A Key Vacation

Here we are post graduations and the flurry of graduation parties to boot. We have a house full of graduates now. After a couple of weeks delay we’ve started our summer off with our last family vacation together, just the five of us, before Jenna gets married in September; one last hurrah before the family looks different.

There were several reasons why we didn’t take our vacation immediately after school was out. First, Nate had signed up to go on the youth camp trip with church, his last as a student, which was scheduled for the week of Memorial Day. Nate was one of 30 from our church to spend a week at a missions camp in Talladega, Alabama, and reports that they had a great time. Second, Jenna went with Nolan and the Magee family to Colorado for a wedding over the first few days of the month. In addition to the wedding in Denver Jenna got to go to Colorado Springs and saw where Nolan grew up before his family moved to Nashville. And third, we were coordinating with the Jones family to meet them for a few days while they vacationed in Gatlinburg.

So, with all the kids back in town from their activities—Ben had been in Smithville, Tennessee, while Jenna and Nate were out of town, but I’ll save that for next time—we loaded up the van and headed out for Gatlinburg a week ago last Sunday (the 6th) where we had reserved three nights at the same resort where the Jones family stays every year. We were pleasantly surprised upon checking in that our unit had been changed and that we were practically next door to the Joneses. Their entire family got to come so between the two families there were 11 of us enjoying time together. We had vacationed with their family for several years when the kids were young some 20 years ago so we revisited several of the traditional things we used to do together; breakfast at Log Cabin Pancakes, a picnic at the Chimneys (where we saw a bear this time!), strolling down the Parkway in Gatlinburg, etc.

Last Wednesday we said our goodbyes and headed back to Nashville where we boarded a plane bound for Miami then rented a van and drove to Key Largo (actually Tavernier) where we had reservations for two nights. We enjoyed looking around the Upper Keys and especially the snorkeling trip to Horseshoe Reef and Dry Rocks which is where one of the Christ of the Abyss statues is submerged. It was really interesting to look down on all the coral and tropical fish from above. Unfortunately the sea was a little choppy and this got the better of Vicki in spite of her taking something for seasickness ahead of time. She was one of about a dozen people who camped out near the stern of our pontoon boat wishing the trip were over faster. She was all smiles after clearing her stomach a second time.

Friday we drove on down to Key West. I knew this drive involved bridges, but it was nothing like the picture I had in my imagination. I had envisioned a series of very long bridges (on the order of 10-30 miles each) connecting a handful of small islands, so I was surprised when the majority of the trip from the mainland to Key West was on land, and while we did cross 42 bridges the Seven Mile Bridge just south of Marathon is the longest one. Most are much shorter. The drive is very pretty.

When we got to Key West that afternoon we took a guided kayaking trip through the red mangrove trees growing in the shallow water. We saw all sorts of cool critters including small sharks, a sting ray, a sea cucumber, jelly fish, and crabs. The trees were literally crawling with crabs. This, for me, was the best part of the trip.

We stayed in Key West for two nights and enjoyed several restaurants, sunsets and street performers on the Mallory Square waterfront, visiting the Hemingway House and Truman’s Little White House, pictures at the Southernmost Point Buoy, and of course, plenty of ice cream treats and key lime pie.

By Sunday our time was drawing to a close so we drove back up the Overseas Highway for one night in Miami before our flight home on Monday. Toward evening we enjoyed some time at the beach. The only hiccup in the whole trip was the small storm that was moving through Miami as we had boarded our plane. Lightning in the area delayed the loading of our luggage, and once that was onboard we had to wait our turn to take off. To add insult to injury the Wifi on the plane was down. Fortunately, all passengers were good sports in spite of the hour and a half delay as we crept to the end of the runway. Once in the air all was good.

This time last year Vicki and I took an anniversary trip to Memphis. Looking back, that excursion was such a fluke. People were hoping that things were loosening up after everything had shut down last spring that things were trying to sputter back to life. We were lucky to have hit a little season when some attractions were open and only a few were venturing out (we had Graceland practically to ourselves). Compare that with today and things are definitely returning to normal. Ignoring the two days of air travel where the federal mask mandate is still in place for airports and planes, I would guess that less than 3% of the people we saw were wearing masks, and most of them were employees of a business that still required their workers to be masked. Signs are disappearing and the social distancing stickers on floors and sidewalks are so worn they are practically unreadable.

So that was our vacation. It was a fun one. We had saved and planned to take a cruise to Alaska but that’ll have to wait for another year. Now we’re home and it’s back to work for all of us. At least I don’t have classes for six more weeks. Next time I’ll touch on the summer routine.

Joe