When I decided a couple of weeks ago that I was definitely going to particpate in the March of Dimes this year I made sure to put some serious thought into it. I mean, I am a working mom – we are out the door by 7am every morning to head to daycare and then work. Did I really want to spend on of the few days off we had getting up early, driving 45 minutes, and all with a baby who still naps and who will need diaper changes and to be fed smack in the middle of the walk? I sure did. I could handle it. This wasn’t a race, I could walk at my pace and Sophie and I would do something new and different for a change. Not to mention, the March of Dimes is a great cause.
The walk was this weekend. My sister drove down from her home to join us. We were up bright and early and out the door by 7am. We were excited! We were on time! Then…well, then I found out the hard way that Miami-Dade (or whoever it is has control over the tolls in Key Biscayne where the walk was being held) has no idea what they are doing and badly, badly, BADLY, miscalculated the number of people and cars would be involved in a race of this magnitude. Had they even heard of the March of Dimes?
We never made it to Crandon Park on Key Biscayne for the walk. The idiots who run Key Biscayne kept the tolls running which means that my sister and I (along with THOUSANDS of other cars) were stuck in hours worth of traffic trying to get through the toll booths leading to Key Biscayne (at $1.50 per car – they made a killing on Saturday). This means that all of our preperation and anticipation was for naught. Once we did pass the toll both there was miles worth of traffic on the way to Crandon Park (I can only assume that we can add PARKING to the list of items that were not well planned).
Did I mention that there is only one way in and one way out of Key Biscayne?
So as to not waste a trip, and to get my poor baby out of the car she had been cooped up in for ours, we ended up parking off one of the side lots, pulling out the stroller and walking anyway. We walked for about an hour before it was time for Sophia to eat and then we fed her and went home. Sweaty, annoyed, and disappointed.
My one consolation is that my donations and the donations of my sponsers still stand. All of this was for a good cause, so even if we did not get to walk and did not get the experience we were hoping for at least I ended my day knowing that me, my friends, and family were still able to contribute to a worthy cause.
But I will never sign up for a walk held at Crandon Park again. No way. And I am sincerely hoping that the March of Dimes planners seriously think twice before booking that park again.
Ewww that’s just awful Mel! Glad you guys had your own “walk”.
I agree with you 100%! I was kind of sad I didn’t get your number b/c Mateo and I were also walking and I wanted to try and meet you and Sophia. We had the same problem, after we paid the toll….it took us 1 hour to get to Crandon Park! Wait there’s more….when we got there, I couldn’t find one sign to tell us where the registration tent was at. It seemed as if the march was geared to people who were a part of companies w/big tents. Since I was an individual who signed up, it was hopeless. I was soooo dissappointed, thankfuly Rick was more patient than I was and took it much better than I did. I orignally planned to walk in Fort Lauderdale and then changed to crandon park, I bet they had a much smoother walk. Okay…vent over.
Sorry for the disappointment. Getting in and out of Key Biscayne is a pain in the booty. Def a lesson learned. Hopefully next yr they change locations?!