I love some memories. The fun, the not so fun. Looking for the blessings among the struggles. I look back now and some memories make me laugh, even though not so funny at the time. Now I can find the funny among the annoyance, the blessings among the struggles.
My Husband's and My First Vacation Alone, By Ourselves, Without Others We Know
My husband and I decided to take a weekend and go to the Florida Keys in October 2002. Since we had 3 dogs at the time (one - 12 year old mixed breed named Bingo; one - 2 year old Jack Russell named Cricket, and one -1 year old Rat Terrier named Daisey) I had called ahead and reserved us a room at a cottage in Islamorada that allowed us to have dogs.
My husband and I had never taken a vacation by ourselves. Our vacations always consisted of visiting family, so we were (I was) pretty excited about the vacation.
When the journey started, my husband was the pilot and I was the co-pilot. We hadn't hardly made a mile, when Daisey (aka Baby Daisey) threw up. Since one of my roles in our house is the official PCU (Puke Cleaner Upper) it was my job to clean up the mess.
After the clean up was complete, we continued on our journey. Two people, ready to spend time alone together, with 3 dogs wanting our undivided attention.
The two younger dogs (Cricket and Daisey) were not happy being in the back seat, so they decided it would be in their best interest to express their non-appreciation for their current plight.
Cricket began to whine. It was more of soft whine. Daisey, however, decided to yell at us in a high pitch scream. After a short while of listening to this, I considered throwing myself out the window of the car. However, we were headed down the highway at a pretty fast pace, and the point of this vacation was to have fun, reduce stress and rekindle the love. Besides all that, I am really a wimp and the thought of myself splattered on the road was not something I wanted to put myself through. In retrospect, I probably should have searched for other, non painful, options.
The only way to get Daisey and Cricket to stop their annoying behavior was to put them in the front seat with me. Would it had been to leave the dogs in at a kennel? Most definitely, yes. But I think my husband would rather see me behind bars before he would want to see the dogs behind bars.
We finally arrived in Islamorada at our cute little cottage, aka "vacation paradise". It was Friday afternoon. The weather was nice, the cottage was cute, and it looked like things might be improving for our first vacation. I was wrong.
Friday was low key and we just hung out at the cottage. Starting Saturday morning, however, there was a high that met a low. I am not talking about my mood swings, or my, and my husband's, current discussions we were having. I am talking about air pressure and jet streams. The things that make the winds go to and fro.
The warm air had decided to meet up with the cold air and they went to war to see who would take control of the area. While determining this, they decided to send 20 - 30 mph winds on Saturday morning and 50 mph gale force winds by late Saturday afternoon.
The winds were not enough to allow either the cold air or the warm air to win the war, so they decided to add much rain throughout the day and night. I mean a lot of rain.
My husband and I had thought about taking out a paddle boat on Saturday, in between the rain drops, but we weren't sure if we would end up in Mexico or Africa. Since we couldn't decide which country we would like to visit, we decided it best to leave the paddle boat alone.
The cottages were on the Gulf side, but with the waves, breaking over the sea wall, made it look more like the Atlantic side.
The cold air finally won the war, and by Sunday morning the winds had died down to 15-20 mph. But then it was chilly (or for us Floridians, it was cold).
I found out through this weather experience, that there are actually times that people in the Keys wear light jackets and sweaters. If the manager of our "vacation paradise" was correct, the cold we experienced, of 56 degrees, was not the the coldest it had ever been. He thought the lowest recorded cold spell was 42 degrees, or possibly 46 degrees.
Having the dogs at the cottage was interesting. Daisey stole one or neighbors shoes and brought it back to Glen. I think when she smelled the shoe, she must have thought, "hey, this smells like Dad's feet". Then Daisey thought she could take on a doberman. Thank God for leashes. We had to worry about leaving the dogs and them barking in the room and disturbing the neighbors.
Apparently, this was the correct thing to worry about. I realized my neighbors had enough of our dogs barking by Sunday. My clue was when the lady in the cottage next to me asked me, in a somewhat strained voice, "Your aren't staying all week, are you". I reassured her that we would not be leaving on Monday.
The cottage we rented was bright yellow with a white door and white shutters on the windows. It had a little living room, a little bathroom, a little area for the bed and a little kitchenette. It was actually quite cute even if it was the cottage closest to the road (of the only road leading in and out of the Keys). #1 room for #1 people, that's what I say.
Being close to the road really did not create any problems for us. The cottage must have been well insulated. We did not hear our neighbors (which they could not say of us), the cars on the road or even the gale force winds.
The only problem with the cottage was the couch and TV. The couch never wanted you to leave. Once you sat it in, it somehow swallowed you and wouldn't let you get back up. The TV, on the other hand, did not want us there. It had a life of it's own. After you had it on for a while, it would get tired and turn itself off. Then to be funny, it would turn itself back on. The TV would continue with the on again, off again, until it was finished amusing itself, then it would shut itself off for good.
I shouldn't make too much fun of our "vacation paradise". The room was clean. The grounds were well kept. The manager and staff were accommodating. And even though we didn't get to do a lot, we did step out a little on Sunday and got to meet a local artist, Kelly Hosteller.
Also, on Sunday, we were able to see tarpon, lobster, sting rays, parrot fish, and other type of fish off the dock. The dock area had a nice place where you could walk into the water and swim. I am not sure who would want to do that, the tarpon were huge.
I did take pictures during this vacation. I have pictures of the waves breaking over the sea wall. I have pictures of the clouds covering up the sun. I think I might even have taken a picture of the shoe Daisey stole.
Just some after thoughts:
People think taking dogs on vacation is nuts. They are right.
Would I go back to the Keys again? Sure.
Would I take the dogs again? No.
Would I take my husband again? Sure, he helps pay the bills.
Would I stay at the same place? You betcha.
So what is we spent over $100 a night to stare at each other and entertain the dogs. Isn't that what vacations are about?
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