Plans!

 Winter Approcheth. Winter in the Deep South is more of a concept than a reality. Around here it means dreary days of rain with the occasional complete shut-down inducing flakes of snow followed by black ice on bridges. Anyone remember Snowmageddon that closed Atlanta for several days and caused Chik-Fil-A to deliver sandwiches to stranded motorists on I-285? I remember it. I wasn't living in Atlanta so I just shrugged and made soup.

Anyway, Capt and I make Winter Escaping Plans. Last year we went to South Fla in the Pompano Beach area for a dive trip. That was fun! The year before we went to Key West and I got my first real life exposure to drag queens and snow crab claws. Also Fun!  Capt's making noises now about another trip down to the Keys, for a couple of days of diving and boating (we're going to take The Other Line along), then drive to Tampa to spend a couple days with friends there. I want to hit up the Goodwill store in Naples because c'mon....Naples. You KNOW the Goodwill has to be something special. It's the first place I ever saw 4 McLarens at a stoplight. And some sort of supercar we couldn't identify but later determined it was a Volvo. I didn't know Volvo even made a supercar but there it was.  We ate at a restaurant that had Martini and Mussel Monday (I think it was Monday....might have been Wednesday) and I got the BEST mussels I'd ever had *AND* a proper martini. There were lots of fancy Ladies Who Lunch there and the whole thing was some sort of cultural experience that made me smile.

So yeah, we're making Winter Plans again. Nothing's firm, and initially I was kind of "hmmm" about it but then I remembered the Keys have John Pennecamp State Park and I have dive gear including tanks we could get filled somewhere and Pennecamp is some of the best diving in the country so there's that.  Plus the boat and Capt's kind of grooving on the idea of boating around the Keys and possibly catching a fish. Our friends in Tampa have ample room and a private dock, and Capt would love to explore the flats in the area and maybe do some more fishing. 

The more I think about it, the more I'm loving the idea of it. There's something about getting away to a Tropical Locale in the middle of Winter (or what passes for it in Central Alabama) for a complete change of venue that is deeply appealing. 

I'd have to probably shave my legs. 

And do a couple of practice dives maybe in a Florida spring, just to make sure I remember how. If he's teaching a class at the University around then, I could go into the pool and fritz around. Just to be sure.

Anyway, it's a possibility. For now we're going to do some fishing expeditions in the North Florida flats around Apalachicola and Port Saint Joe because it's that time of year and redfish is delicious.