So, there are many things I enjoyed about Key Largo. I had an interesting time at RUSK. I liked some of the people I met there, but recovery in some respects, really concerned me there. People do not take meetings as seriously as I would have hoped. While they are on Key Largo time, some newcomers may need a meeting and are desperately trying to get there in time for a meeting. Oh, but where are the trusted servants?Oh, yeah, they are over there, gabbing, catching up, whatever. Hmmm, who is in the meeting room starting a meeting to best help the newcomer on a timely basis? Not many people. But some of the people proved to be very friendly and I am grateful for them. I am not the type of person to socialize with just anyone. I am MUCH more likely to observe some one's integrity when it comes to her program of recovery.
Some of the meetings mystified me: people started using other words and substituting words in the first step, suggesting to others that maybe others should consider a new reading on the first step. For example, someone suggested using the word "unbearable" instead of "unmanageable". Poor baby! Take some freaking responsibility and accountability for what your powerlessness did and TAKE the first step the way it was written! Then this suggestion and false message of pathetic unbearability transcended several meetings! Yikes! Scary! I did with some aggravation, I will admit, set the message straight. Fortunately, by this time, I met a woman early in recovery to help with the steps and pass on the actual message of AA, as it is found in the Big Book. I am so grateful I had the opportunity to help this young woman. This is how I stay sober!
In spite of my previous post, I had a really relaxing time in Key Largo; after all, I accomplished my PADI open water certification and my New Years resolution to stop smoking. While I can't say that first week or two of not smoking were relaxing, the freedom from smoking was extremely rewarding. In Key Largo, I met someone with whom I baked a lot (gingerbread cookies and cupcakes and more). We even made a wonderfully tasty dinner and over the course of 3-4 weeks watched several movies, genres evenly divided between alcoholic and chick flick! It was a lot of fun. This same woman offered Jeff and me the use of her boat. Along with her (soon to be ex) husband, Jeff and I went out to Molasses Reef to snorkel on New Years Eve. While there were too many jelly fish for me and the motion of the boat on the waves made me ill (literally, I provided fish food to the lucky ones on the reef), I had a great deal of fun. Any idea Jeff and I EVER had of owning any kind of boat was quickly put to bed when I told Jeff "there is NO fucking way I will ever live on a boat". Yep, that's what I said and that pretty much sums it up. Don't worry, I will still be able to go on dive boats and all that, but LIVING on a boat....well, I think I have given up that ghost.
I spent the last 2-3 weeks helping the (somewhat) newcomer get through the beginning steps, baking an awful lot, visiting Mrs Macs more than ever, and taking care of my "high maintenance" needs like hair cuts, waxing, and a pedicure! Mrs Macs is worthy of much more than a mention.
We first went to Mrs Macs on a whim to satisfy a recommendation from a woman I spoke with at the dog park on Tybee Island, Georgia. Jeff and I enjoyed this restaurant and I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone. So, remember, my tastes are specific: I loved their special sauce dressing, their cottage fries, and this pita sandwich they made. Granted I asked for it with out a few items, the pita sandwich with turkey breast was awesome. The servers (all female that I had) were friendly and one in particular was lots of fun and friendly with everyone; her name is Sarah and she was very familiar with Chandler's Ford in England where I first started my partying career as she, herself, lived not far from this little town near Southampton. The desserts were tasty as well! Jeff enjoyed the fish basket and other seafood meals. If and when we return to Key Largo, we are definitely spending some time at Mrs. Mac's.
There were a few other restaurants that I went to, but I only went to them a small handful of times. There was the Pilot House, DJ's Diner, Harriette's(spelling?) and they were fun, but they were not places I would probably choose to be a regular. I come back to Mrs. Macs because they remember I am the one with the unsweetened tea and the malt vinegar on the fries. I am going to keep coming back. See you next time Sarah and the gang at Mrs Macs!
Showing posts with label Key Largo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Key Largo. Show all posts
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Walking on broken glass
I really enjoyed many aspects of the meeting people part and the recovery process. I hope that all I met realize this and know this description of my physical living area does not accurately depict the people we met @ RUSK. That was fun & rewarding.
Having said that, I want to share my honest experience living in Key Largo at Mile Marker 97.5. We stayed at the Blue Fin Rock Harbor RV park/marina. I don’t know much about the owners, but as soon as we got to the RUSK club, people warned us about them, calling them slum lords. I was kind of surprised, but what the hell, everyone has an opinion. Then I heard more. By the time I had heard as unsavory things as the owners getting angry and doing coke (only rumors okay, opinions, whatever), I had already experienced the male owner yelling at someone. I had already experienced firsthand the men at the RV park discouraging me from using the shower rooms when I was all ready to hand over $20 for the shower room key. I showered in the RV the whole time, which is really no big deal since Jeff got a nice shower sprayer for us. The problem here is that they advertised showers; sometimes it is nice to take a nice hot shower at the RV Park and use less daily propane for use to use and a little bit of a change. But like I said, no biggie.
Days later, it was time to hit the laundry room. I thought for a minute someone forgot it was there because there was a rusted out laundry bin on rollers (that, due to rust build-up, wasn’t rolling anywhere). Of the five machines or so, ONE OR TWO even worked at all. The owner told me that they were nice big machines. Hmmm, really Alana? They cost $3.50 and $4.50 a load. They were NOT that big. Or nice. So, that about covers the grounds. The lot was expensive and it just seemed in retrospect, we did not get a whole lot for it. Except for the $40 we got back after we had written a check 6 weeks prior for $200 utilities up front. Who pays for utilities before you use them? We do, apparently. But like I said, we got $40 back, so I will disregard this element of the cash heist. Kind of.
The rest of my experience with the actual neighborhood was somewhat an extension of the rv park. It was glaringly obvious there were some deficits with this neighborhood. I don’t think I mentioned the permanent drunk fest across the way from us. The following activities occurred on a daily basis across the small street from us: drinking,yelling, littering and forgetting what day it was. To the best of my knowledge, there lived a small child in this alcoholic little trailer (a double wide, maybe, not even sure), but neither Jeff or I ever saw that child. The parent(s) were heard by either myself or Jeff (mostly Jeff though) whining about whose responsibility it was to take care of the child. It seemed safe to assume that if they were not complaining about parenting time, they completely lost track of parenting all together. It was often not clear. The distinction remained somewhat of a mystery during the week as the drinking and haphazard whining (that could be heard 50 feet away outside of their trailer and wafting into our personal space right outside our RV) more or less on the weekends or any football game they deemed important. It got a little bit annoying. I, to this day, do not really know exactly who lived there and claimed parentage of this child, but there was a woman who hung out there quite a lot and who could be frequently heard exalting herself to the most unhumbling (and unflattering) extent. So this could be the Mommy; I am not completely certain. What I do know is that this woman could be the one who was talking loudly (really?!) New Years Eve about this guy who was about 23 years old groping her ass and wanting to get into her pants. By just her voice (don’t judge someone by their voice-you may be giving them too much credit), she sounded late 50ish. Then she opened her big mouth (some more) and declared “how can someone 20 years younger than me think I am into him” or something to that effect. So instantly calculating that she was 43 (or so), I relayed the story to Jeff . The next day he pointed out the only woman hanging out on the front porch of this trailer. This woman...,well, I will just leave it to the imagination. I will tell you this: there is a reason she sounded MUCH older than her years. And if this is the drunk Mommy of said child, God help the young one. Now, you remember that I had mentioned NO gossip as a part of my 2010 resolutions. I realize that the tale I have just told and have yet to tell is an example of my shortcomings. I accept that, but I will probably continue with this character defect-just for the rest of the evening. The dilemma I have is that I have not used names. Oh wait, I guess I did. As far as the neighbors, I did not use names. As far as the business practices displayed being fact, not slander, I am not sure I completely apologize to the mentioned owners of the RV park.
Now, as far as the actual environs of the RV park neighborhood, they left a LOT to be desired. There was glass broken randomly around the sides of the roads, especially near the dumpster. There were areas that I had to dodge shredded beer cans (shredded metal is almost as nasty as the shards of glass. I don’t think my dogs would argue the points as they had to navigate gingerly over the territory on four naked paws; at least I had my flip flops on. As I would walk around the block,Max would head toward the bushes/grassy area. Everytime we visited those areas, there was a new set of shoes disposed or suspiciously abandonded socks on the ground (very very creepy, ok, if you have a vivid imagination like I do and watch way too much Sopranos). There was a bike or moped often attached to a tree next to an abandoned six pack or empty 40 ouncer. Yay, maybe the moped rider walked home. Then one day, we found a motorcycle with a dog latched on with a makeshift rope of some sort. Fortunately, there were a few adults near the motorcycle, so we did not have to worry about the fate of the dog (well, actually, I think we worried more and you would too if you saw them).
This pretty much summarizes the experience day to day living (walking the dogs and biking around the neighborhood). Walking on broken glass was a daily occurrence. Did you notice this was not a rave review? Next, I will compensate the neighborhood experience with my sober living experience and that really made up for all of this (as well as the diving certification and accomplishment). That will have to be my next posting as I am almost done with my laundry.
Have a good one & see you next time!
