did you notice i was gone?

wow.
a weeks vacation with april, laura, and jon., while awesome, is also stressful.  It's good to be back home in my bed with my things.  I loved every minute in the keys, but being gone for a whole week was almost too much.

we went all over the place and i took over 1000 pictures.  here are the best or my favorites.  it's less than 400, but still quite a lot of pics.  we did stay for a week, so it's not that bad when you average it out.  I also played around a lot with the settings on my camera.  that's why i was able to cull so many.   still learning how to set the manual settings on the fly,  it's still a bit too much like learning to drive stick.  i got the concept, but i still have to think about the clutch and not stalling.

pictures will be posted here http://www.flickr.com/photos/vampiress144/sets/72157603693701262/  once they finish uploading. 

Thursday:  we had driven to palm beach to stay with jon's mom.  this also had the added benefit of cutting 3 hours off our drive.  we start driving and i get a text from april about the plane they were on had mechanical trouble so they never took off.  we hovered around Homestead Florida in case we had to drive back to Orlando to pick them up from the airport.  eventually after some tears and yelling they were able to be booked on another flight.  they wouldn't get to the keys until 11pm, but the resort would let us check in. (the room was in April's name because she is the member)  Jon and I drive down the 42 bridges to key west and decide to have dinner and look about until we have to pick up april and laura at the airport.  We eat at Blue Heaven We pick up some key lime pie and rescue the girls from the airport a full 12 hours after they were supposed to originally arrive.  they were tired and disappointed at losing a whole day of exploring.  it was also quite cold in key west, one oft he coldest few days in something like 100 years.

Friday:  We decide to ramble around key west.  We start by stopping at the 7  mile bridge and taking some pictures and enjoying the view.  the colors of the ocean and gulf are just amazing.  it's ridiculously windy and i end up getting an ear ache.  we continue driving in the general direction of key west, but turning down any road that strikes our fancy.  we end up seeing the shrimp car, 4-5 key deer, no name key, a private airport, houses with planes in their garages, a hippie natural food store, bat tower.  all in all a very scenic drive. we ate at a Cuban restaurant in Mallory square and then walked up duval street.

Saturday was a lazy day and we stayed in marathon.  the girls lazed by the pool and jon and i drove around a bit.  we went to sombrero beach and a local book store.  did some activities with the resort including a bonfire, made dinner, swimming and hot tub.  just a nice not doing anything day.

Sunday we went snorkeling.  It was a nice day, but too windy on the coral reef.  the reef is on the ocean side which had huge swells.  we ended up snorkeling on the gulf side.  it was cold and murky because of the recent storms.  it was nice to be on the boat though.  i wish we got to see more stuff and that the water was a bit more clear.  if we had waited a few more days it might have been nicer as it continued to get warmer and clearer as we stayed.  i really do like snorkeling and wet suits.  i think this might be something i want to do more once we get all settled in cali.

monday: we drove to key west after sleeping in quite late.  we saw the botanical gardens, old town, the marina, the sponge monster, a fish being gutted, a dead tarpon, some pelicans, the sunset in mallory square, and the southern most point.

tuesday:  the girls wanted some pool time.  in the evening we went to the turtle hospital and saw the sunset from the 7mile bridge.  the turtle hospital was neat.  it started because some rich guy wanted to own a motel to stay at while he went tarpon fishing.  eventually he wanted to keep tarpon in the pool, then wanted to add turtles.  to keep a turtle the state required he do something beneficial for turtles, so they "rescued" one.  eventually they got a few more.  this was while the motel was still motelling as well as turtle saving.  after a recent hurricane, they were flooded, and after repairs finally had enough funding to turtle rescue full time.  some of the volunteers live in the motel rooms.

wednesday: we drove to key west again.  this was jon and myself's last day int he keys.  jon had to go back to work.  also i was stupid and misunderstood the dates.  we went to NOAA's eco discover center, st pauls episcopalian church, mel fishers treasure museum, truman's little white house, and putput golf.  i did proceed to fall while playing putput and wreck my knee and ankle.  it's feeling much better but still weaks a bit.  i'm such a clutz.

thursday we slept in a  bit and then drove back to palm beach.  we hit some pretty major traffic once we got out of hte keys and was too tired to drive all the way home.