The Dad Visit

My Dad, Tracy, just recently paid us a visit and brought with him the lovely woman he cleverly conned into marrying him 26 years ago, Barbara. They arrived a day earlier than expected when they made the best of their weather window and left before an impending snowstorm dropped several inches of the white stuff in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. The weather was sunny and warm ...although not quite as warm as one would hope for... when they arrived on Thursday, and they did a little sight-seeing before coming out to the boat for sunset and dinner. We had BBQ chicken on the grill accompanied by steamed shrimp, basmati rice, and fresh veggies. Jeff broke out his guitar afterwards and gave our visitors a song or two. We called it an early night since they were beat from their long haul to get here and I delivered them back to the docks so they could retire to the Blackfin Resort for a good night's sleep.

Friday morning we ventured across the street to the Stuffed Pig for "Gravy Pigs" under the tiki hut and then explored the area a bit with stops at Keys Fisheries, Daffy Doug's, Burdine's [for dinghy fuel], Ore Seafood, and Castaway's to check out the evening's specials. The afternoon was actually nice enough to take a dinghy tour around the harbor and up Sister's Creek and to soak up a little sunshine. Later on, we met at Castaway's for raw oysters and a bit of dinner. We had planned to stay for the entertainment, but the weather took a serious turn for the worse with big winds, big rain, and a big drop in temperature. We scrambled to our respective vehicles and called it another early night.

We had a big day planned for Saturday with an all-day, outdoor concert at Lazy Lakes RV Resort featuring Howard Livingston, Chris Cook, Cowboy Troy, Mac McAnally, and Jerry Jeff Walker just to name some of the day's venue. The proceeds from the show went to Habitat For Humanity and we had purchased our tickets in advance.

The weather was not ideal.

It was a little too cold and a little too windy with not enough sun.

We managed to have a good time anyway and enjoyed a lot of good music, free hotdogs, and people [and dog!] watching.

Click here to visit this album - click "slideshow" for a bigger show.

Sunday was spent recuperating and we met for dinner at Lencho's mexican restaurant.

Monday, we made a trip to Key West to see the Tropical Forest and Botanical Gardens and the Butterfly Conservatory, where Barbara and I were both lucky enough to have butterflies perch on us, and then we grabbed some dinner at Keys Fisheries.

Tuesday, we had planned on doing a little fishing, but the weather just didn't cooperate. We let some of the drizzle and clouds burn off and then we headed to Crane Point to have a look around. By the time we were done walking the grounds, we were all starved and we headed to Herbie's for some lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent in preparation of an early morning departure the next day. The Hurricane, conveniently located on the Blackfin property, always has "Taco Tuesday" so for dinner we walked over and had us a few $1 tacos.

They were off the next morning before sunrise for the 2 day trek back to Ferdinand, Indiana.

The visit didn't go exactly how I had it planned.

The weather just wasn't nice enough to do much fishing or sunning on the beach.

So, even though there are lot's of things to see and do in Marathon, most of them are weather pending.

But that's life on a sailboat...it's all weather pending.

I enjoyed the time I got to spend with my dad, and Barbara and hope they come back when they can enjoy all the things they missed this time around.