The Florida Keys: July 5 - July 9, 2018
The trip decision this year was hastily made, but we sided with my son, for a shorter, swimming and fishing trip. We usually take off on July 4, but, being that Avery won the argument that she actually wanted to spend a fourth of July at home, we waited a day. I rented a hotel room for three nights about a month ago for this trip, not knowing what to expect, but I was able to rent a room a block from Duval Street and easy access to everything, but then again, everything is pretty close to everything on Key West.Key West is 13, yes thirteen hours by car from Pensacola. Three of those hours are approximately 130 miles on 'Rte 1", which eventually terminates at the famous "Mile 0" off Truman Avenue.
Our plan was to spend the first night, again after some hasty planning--I had three months to do so--oops, in Crystal River and swim and snorkel in the waters there. We left early on July 5 to get there six hours later and make some other stops along the way. We chose Homosassa Springs, and a cheap hotel for the night, right near the state park.
I can't control the weather, unfortunately, and in Florida, there might be a 10 percent chance of rain, but that basically means it'll rain on you with thunderstorm and whirlwind force at the most inopportune time.
This is what happened to us. We arrived at 3pm with the park to close at 5pm. It seems everything closes at 5PM in this little town. We got rain, and lots of it. We also got construction barriers and accompanying flooding. Not good. Not to mention the hotel was on the 'very cheap side', complete with bikers, and what may have been a few meth heads on property.
We even looked for places to eat nearby, drove around (almost flooded out Ivanka, the minivan) but found nothing of interest. So, Day one, our only stop and get out and about was at the beautiful St Marks Wildlife preserve just south of Tallahassee. Easily spent the $5 for a picnic lunch and a light house picture opportunity. That's pretty much all I'm going to say about this day. I wanted to be on the road by 4am eastern, so we all went to bed early. An adventure of sorts for sure. Never again will we stop in Homosassa Springs. No thanks.
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| An 18 year old's 12 hour almost permanent state. I don't think she was awake longer than 5 hours on this trip |
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| St Marks lighthouse, through the wildflowers |
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| Our lunch/picnic spot on the way out. It was a beautiful, lowly humid day at the park. Not pictured, multiple crows that wanted our food. |
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