Back From Traveling

This past weekend, Jim and I flew to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I had never been there, so I was quite excited in looking at the pictures of palm trees, blue skies, and ocean scenes before the trip. We finally arrived after descending through a thunderstorm and experiencing the kind of turbulence that makes me clammy and green. Once Jim took me up in a little two seater airplane, and I can remember the only thing that prevented my throwing up was the picturing of being closed in a gray metal room. I know that's weird, but it was all that halted the ruining of a good blouse. I haven't really needed to conjure up the metal room image since then... that is, until this past weekend. It's not that I'm afraid. It's just that, for some reason, as I get older, I get more and more susceptible to motion sickness. I don't know why that is, and come to think of it, I don't know another person that can be DRIVING the car and be the only one getting car sick. But whatever.

Anyway, I had my focal point on the seat in front of me and was quietly breathing through the nausea when we at last landed in Florida. The weather was just like the pictures, and it was gorgeous. I enjoyed the 85 degree weather while my hair instinctively assumed its Florida frizz position. Keeping in mind that the folks back home had April snowflakes, the frizzy hair was worth it.

While vacationing we had the bright idea to drive down to Key Largo so that we could say we'd been to the Florida Keys. The drive turned out to be MUCH longer than expected. This was partly because of a lot of bathroom stops for so many people, but it was also because we learned that Key Largo has virtually nothing to see. You are basically forced to continue driving on to Key West just so that you can say you didn't waste your day. What makes traveling to Key West by 12-passenger van with a bunch of virtual strangers bearable? Key Deer, of course! Now, I've never been to Key West, but as we were driving along the causeways, I surely did not expect to see "Deer Crossing" signs. Crocodile crossing, sure... but really? Deer?

What are deer doing on the keys (and HOW did they get there) was a real bonding conversation in the vehicle. We laughed about the animals trotting along the seven mile bridge. Surely that's not how it happened. Wikipedia offers a nice picture and reveals that the deer are a tiny version of what we're used to seeing in Missouri. The deer were apparently trapped on the islands after the most recent Ice Age when a glacier melted, causing the sea level to rise.

This explanation seems ordinary and definitely not as funny as the ponderings by van that day. We looked and looked for the elusive little creatures, but I finally lost it when someone in the back whispered, "I bet they have webbed feet."