As with every other day of this trip, this morning started with a trip to the pool. Here is a shot of our pool here in Duck Key, Florida.
They never seem to tire of swimming.
Our next stop was to “swim with the dolphins” at the Dolphin Research Center.
Before we went I had half a dozen jokes prepared about how we got to beat the dolphins with hoses and stuff, but after touring the place I changed my mind. The Dolphin Rescue actually rescues hurt and abandoned dolphins and provides a nice place for people to come study and interact with them. So, no dolphin beating jokes from me.
I have another IOU to write more about the place, but we got to spend about half an hour in the water with the dolphins. We got to pet them and interact with thm and it was simply amazing to be so close to them.
From there, we hopped in the car and headed south to see the Southernmost Point Buoy, the southernmost point of the continental United States. This may have been a misfire, I don’t know. We drove 90 minutes each way to say we saw it. We saw it. By this point in the trip the kids were sick of being in the car and I was sick of being in the car with them. This led to a fairly substantial meltdown on my part that ended with me in timeout back at the hotel while Susan and the kids went (what else) swimming.
Our final stop of the night was at a local Mexican/Cuban restaurant. We got seated next to a couple who were involved in some sort of domestic issue and insisted on screaming the F-word into their cell phone. When the waitress asked if we would like her to say something to the couple, I told her, “either you can or I can, but I’m not having a great day and if I do it, it’s going to be a real interesting night for everyone here.” The guy sitting next to us leaned over to me and said, “If you do, I got your back.” When the waitress asked them to cool it, the lady erupted in another tirade. “This is America, I have a right to say whatever the F I want!” she shouted. “I don’t care who said something,” she continued, “I’m right here, they can come say it to my face!” Finally her boyfriend said, “have some class in front of the children.”
At one point during the meal her boyfriend got up and we got to stare at each other. Based on his facial tattoos I had 50/50 odds on whether or not I would end up dead or just in the hospital. In the end though, the couple got their food to go and on the way out the lady stopped by our table and apologized and handed the kids $10 and told them to buy some ice cream. Before we could do that, the waitress showed up at our table with a slice of cheesecake with the word “SORRY” written on the plate with chocolate syrup.
“My writing, it is not so good with the chocolate,” she said.
So, the kids got $5 each, everybody had a few bites of cheesecake, and best of all, I didn’t get stabbed. Oh, and the food was pretty good too.
