I only have 5 cousins, all on my mothers side of my family. My oldest cousin Michael was born first, and we always say our grandmother prayed a little too hard for a granddaughter because she wound up with 4- less than 6 months apart from each other! And then William came along 7 years after us. This is the family I go see every Thanksgiving without fail. When Ryan and I first met I practically made this a contractual agreement. His family could have Christmas or Easter- mine had Thanksgiving.
The last time my cousin’s and I went on vacation together was probably when we were all still in middle school, so we decided, it was high time to give it a try and 2020 seemed like a perfect year.
We had a strict criteria. Warm.
We settled on Florida- easy to get to, fairly inexpensive and a short flight for all. In an effort to get as much warm weather as possible we went as far south as possible, to the Florida Keys. We stayed at Hawks Cay Resort on Duck Key in a little timeshare, overlooking a canal. I’ve never been to the Keys before and I have to say- I have never seen such vivid blue before- the sky, the water, everywhere. Gorgeous.
The only surprise in store was the cold front that came in just for when we were there- dropping the temp down to the 60s- not bad for late February for us northerners but a little cold for swimming. So we did lots of exploring, eating, and drinking. We spent the day in Key West, doing the tourist thing like going to the southern most point, Hemmingway’s house, and a drag show!
The 4 day trip was a success. We would only realize a week later how lucky we were to go on the trip at all. Just a week later Coronavirus started appearing in the US. 2 weeks after we returned, our states started shutting down. So who cares if it was a touch cold? We got to spend time with family, see every shade of blue under a bright and beautiful sun. Plus, all this time at home gives me a chance to plan a return trip!
