The Demise of A Newly Minted "Adult"

I made it 20 days into 2011 without going anywhere outside of the Mid-Atlantic states. I am moderately impressed by my restraint.
Unfortunately, this morning I was notified of ridiculously low airfare to Key West, and yielded to my weakness. So in a mere 40 days, Ill be headed to the gorgeous sundrenched Florida Keys to stay with the fabulous GC. It'll be a lovely 9 day excursion, and this time Im flying instead of driving (WOO!!).

Really, I did the math this morning. Last time I went, I split tolls, a hotel, and gas one-way with GC. The whole thing was about ~$275. For a mere $50 more, I will make it there in 6 hours, instead of 27. No stress, no traffic, no overwhelming urge to pass out at the wheel. Its a surprising fare, primarily because flying into Key West International Airport is notoriously expensive. Im talking upwards of $700 when I looked last for a trip in January back in October. With the exception of this fare, Ive only seen airfare to Key West at prices higher than a flight to Honolulu.

I am duly impressed, Delta Airlines/Orbitz. I tip my hat. You both must be desperate to whip up some business. Seriously, kudos, because it worked. I have been watching the Key West Six-toed Cat Cam ads all week prior to leaving for work in the morning; I have been bitterly complaining about the unfairness of it all. How cruel is it to show white sand, blue skies, and people in shorts and tanks and bathing suits when here at home it is grey, 19 degrees F, and theres a good 42" of snow that has fallen, with another 8-12" predicted? Ads like that should be outlawed as cruel and unusual punishment for those of us in the northern climes.

But I digress.

Like my title says, this signals the demise of my attempt at adulthood. My New Years Resolution of staying home and saving money has erroded at 20 days. I dont think I was really cut out for homeownership anyway. Its all for the best, really. :)

Key West

I'm back from Key West. I had an amazing time. It was insanely fun, beautiful, warm, sunny, hilarious, and exhausting. Perfect end to 2009.

It started when I picked up GC from her parents house in Conneticutt at 5 on Christmas Day. We hopped onto 95 South, and drove. Drove, drove, drove, DROVE until 2 am when I started to hallucinate that I was gonna drive into a bridge in Richmond VA that didnt actually exist. We grabbed a place in an Econolodge and crashed for about 6 hours before we roared awake and and into a Dunkins. We drove the rest of the way, eating leftovers and snacks we'd packed back home.

We stopped in St. Augustine to visit with GC's ex-boyfriend and his mother, with whom she is very friendly. We stayed for about an hour, and they fed the hell out of us. Delicious green beans! We left about 8 pm, and drove the rest of the way to the Keys from there. It was an unreal drive. Took 11 hours from St Augustine to get to Key West.

Driving to Key West, we had to pass through a nature preserve that housed Key Deer. Key Deer are endangered. If you hit one, its an automatic $10,000 fine. Holy crap! So, I was GLUED AWAKE at 3 am. We actually saw 5 of them. It was really cool--- and it helped me to stay aware of my place on the road. GC did a GREAT job of talking to keep me awake.

We got to her place at 4 am, and I took 4 benadryls and crashed until 2 pm. We ate lunch at a place called Thai Island, where while we were paying the tab, I spotted a 7 foot long tarpin. I thought it was a shark. It was huge!! Just hanging out, hoping for someone to throw it some food. We hit up Virgillio's for Martini Mondays, where I met several of her friends, all of whom were extremely friendly. The Macchiato martini was delicious and very strong...

We went out every night, except Tuesday when we went to the movie theatre to see Up In The Air with two of her friends. They were very very cool. There was a total toolbag there, in a suit and Converse sneakers, and a bowtie, who made a rude comment to GC's friend. The friend responded, "Get food poisoning and die." It was funny at the time.

Wednesday we went snorkeling, which was AWESOME. We also went to Cowboy Bill's for Naked Bullriding competetion. That was pretty hilarious. A whole lot of nekkid people on a bull. Drunk, obviously. And hilarious.

Thursday was New Years Eve. We wandered around Duval Street. There was a whole lot of very awesome drag queens wandering around; one of whom was suspended in a giant shoe from the roof of a bar with a bubble machine. Beads were getting tossed left and right. It was unreal. I got elbowed in the head. I lost GC and her group of friends. Boo... I ended up walking back to GC's apartment and crashing.

Friday I started my drive back around 12, after I had my oil changed and I cleaned up GC's place. She was a no-show and I was pretty worried as we'd been separated on NYE. Turned out that she lost the battery in her phone. I drove from Key West to Savannah; it took 13 hours. I slept at an Econolodge again, took a shower, etc. Then, I got in my car at 7 am, and drove all the way home, stopping only for gas and ONCE to pee --literally, once-- all 19.5 hours from Savannah to my mother's house. It would have only taken 16 hours, but Massachusetts didn't plow any of its roads that storm. So I drove 10 mph the WHOLE WAY NORTH through MA. That was most seriously annoying. I got home at 2am, and went to sleep immediately. Woke up at 8 because my dogs needed to go out.

It was an amazing trip; I really don't have the right words to describe it. Everything was gorgeous. Every day I went for a run, a walk, and a bike ride. I saw Mallory Square, Duval Street, and all over the place. Theres a TON of wildlife to look at-- they even had a nature preserve on the island, for stuff like birds and lizards and stuff not related to the key deer.

I had so much fun. It was GORGEOUS. I want to go back....