We didn't see that coming...

Let's talk about vacation, shall we?

We'll take a little detour from Italy and head to...

...Drum Roll, please...

Key West!

Remember this boy?

Remember how tricky I said he was being in 1998?

Well, he was. 

I decided I needed a vacation from him and his trickiness and Mom was happy to oblige so we headed down to the Conch Republic. I think we had been listening to the Garth Brooks song "Two Pina Coladas." Suddenly we needed to be somewhere tropical. Somewhere tropical with an ample supply of available guys.

So one Atlanta to Miami flight and one really large green rental minivan later...We were headed to Key West!

What happened there would become the stuff of legend in family stories for years. 

See what happened was that...

Well it's just that...

Hmmm, how do I start this...

It all starts with the fact that Mom and I aren't really planners.

So, we didn't check to see if anything special was going on in Key West that week. We just hopped on a plane and went. 

Don't worry reader...you don't have to take my word for what conspired because I journaled about it. 

And I took pictures.

So we pull onto the main drag (the word would come back to haunt us later) in our minivan all the while talking about the cute boys I would meet that would help me forget Mr Tricky back in Auburn. 

Thats when we saw the banner. The large banner. 

The banner that said:

"Welcome to Pride Week. 

Key West's Gay and Lesbian Pride Festival."

Yep. 

We had chosen to go to Key West during Key West's Gay Pride Festival.

Suddenly all my hopes for meeting a cute boy evaporated. 

Oh, there were plenty of cute boys. 

Ya know the phrase "water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink."

That was us in the pool surrounded by guys. 

And us in the restaurants surrounded by guys. 

Plenty of cute guys! They just weren't interested in me. 

We laughed. 

and laughed. 

and laughed. 

And we didn't stop laughing until we touched down in Atlanta.

Not even when we realized its a million degrees in June in Key West.

Not even when we saw alligators and snakes in the Everglades.

And especially not when Mom crashed the minivan in a parking lot in Miami.

Even though we did manage to sound somber and stop laughing just long enough to call Dad and tell him we had wrecked the car. 

But we went right back to laughing after we hung up.

Sorry, Dad but wrecking that goofy car was hilarious.

And I'm laughing now remembering it....