Trip: Florida Keys -Day 4
Attractions: Morning ‘yak Ride, Hot Dogs on the Barbeque, Snorkeling, Jimmy Johnson’s Big Chill – Music, Drinks & Dancing.
Date: February 17th, 2021

The first thing we wanted to do after breakfast was a bit of kayaking so we grabbed the paddles and some life jackets and headed to the beach where we had access to a couple of kayaks, complements of our condo hosts. Charlie and I headed out in the early calm waters and paddled around for a bit. While we were doing that, Mattix had found several crabs and was playing with them while Jill peacefully rested on the beach.

Mattix had some money that was burning a hole in his pocket so after our beach activities, we went to a gift shop where he bought a stuffed gator. It was another warm day so the kids got their pool gear on and went for a swim. They met some other friendly kids and were playing “waterpark” and “petting zoo”. Gotta love the imagination that kids have. I filled a cooler and headed to fire up the barbeque for lunch. I sipped on a cold one while I grilled hotdogs. The chopped salad and chips complemented them nicely.

We were debating on taking the kids on a boat ride out to some coral reef at some point during our trip, but wanted to make sure they were comfortable snorkeling first. The lady I had talked to earlier in the week said the snorkeling off the beach near the marina was pretty good, so Mattix and I checked it out. To our surprise, we saw quite a few fish. On our way back to the beach, we noticed a puffer fish nestled in some seaweed and we both squealed with excitement through our snorkels. When we got back to shore, you could see how pumped he was. “This is the coolest thing I’ve done so far!”, he exclaimed. When he told Charlie how much fun he had, of course she wanted to try, so the three of us went out again. This time it was Charlie and I screaming through our snorkels. A 3 foot nurse shark swam by us but by the time we got Mattix’s attention, it was gone.

Each of the previous nights, as we sat on the dock watching the sunset, we could hear live music in the distance. That came to mind when we needed to find a place for dinner. When we found out the music was coming from Jimmy Johnson’s Big Chill, we decide that was our next move. We got cleaned up, and walked the quarter mile up the street to JJ’s. We were lucky enough to get a seat near the stage but right on the water so we could listen to music while watching the sunset over the dock in the bay. And wouldn’t ya know it? It was happy hour, so we ordered some drinks and some appetizers. Shane ordered chicken wings, Jill the Coconut Shrimp, Mattix a Peperoni Pizza, and Charlie the Mini Burgers. If you’ve been following along, you probably noticed that Charlie likes burgers. She had one just about every day we were in Florida.

The music was good and drinks tasted great. So good, in fact, that we even did a little dancing while we were there. As a Dallas Cowboys fan I was interested in the décor and hardware inside. If you don’t know who Jimmy Johnson is, he was the Cowboy’s coach from 1989 to 1993 and he won a couple of championships while he was there. The restaurant had Jimmy’s Lombardi trophies and Super Bowl rings on display.

When we got back to the condo, we told the kids they could read for a bit or have some screen time while Jill and I went for a walk. We headed down to the dock and chatted with a retired Michigan police officer who was fishing for shark. I told him I saw one earlier in the day and it sounded like they usually do pretty good fishing for them. He and his wife started coming to Key Largo about a decade ago and each year they increased the amount of time they spend there. This trip they were going to be there for two months….#goals.

We had hoped the kids would be responsible enough to go to bed on their own, but after about a half hour, Charlie texted us wondering where we were, so we headed back to the condo… not having seen anybody catch a shark.

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