yearning for the Keys

I’ve unofficially decided that Sara and I need to take a trip down to the Florida Keys this summer.

The thought came about earlier this weekend when I was trying to come up with some vacation ideas that we could enjoy without completely crumpling our budget. It’s been extra difficult over the last year because she only gets a week off between semesters, and usually that time is just spent trying to unwind here at home, but at the same time it’s always nice to be able to get away and relax in another locale, too. We’ve already got the plan to go on a cruise this fall when she finally graduates, and obviously we go over to Disney all the time anyways, and then I came up with the idea of possibly hopping down to the Keys for a three or four night getaway.

For us it would actually work out pretty good because given the timing of her summer break from school, we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of the blackout season for Florida Resident Passholders over at Disney, and between the heat and the crowd levels we wouldn’t really want to go there anyways, but the Keys could be an entirely different scene. With no actual events or activities to fill our schedule, it would leave lots of time for just lying around on the beach relaxing. Throw in maybe a bit of snorkeling, a few umbrella-laden drinks, and it sounds good to me!

I’m trying to think back and it’s all still a bit fuzzy to me, but I think the last time I’ve actually been in the Keys was back in high school when I took a “senior trip,” if you will, down here with a couple of friends. And mind you, that was in 1999, so I do believe that after 9 years have passed, 5 of which I have lived in Florida, thus making the Keys a mere 6-hour drive away as opposed to nearly 30 … as Jimmy would put it, I’ve just got to get back to the islands…

Can anyone recommend a nice, but affordable resort down south?