Thanksgiving weekend in the Keys

Thanksgiving week was a great week. On the 20th (Tuesday) Joel and Kelly (and her hetero life partner Liz) went to see Tori Amos in concert at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. Rhiannon stayed with her best friend Dylan - her first overnight sleep-over.

Thanksgiving day was simple and uneventful. I cooked a small turkey, dressing, candied yams (handy gams to Rhiannon), mashed potatoes, and a chocolate-custard pie. Joel helped with the turkey and made a green-bean casserole. It was just the three of us, so there was a lot of extra food. We watched the parade and Miracle on 34th Street and stuffed ourselves silly.

I had to work the next day - Black Friday (ugh).

Saturday we left to go camping in the Keys. The drive was long, but we went by way of Gator Alley, so it was interesting, We stopped on the way down at a boardwalk that went through the swamp. We saw a small alligator, a turtle, and a huge snake eating a catfish.

We camped at Curry Hammock State Park on Marathon Key. It was just a little RV park, but it was close to the water and suited our purposes just fine.

The beach was beautiful. There were kite-surfers everywhere because the wind was so strong there. They were awesome to watch. Draco loved it, too, although he had to stay on his leash the whole time. The only real down side was that there were Portuguese-Man-O-War all over the beach. Because I was nervous about them, I made Rhiannon nervous and afraid to go into the water. It's very difficult not to allow your own neuroses to rub off on your children.

We ate dinner at this cute little place called Herbie's. The food was expensive, but we were able to sit outside (well, in a screened in porch) and let Draco stay in the Jeep with the hatch open. He was happy to be able to see us. There was also this adorable black cat named Lucy who had full run of the place - Rhiannon was enchanted. Lucy refused to pose for a picture, however.

The next day, Sunday, we spent some time on the beach at our campsite, roasting marshmallows. Rhiannon even found a friend - a four year old named Elizabeth - in the neighboring campsite to play with. They became fast friends and spent a good portion of the morning building a new home for the ants out of pebbles and bright red berries. Then we found a dog friendly beach a little further down the Key called Coco Plum. Draco had a blast and even ran into the water, which he normally doesn't do. There he met a charming dog - also named Lucy. We then headed to Key West for a late lunch. I have to say, Key West is awesome and I really wish we had been able to spend more time there. We spent forever trying to find this restaurant called Pepe's that someone recommended because it was dog friendly. We eventually found it and it was worth the effort. The food was good, but the service was fantastic. Our waiter was so nice and we met a couple from Toledo who just fell in love with Rhiannon and talked to her the whole afternoon. After lunch, we walked around the town a bit, buying a tee-shirt form Sloppy Joe's (the Hemingway hangout). We weren't able to do much because we had to get on the road, as Joel had to return to work on Monday. I want to go back and spend a lot more quality time getting to know the city. Maybe then I can figure out why there are so many roosters hanging around.