Guest Post: Kelly's "Sizzling" Key West Trip!

{I'm still in Key West hopefully enjoying the sights and sounds of a friend's wedding during Gay Pride Weekend! While I'm gone, I asked some lovely ladies to share their Key West memories. Kelly is amazing and here is her tragic tale...}

Hi! I'm Kelly from Keeping Up With Kelly and Co. When Krystal asked for guest posts about Key West I jumped at the chance. Not only do I love Krystal, but my Key West vacation story is one of my faves. I warned Krystal that it certainly is not a glamorous or love-filled honeymoon story but at least maybe a little entertaining.

Back in the summer of 2000, my little ol' family from Kansas planned a two week trip to Florida. My mom had just won a battle with cervical cancer and we were all in agreement that life is short... so we indulged in a trip of our family's lifetime.

We planned to spend one week in Key West and the second week at Disney World. What 17 year old from the midwest wouldn't be excited for this trip?? Especially since my conservative parents let Greg, my boyfriend of two years (much later-turned-husband :-)) partake in the vacation as well!

So my parents, my boyfriend, my 8 year old sister, and myself loaded up our Chevy Venture van and barely survived the 24 hour drive down to Florida.

I could go on and on about how my sister and I still blame one other for the spilled 20oz cherry slushie on day one on the floor of our new van's carpet or how my dad refused to let my more-than-capable 18 year old boyfriend drive any jaunt of the trip in exchange for a little shut eye...

But the best story starts as soon as we landed at the Southernmost Point of the Continental USA...

{18 year old Greg and 17 year old Kelly}

We took a few days to take in our amazing surroundings down in the Keys: the warm salty breeze, the aqua ocean, the seashells, the animals, the brightly colored buildings, and even a rainbow flag-baring transvestite-- we certainly weren't in Kansas anymore! ;-)

On the fateful day, we had quite the schedule planned. A private deep sea fishing tour followed by exploring our own private island for 3 hours. Naturally, all this red-headed 17 year old could think about was how I was going to work on my tan. In Key West, on a boat for 8 hours, with NO SUNSCREEN whatsoever. Naturally.

I was a good kid growing up, always following my parents' instructions... but no amount of, "Kelly. We are NOT playin' around. Put on the damn sunscreen" could get through to me. I was bound and determined (and any cost) to come back to Kansas with a golden brown tan!

So I deep sea fished. I caught some large groupers. I watched my dad hook into the SAME nurse shark twice. We snorkeled. We attempted to take underwater photos with those hoooorible Kodak water-proof cameras. I waded 100 yards in knee-deep turquoise water to our private island. My sister and I buried Greg into a sand mermaid. I stashed a conch shell into my backpack (Ssshhh!! Don't tell!!) I splashed in the waves... All without a drop of sunscreen on my body. For EIGHT hours.

{our boat captain with dad's shark}

As soon as we got back to land, I was SICK. Fever. Throwing up. Freezing cold chills. Delusional at times. My skin, particularly my shoulders, were BURNING hot. Back in 2000, minute clinics or any type of urgent care clinics weren't as prevalent so I was rushed to a pharmacist at the local drug store (Gee, thanks mom and dad...)

The pharmacist was alarmed and said that my shoulders were THE WORST sunburn he had EVER seen. I'll spare you the details on how my shoulder no longer really looked like normal, smooth-skinned teenage shoulders... But I'm sure you can imagine what a 2nd degree sunburn might look like. Quickly my parents followed the pharmacist's instructions-- buy milk of magnesia and pour all over my shoulders, follow by cold compresses, take two aspirin, and go to bed-- quickly.

To this day I still remember bawling in the drug store's restroom while my mom poured Phillips all over me. In my memory, the following few days can be summed up in one word: UNCOMFORTABLE. The half-dollar sized blisters all over my shoulder were tight and painful and kept me from moving much. I had to wear 2nd Skin Patches all over my shoulders.

By this time, we had driven back to Orlando and my family was spending our time touring Disney World. I on the other hand, was busy dodging nasty looks from rude onlookers, stares from children, horrified questions from curious people. It was pretty bad.

{a few days after the incident, sportin' a smile despite the 2nd skin patches...
already looking MUCH better}

SO. What did I learn from this VERY painful experience? OF COURSE, wear your sunscreen. Whether you're at home gardening, out on a weekend boat ride, or vacationing far, far away from home-- use some sort of SPF!

And also? Don't buy a extra large 20oz slushie and spill it all over the floor of your car when you have two weeks of vacation ahead of you ;-)