that. Okay, I'm going to stop there because there's way too much writing on this as it is. I'll write more where I left off another day.
We took Dad's suburban alllllll the way to the southern most tip of the United States-and back again. Dad, Mom, Kait, Nick, and I all pile in at about midnight on the last Thursday before April. Our big dumb idea was that we would drive all the way to Key West, because we sure as hell did not want to pay what they were asking for in airfare to go to the Keys. We didn't stop til Georgia, when we picked up my mom's other sister Aunt Joy-who is a riot to listen to. After that we pretty much didn't stop until we got to Daytona where we stayed for the night. I swear I've never been approached by so many weirdo's in one night, and the sidewalks were so clean that 2 minutes down the road I already had glass in my foot. So that was our big night there.
The next day we decided we weren't going to stop til we got to Key Largo. Dad's big hissy fit that day was over the fact that he couldn't find the turnpike to get around the traffic in Miami. He drove like a crazy man down city streets, pulling U-turns and kicking the suburban sideways. Nick and I watched him pass the turnpike twice in his rage, but said nothing. Because in that situation-no good deed goes unpunished. You're better off just keeping your mouth shut. We finally arrived in Key Largo and stayed in the Marriot where Dad decides to cash in his elite member rewards thing. So we got to stay in these gorgeous rooms. The beds had actual frames, and were very high off of the floor...which you don't realize til you have to pee at 4 am. Everything was just really nice-and the beach was beautiful. We saw these cool little clams that some birds like to eat as a lovely little snack. The waves from the ocean uncover these little clams. As soon as the waves retreat back the clams bury their way into the sand very quickly. It's pretty cool to watch. If you pick up a hunk of sand before they bury themselves you can feel them climbing down into the sand.
Finally make it to Key West where we rented a house and guest house to stay in. Mom, Dad, Kait, and Aunt Joy stayed in the main house, and Nick and I stayed in the guest house-which was super cool. The main house had this cool outdoor shower where some guys head spit out the water onto your head. The guest house had a small kitchen and living room. Upstairs was the big bedroom and bathroom. It was a no smoking house but there was this big fan upstairs that sucked anything and everything out of the air-so that changed the no smoking status for us. The pool was aweseome too. The way it was set up-you could walk out of either house, take a few steps and fall right into the pool. It had this waterfall set up where the water would come down this big coral thing with purple crystals placed randomly throughout it.
The next day we decided to rent some mopeds to ride around on. Now I know nothing about riding on anything that has two wheels and is motorized. I have no problem admitting that- I did so when I got the damned moped. The guy who gave me the moped knew and gave me a very quick overview of what the thing did and how it worked. Which basically went like this: this button does this and that does that blah blah. So I go to take off and ride the thing around the block-it comes time to turn and the thing just ain't doing it. I crash into the curb-no biggie, I figure human error. Get up, dust off, try again. We make it back to the moped rental place, they okay us, and we take off. In the little crash the throttle got fucked up, so next time I took off it got stuck. I tried like hell to stop the thing or to even turn it. Once again that wasn't happening and there wasn't much space or time between the stop sign and this gray car parked on the side of the road. Yes I said parked car. I hit it going-I don't even know how fast w/o a helmet on. Two eyewitnesses heard me going "OH SHIT! OH SHIT! OH SHIT!!!" right before the collision-and said the moped didn't sound right. The guy witness said he knew something wasn't right with that piece of shit when he heard it. They also said that I hit the car really hard, bounced off, and hit the ground. Nick and Dad skidded around when they heard the crash and came flying back. Now, when I hit the car it felt like while I was still on the car someone grabbed my elbow and gently laid me onto the pavement. Everyone said that was impossible, because no one had gotten there that quickly. Weird. So they called an ambulance, I ended up with a bruised rib, lots of other bruises, scrapes, and cuts. I also fucked up my shoulders and can't really even reach behind my back or above my head. It's very painful and the muscles are very tight. However not much that can be done about any of that so I refused to go to the hospital. I was lucky enough to walk away with what little injuries I had. I ran into the guy who gave me the moped on my way back to the house with Nick-he explained about the moped and apologized to me. He said he was just happy I was okay, because when he got to the "scene" he thought I was dead. Whoo! Do I know how to have fun or what. To those who like to point fingers and make people feel stupid about things like this : Do understand, I have just admitted to crashing into a parked car....I have no shame left in my body. Sorry. Was I embarrassed? Hell yeah, and I felt bad for ruining the moped thing for Nick and Dad. But shame? Nah, none of that. Okay, I'm going to stop there because there's way too much writing on this as it is. I'll write more where I left off another day.