I’m realizing that I’m really in desperate need of a vacation. Whenever you leave home, you get into that traveler mentality where you just seize whatever the moment provides, you take pictures, and you seem to just breathe in life a little deeper and little more meaningfully. Routines are meaningless.

So with that in mind, I’ve tried my best to leave behind my brand new life in Chicago (which has been adventurous on its own, stories already posted) and headed out with my family for an extended Thanksgiving in Florida. First, my Brother in Law, my sister, and myself flew out of Detroit (freshly rated the most dangerous city in America!), into Miami (soon to be freshly rated shithole by the three of us).

Saw this No Smoking sign in the bathroom on the plane.

and an ashtray right below it.

We soon learned that Miami has an airport designed in the late 60s, and not so much as a paint brush has touched it since. We learned shortly after that that the rental car place we needed to pick up a car from was not so much “in terminal” as the website had suggested, but rather “nowhere near terminal.” We hopped a shuttle and picked up our Jeep Patriot and promptly got stuck in traffic without much knowledge of how to get out of this God forsaken city. Well after a few circles driven, we did manage to get out of the city and headed south toward the Keys.

Here’s a quick shot from where we got lost.

A few facts I soon learned about the Florida Keys:

– It really does feel like its own state (you kind of forget you’re in Florida)
– There are somewhere between 42 and 54 bridges connecting all the keys together (I never could get a straight number, but there’s a bunch)
– People refer to where they live by the mile marker on US 1
– Key West is far away from the mainland
– While they may jangle, the Keys are not actually made of giant Keys
– Whales are mammals

One thing that blows me away is that when you get off the mainland and into the Keys, Key West is still over 100 miles away. So you’re basically driving on a road 100 miles out into the ocean.

We stopped at a bayside restaurant in Key Largo for lunch, which was amazing (Mahi Mahi), and drove down to my Uncle’s house. Soon after we headed out for a drink at a Tiki Bar (naturally)[, and eventually called it a night.

This place is gorgeous. I don’t think I’ve felt temperature this perfect in my life.

So not a bad start.