Vacation Part Two

First, it's January 7th, and I'm wearing flip flops in Ohio. WTF?! Also, I would have posted sooner, but I've worked 23 hours over the weekend-y days, and I was too pooped to post.

Day 3, Monday (Christmas Eve): This was one of the boring days! We had breakfast, and I ate goetta for the first time. I've avoided in the past, part to be a pain in the butt to my boyfriend and part because I was scared of how it might taste. It was actually pretty damned good! I still refuse not to call it "peasant food", because IT IS. After breakfast, we spent a goodly amount of time in the pool and by the pool, until we kids decided it was time to explore Marathon. We went to the world's smallest K-Mart (maybe not smallest, but pretty close!), then to a few "tourist" stores like "Goofy Gecko" and "Krazy Larry's Last Store". They had lots of Florida Keys trinkets, but it was all very expensive. I did find a sand dollar ornament (to commemorate the trip) that I went back for later in the week. We then drove further south on the overseas highway and went to the "sister" resort to the one we were staying in. They had actual beach, whereas we had grass then the Gulf, but it was more crowded and more...tourist-y really. They had a bar on the beach, and jet ski rental (at $95 an hour...yikes!), and a mini-golf course, but we all decided that we liked ours better! I collected a small handful of shells before we decided to leave. From there we headed back toward our place, stopping at Walgreen's first for bait (for my boyfriend's cousin) and liquor (yes, the liquor store was part of the Walgreen's).

White sand beaches at the other resort. I'm only jealous of the sunset views they must've had.

Once home, we changed for Christmas Eve mass, and went to mass. The church we went to had a "prayer" garden that was decked out for Christmas with lots of lights, which was very pretty. I wanted to go back later in the week to take pictures, but never got around to it. Dinner was had (again, with 18 people, dinner is always a production!) and we all relaxed for the evening. Until a drunken trip to Walgreen's, which was pure hilarity. I'm surprised they didn't kick us out of Walgreen's!

This is our best Christmas picture! And it's actually taken on Christmas Eve!

Day 4, Christmas!: Instead of lugging the normal piles and piles of presents to Florida, we did a $7 secret Santa instead. It was pretty fun, and I hope that if we do it again, I'll be able to bargain hunt for great gifts better (the aunts were able to go to estate sales and get awesome things for very cheap!). The highlight of the exchange was when my boyfriend's cousin proposed to his girlfriend (of almost 8 years). I was very confused at first, because the ring was packaged and slipped in her stocking (and was the last thing she opened) and I was her secret Santa. I kept thinking...I didn't wrap that! What's that?! It was pretty cool, and I'm happy for the two of them! After lunch, we went to Bahia Honda beach and spent several hours there--in the ocean, collecting shells, building sandcastles, and watching the sunset. A very different Christmas from all others I've had!!
Merry Xmas in the sand. It matched our shirts for the occasion (we all had matching shirts, because we're dorks like that!).

The promised picture of me touching the ocean. I was unaware that he was only taking pictures of my feet!

After Christmas dinner (featuring my heart attack potatoes), we opened up a coconut we had managed to knock down from one of the palms out the back of our condos. It was a lot of fun, but the coconut was disappointing in the end (it didn't have a lot of flavor). I was still impressed with the fact that we managed to open a coconut with nothing but brute force! Other than that...we were all tired out, again. I think I managed to get to bed before midnight (or just after) almost every night we were there. It helped that we usually woke up before 8!

The coconut, as it was when it was knocked out of the tree.

After opening!

Christmas Vacation--In Chunks

Since I'm back to being busy with school and work, I'm going to try and recount my trip in a few posts. Let's start, shall we?

Day 1, Saturday: We awoke very early to pack the van and hit the road. I'm pretty impressed with my boyfriend's family's new van, the Honda Odyssey. Unlike my van, it has a lot of trunk space, and we all fit with all the crap pretty nicely. I can fit in most any vehicle nicely, seeing as I sit like a pretzel, but that's beside the point. We drove and drove, hitting traffic only south of Hot-lanta (Atlanta). We stopped in Ocala (Florida) for the night after driving 15 1/2 hours (with meal breaks, driver switches/potty stops). A good first day of traveling, for sure!

Sadly, it was dark when we reached Florida, so no awesome pictures of us with the sign. Such is life.

Day 2, Sunday: Started out with DENSE fog. Quarter mile visibility, lame! We made it through, and were planning on stopping in Ft. Lauderdale to meet up with my boyfriend's dad at Sam's Club (we needed to stock up on food for 18 people!). Last minute, our plans changed, and we were headed to a Sam's Club in Miami. This is where the trip down turned ugly. Somehow, streets and avenues were transposed, and we found ourselves in Little Havana. I assure you, there is no Sam's Club in Little Havana. It took us a long time to figure out this mistake, but with the help of Walgreen's and my brother at home, we managed to find where we needed to be. It was a crappy few hours, but since that was the worst part of the whole vacation, I'm glad it happened early!Awesome building somewhere in Miami. It was interesting to see Miami and the very apparent different culture.

After stocking up on the supplies, we got on the road. At this point, we had a Tom-Tom navigation system (given to us by my boyfriend's aunt's nephew, co0nfused yet?), and the navigation lady was pretty fierce. We missed a turn, and she starts insisting we "turn around as soon as possible" and "make a u-turn now". We ignored her and ended up where we needed to be anyway. We stayed on roughly the middle key (Marathon Key) at the Indigo Reef Resort. It's a fairly new (less than a year) resort with "timeshare" type condos. We had 3 in a row, and it was very awesome. The first several days we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves...until after Christmas. Everyone showed up to the condos around the same time, and it was a relief to be able to shower and change out of my "road clothes". Dinner was had, wine and beer were drunk, and everyone hit the hay pretty early.

This trip was the first time I saw the ocean, and my one of my boyfriend's brothers was kind enough to have a photoshoot of my first time seeing the ocean. Coming up--the first time I touched the ocean.

Happy New Year's Eve!

Well, we're back from Florida. We left yesterday morning at 10:45 and drove straight through getting home at 8:46 this morning. I'm pretty exhausted, but I don't want to sleep the day away, you know?

The trip was great and once I'm back at school, I'll make a post with the stories and pictures of the trip.


Happy New Year's!

Panic Mode!

So, it's getting down to the wire on my upcoming holiday trip and I'm panicking about packing. We're driving, and with 6 people in a minivan plus luggage, it's imperative that we pack efficiently! I have a small suitcase, but I decided that it wasn't the best, so yesterday I bought a biggish duffle bag (being that it's entirely soft, it'll "fit" better). This is a great plan, except that my suitcase is already packed and waiting for me in Columbus to finish the last minute things I have here at home. Ack. I'm also having difficulty because I have to pack for Florida and a few days at the end of the trip in Cincinnati. Sigh, it's the typical panic. It'll all work out!

I leave for Columbus on Friday morning, and get picked up and taken to Cincy on Friday afternoon. Bright and early Saturday we'll be on the road and in Florida on Sunday. Excitement!