Having said that, I want to share my honest experience living in Key Largo at Mile Marker 97.5. We stayed at the Blue Fin Rock Harbor RV park/marina. I don’t know much about the owners, but as soon as we got to the RUSK club, people warned us about them, calling them slum lords. I was kind of surprised, but what the hell, everyone has an opinion. Then I heard more. By the time I had heard as unsavory things as the owners getting angry and doing coke (only rumors okay, opinions, whatever), I had already experienced the male owner yelling at someone. I had already experienced firsthand the men at the RV park discouraging me from using the shower rooms when I was all ready to hand over $20 for the shower room key. I showered in the RV the whole time, which is really no big deal since Jeff got a nice shower sprayer for us. The problem here is that they advertised showers; sometimes it is nice to take a nice hot shower at the RV Park and use less daily propane for use to use and a little bit of a change. But like I said, no biggie.
Days later, it was time to hit the laundry room. I thought for a minute someone forgot it was there because there was a rusted out laundry bin on rollers (that, due to rust build-up, wasn’t rolling anywhere). Of the five machines or so, ONE OR TWO even worked at all. The owner told me that they were nice big machines. Hmmm, really Alana? They cost $3.50 and $4.50 a load. They were NOT that big. Or nice. So, that about covers the grounds. The lot was expensive and it just seemed in retrospect, we did not get a whole lot for it. Except for the $40 we got back after we had written a check 6 weeks prior for $200 utilities up front. Who pays for utilities before you use them? We do, apparently. But like I said, we got $40 back, so I will disregard this element of the cash heist. Kind of.
The rest of my experience with the actual neighborhood was somewhat an extension of the rv park. It was glaringly obvious there were some deficits with this neighborhood. I don’t think I mentioned the permanent drunk fest across the way from us. The following activities occurred on a daily basis across the small street from us: drinking,yelling, littering and forgetting what day it was. To the best of my knowledge, there lived a small child in this alcoholic little trailer (a double wide, maybe, not even sure), but neither Jeff or I ever saw that child. The parent(s) were heard by either myself or Jeff (mostly Jeff though) whining about whose responsibility it was to take care of the child. It seemed safe to assume that if they were not complaining about parenting time, they completely lost track of parenting all together. It was often not clear. The distinction remained somewhat of a mystery during the week as the drinking and haphazard whining (that could be heard 50 feet away outside of their trailer and wafting into our personal space right outside our RV) more or less on the weekends or any football game they deemed important. It got a little bit annoying. I, to this day, do not really know exactly who lived there and claimed parentage of this child, but there was a woman who hung out there quite a lot and who could be frequently heard exalting herself to the most unhumbling (and unflattering) extent. So this could be the Mommy; I am not completely certain. What I do know is that this woman could be the one who was talking loudly (really?!) New Years Eve about this guy who was about 23 years old groping her ass and wanting to get into her pants. By just her voice (don’t judge someone by their voice-you may be giving them too much credit), she sounded late 50ish. Then she opened her big mouth (some more) and declared “how can someone 20 years younger than me think I am into him” or something to that effect. So instantly calculating that she was 43 (or so), I relayed the story to Jeff . The next day he pointed out the only woman hanging out on the front porch of this trailer. This woman...,well, I will just leave it to the imagination. I will tell you this: there is a reason she sounded MUCH older than her years. And if this is the drunk Mommy of said child, God help the young one. Now, you remember that I had mentioned NO gossip as a part of my 2010 resolutions. I realize that the tale I have just told and have yet to tell is an example of my shortcomings. I accept that, but I will probably continue with this character defect-just for the rest of the evening. The dilemma I have is that I have not used names. Oh wait, I guess I did. As far as the neighbors, I did not use names. As far as the business practices displayed being fact, not slander, I am not sure I completely apologize to the mentioned owners of the RV park.
Now, as far as the actual environs of the RV park neighborhood, they left a LOT to be desired. There was glass broken randomly around the sides of the roads, especially near the dumpster. There were areas that I had to dodge shredded beer cans (shredded metal is almost as nasty as the shards of glass. I don’t think my dogs would argue the points as they had to navigate gingerly over the territory on four naked paws; at least I had my flip flops on. As I would walk around the block,Max would head toward the bushes/grassy area. Everytime we visited those areas, there was a new set of shoes disposed or suspiciously abandonded socks on the ground (very very creepy, ok, if you have a vivid imagination like I do and watch way too much Sopranos). There was a bike or moped often attached to a tree next to an abandoned six pack or empty 40 ouncer. Yay, maybe the moped rider walked home. Then one day, we found a motorcycle with a dog latched on with a makeshift rope of some sort. Fortunately, there were a few adults near the motorcycle, so we did not have to worry about the fate of the dog (well, actually, I think we worried more and you would too if you saw them).
