Cigarettes 239 thru 254

Finally bought a camera to replace the one I lost in Key West. Jacque and I went to Key West to visit, it turned into something more (or less).

We started with a trip to the Everglades, our plan being to canoe for a day, camp for the night, canoe another day, then decide if we wanted to camp another night or move on to the Keys. Our plans were very loose, we would decide where we wanted to go and how to sleep- camp, motel- as we went. We only stayed one night in the Everglades, then moseyed on down to the Keys.  

Well, Jacque was drinking starting with our canoe trip out into the Gulf (which is part of the Everglades in that area). He got sloppy and foolish that night camping, and as I hadn't drank in over two years, and was looking to keep it that way, I should have used his behavior as an example. He couldn't find some of his gear, was running around on the island we were on in his underwear- "Because I can!"- getting sand inside the tent, and being something of a pain in the ass. 

His behavior did not provide a fine enough example, I guess, because on our trip into the Keys, we stopped for supplies, and I bought a six-pack. He kept telling me all the while about Duval Street, and what a party town Key West is, and on like he was a native. 

And a party town it was, for us those four days. But the thing is, any town is a party town if you want to make it that way. We could have done things differently from the get-go, and it would have been a completely different- read: better- experience. The six-pack led to bar visits, mixed drinks, shots, vomit, having the shakes at the end of it all, and having to detox. I had my camera in a bag with sunscreen and a towel, having planned to go to the beach, but all I ended up doing was going to bars and leaving the bag somewhere in the process.  I never went swimming in either the Atlantic or the Gulf, which was on of the things I really wanted to do. A waste. 

Ended up spending way too much money, losing stuff, not doing what I wanted, and coming driving home intoxicated, and afraid I started up the whole alcohol dependence thing again. I nipped that in the bud, but even just being drunk for 5 days left me shaky and shaken.