CRUISIN'

All ridden out. All theme parked out. Day four saw us head the 400 miles to Key West, as far south as you can go in the USA.

I hired a large car. Unlike the convertible muscle cars like the Mustangs and Camaro's I have hired in the past for American Adventures (click to see the American Adventure blogs here) this was a saloon and practical. A short cab ride to the car hire place with my Sat Nav warming up and I was soon behind the wheel of a large white car.

I bought a GPS last summer as it cost less than hiring one for 2 weeks from the rental company. As I set off back to the hotel to collect the family a text was sent:

"Am in large white car. Be ready outside the hotel. We have a long way to travel. I am driving a Pontiac Blando Brougham Towncar Sedan".

Soon everything was loaded in and we set off. The journey to Key West has some great views. 7 Mile long causeways. Wildlife. Dark Lady and I saw Iguanas. Pelicans. The children in the back saw nothing. Glued to their iPods, iPads or sleeping. Still it was a six hour journey and it passed peacefully. I don't think anyone uttered the dread words:

"Are we there yet"?

Dark Lady had booked an apartment near the beach close to the Southernmost point. It was small relaxed and boasted two small pools and was clean and well-equipped albeit with rather loose fitting items.

Cupboard door handles wobbled. The rather impressive four-drawer fridge handles wobbled. In the bathroom the towel hook constantly fell to the floor and there were no instructions for the oven

Ella - the 16 year-old who has never shown that much interest in cooking - figured out how it worked. However, it resolutely refused to get very hot until I had a brainwave. Yes ME....a brainwave!!!

Being America, the thermostat was reading Fahrenheit as opposed to Celcius, as they do here. So 150f wasn't that hot bearing in mind the outside temperature was hovering around 90f.

After that we had no trouble and the Dark Lady served some memorable meals as we in turn baked ourselves by the pool.

We were there mainly to relax. Which we did. However, we did do a number of memorable things. I shall tell you in a future blog. What is more, in one instance, I lived to tell the tale.

Helpful clue coming up...