This pretty much summarizes the experience day to day living (walking the dogs and biking around the neighborhood). Walking on broken glass was a daily occurrence. Did you notice this was not a rave review? Next, I will compensate the neighborhood experience with my sober living experience and that really made up for all of this (as well as the diving certification and accomplishment). That will have to be my next posting as I am almost done with my laundry.
Have a good one & see you next time!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Getting to Key Largo or how we got screwed out of $580
So here I am in Key Largo. We were going to take the slower route to Key Largo as we had reservations at Blue Fin Rock Harbor from December 16-January 15. When we were getting ready to leave Tybee Island, GA, we knew we needed to get warm in a big hurry. We had reservations at Blue Fin Rock Harbor for December 15-January 15, but the woman who is my contact there did not answer the phone so I called another place in Key Largo as I didn't think we could get a place so early at Rock Harbor. I called this place Riptide RV park and got a reservation for 12 days. It was a bit expensive. They also charged us an extra $25 per dog. Then the Rock Harbor lady called back and said we could stay there. When I called Riptide back, Greg refused to cancel the order and said because we already put it on our card, we couldn't reneg now. Really? Yeah really. So I called Alana back at Rock Harbor and told her what happened which she said was ridiculous, because they should have no problem voiding the transaction or crediting us as we wanted to cancel within an hour, especially with no signature binding us (which is probably why Alana only takes cash or checks). That should have been a big red flag to us. So, Alana said if we had any problems with them in Key Largo, we could just call her when we got in.
So we got to Riptide at 2:45 pm only to read a sign that says "be back in 5 minutes, call _____ for assistance". So I called the number. Twice. At 4:15, needles to say, Jeff and I were tired, hot and impatient. I called Alana at Rock Harbor. "Come on over" was all she needed to say. We got to the Rock Harbor Marina and got settled and I missed the Riptide's call at 4:45 pm (while we were getting oriented to the hook ups, etc) that we could pick out a site and they will catch up with us later. How gracious! Any site? I called our credit card who told us how to dispute it, but recommended that for the record, I should probably ask them first and I may not have to get to the disputing part. I called back and left a message about finding another site "but thank you anyway and please credit us". They called me back and he was a total ass. " I refuse to credit you" was his only response. I said that I would have to dispute and he said "I am not responding to that" and hung up. Ohmygod! In a recession, you would think people would not to try to run out any future or current business with ANY of this behavior! Did I mention that they charged $25 per dog. Yes? Oh good, because I didn't want to miss a thing. But then again, I guess Riptide is in a lot of fear with not having any customers (empty RV park) and holding on to any money they think they can get. Riptide is getting a little desperate, yes?
So, we wrote a check to the Rock Harbor (which was a 1 minute drive from Riptide, no joke) for the 12 extra days and gave it to an older guy named Mike who winced when we mentioned the Riptide. I will say that Alana was really nice to just bring us over and give us a prorated figure for the 12 days rather than the normal daily rate. And by the way, she does not charge for the three dogs!
Alana showed me the Dive-in shop where they rent boats, wave runners, fishing gear and dive gear, not to mention they are a PADI certified instruction center. In my next post, I will talk about my introduction to diving! See you then!
So we got to Riptide at 2:45 pm only to read a sign that says "be back in 5 minutes, call _____ for assistance". So I called the number. Twice. At 4:15, needles to say, Jeff and I were tired, hot and impatient. I called Alana at Rock Harbor. "Come on over" was all she needed to say. We got to the Rock Harbor Marina and got settled and I missed the Riptide's call at 4:45 pm (while we were getting oriented to the hook ups, etc) that we could pick out a site and they will catch up with us later. How gracious! Any site? I called our credit card who told us how to dispute it, but recommended that for the record, I should probably ask them first and I may not have to get to the disputing part. I called back and left a message about finding another site "but thank you anyway and please credit us". They called me back and he was a total ass. " I refuse to credit you" was his only response. I said that I would have to dispute and he said "I am not responding to that" and hung up. Ohmygod! In a recession, you would think people would not to try to run out any future or current business with ANY of this behavior! Did I mention that they charged $25 per dog. Yes? Oh good, because I didn't want to miss a thing. But then again, I guess Riptide is in a lot of fear with not having any customers (empty RV park) and holding on to any money they think they can get. Riptide is getting a little desperate, yes?
So, we wrote a check to the Rock Harbor (which was a 1 minute drive from Riptide, no joke) for the 12 extra days and gave it to an older guy named Mike who winced when we mentioned the Riptide. I will say that Alana was really nice to just bring us over and give us a prorated figure for the 12 days rather than the normal daily rate. And by the way, she does not charge for the three dogs!
Alana showed me the Dive-in shop where they rent boats, wave runners, fishing gear and dive gear, not to mention they are a PADI certified instruction center. In my next post, I will talk about my introduction to diving! See you then!
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