RBD
Well Known Member
My wife was in need of a well-deserved break from studying for the CPA exam, so we planned a weekend trip to the mountains of North Georgia in hopes of catching the Fall leaves in their full glory. We both took Friday, October 23, off from work and planned on heading up early in the morning. Unfortunately, a cold front arrived just in time to ruin our plans of going North. I was on a late flight back to Tampa Thursday night after working in Dallas that week, and knew I didn't have much time salvage a trip. I finally got home at 11:00pm, hopped on the 'puter, and a few mouse clicks and 40,000 Hilton points later, had a room booked at the Casa Marina in Key West.
All buckled in and ready to depart KPCM (Plant City, FL) bright and early
Whoever it was that first looked upon the Everglades and called it a "sea of grass," absolutely nailed it. It is very misleading in that if we looked to the West (away from the sun,) the ground looked like dry land; however, looking East shows how much water is really down there.
Given my Uncle's experience a few weeks earlier of ditching in the Keys, we thought we'd go the loong way around. This is the Southern tip of the FL mainland, and I suspect that somewhere in this shot is where my Uncle went down (never did find the plane.)
Navy Key West approach dropped me down to "at or below 1,000" to avoid the fighters. Fine with me.
Short cab ride later ($8 per person from the airport to anywhere on the island) and we were there. The hotel was built in 1920 by railroad gazillionaire (adjusted for inflation) Henry Flagler. Nice place.
Having been to Key West before, we decided to skip most of the bar/tourist scene. The hotel is several blocks from the madness on Duval Street, and after eating lunch down there, we decided that we'd stay at the hotel for dinner. As we watched the sunset from the hotel's little pier, my wife noticed that they were setting up a few tables on the "sand" (crushed coral that will turn a pair of brown sandals white in two steps.) We had a great dinner in one of the best dining rooms I've ever had the pleasure of eating in.
.....and the wine persuaded us to stay a while.
It looked the cold front in Georgia was going to move out by Saturday afternoon, so we decided on another last minute change of plans - we were going to see the leaves after all. We launched out of KEYW at 7:30am and headed back PCM to meet her parents at the airport.
Continued below....
All buckled in and ready to depart KPCM (Plant City, FL) bright and early
Whoever it was that first looked upon the Everglades and called it a "sea of grass," absolutely nailed it. It is very misleading in that if we looked to the West (away from the sun,) the ground looked like dry land; however, looking East shows how much water is really down there.
Given my Uncle's experience a few weeks earlier of ditching in the Keys, we thought we'd go the loong way around. This is the Southern tip of the FL mainland, and I suspect that somewhere in this shot is where my Uncle went down (never did find the plane.)
Navy Key West approach dropped me down to "at or below 1,000" to avoid the fighters. Fine with me.
Short cab ride later ($8 per person from the airport to anywhere on the island) and we were there. The hotel was built in 1920 by railroad gazillionaire (adjusted for inflation) Henry Flagler. Nice place.
Having been to Key West before, we decided to skip most of the bar/tourist scene. The hotel is several blocks from the madness on Duval Street, and after eating lunch down there, we decided that we'd stay at the hotel for dinner. As we watched the sunset from the hotel's little pier, my wife noticed that they were setting up a few tables on the "sand" (crushed coral that will turn a pair of brown sandals white in two steps.) We had a great dinner in one of the best dining rooms I've ever had the pleasure of eating in.
.....and the wine persuaded us to stay a while.
It looked the cold front in Georgia was going to move out by Saturday afternoon, so we decided on another last minute change of plans - we were going to see the leaves after all. We launched out of KEYW at 7:30am and headed back PCM to meet her parents at the airport.
Continued below....
Last edited: