Getting to Orlando

Leaving Marathon was a sad day. Typically when we are finishing up with a vacation spot I’m ready to move on or ready to head home and get back into my routine. Not the case with the Keys. I will miss the blue water and perfect temperature until we go back some day.

James took the wheel again for a while. The drive was supposed to take around 6 hours, the first hour would be just getting off the Keys islands and back to the main land. Before we left we were coming up with any reason to stay and we stopped at Robbie’s again. The day before I had seen some things I thought would be cool for my nieces as a little vacation trinket but everything was closed when we left. We stopped back in again and grabbed a few items to bring back home.

Alright, on the road now. We went around Miami this time so we didn’t hit traffic. After a few hours we swapped driving and I took the wheel. At this point we saw a fire in the distance and drove through the smoke. I don’t know what was on fire but there was a lot of smoke.

The car is so dirty

The sun was out this time - I thought about this on the way down, we were so lucky it was cloudy for our drive to FL. We didn’t have the sun beating on us for 20 hours. This time it was and I was tired of it so I switched sides of the car and James was driving again.

We are actually staying in Davenport, FL which is just south of Orlando. It wasn’t a bad drive here, a little boring I guess after coming from water water everywhere but no traffic and easy driving. Once we got to the spot we unloaded the car and checked things out. This place is big, one floor but there are 2 master suites and 2 additional bedrooms. They have 4 bathrooms a private pool and hot tub area that is screened in and one of the bathrooms is out back for easy pool access. There is even a game room with a pool table and air hockey table. There is a TV in almost every room (James’s dream) and one out by the pool. They call it a villa and I think I agree.

I found Ralph

After getting a lay of the land we go get some dinner and to the grocery store. I found a place called Beef O’Brady’s. Super weird name but they had good food and the waiter was very nice. They were just finishing up bingo (thankfully they were finishing it up) so he was a little swamped but we didn’t care. We had made it to where we needed to be and weren’t in a hurry so when he asked if he could have an extra minute we were fine with it. We got a few drinks, I had a chicken bowl with rice, veggies, and cheese, James had a burger. This time it wasn’t a regular burger it had all these cheeses and did look really good. When we were finishing up and getting the bill the waiter asked if we were from around here and seemed genuinely sad when we said we weren’t. It doesn’t seem like he is treated very well typically.

We came back to the house and got ready for a night swim. You can’t stay at a place like this and not use the pool every day. This time I just sat in the hot tub portion for a little relaxation. It isn’t a hot tub like you would think, it’s about the same temperature as the pool (which is heated) and the jets are out of control. We don’t use those, they just shoot water all over the place. But it was relaxing and you can see stars through the screen ceiling. The pool has lights which are pretty cool. James sat with me for a little while and also floated in the pool for a little while. It’s just nice to feel weightless.

The bathrooms here are pretty sweet. Both of the master suites have a walk in shower and a jacuzzi tub. They don’t provide you with everything like the last place but you have the basics like towels and sheets. We picked up laundry detergent and someone had left behind some dishwasher tabs. We are very close to Disney but decided not to go there on this trip. I’m not that into rides and James said he didn’t need to go there. We would rather relax and stay away from everyone.

Well except for our trip to Kennedy Space Center - which we booked for tomorrow!

Anniversary in Key West

Happy 1 year anniversary!

This past year went by so fast. And who knew a cake could last in a freezer, then a cooler, then a fridge? It really didn’t taste bad either. Wait, let me rewind. We woke up on anniversary morning and ate our wedding cake for breakfast. I guess that wasn’t much to recap. We cut into the cake and remembered it was vanilla - I had no idea what we were in for.

After our breakfast we got ready for a day in Key West. The plan was to get down there for lunch and my goal was to eat seafood, key lime pie, and drink a pina colada. James didn’t know I was mostly in it for the food but, let’s face it, I’m usually in it for the food.

On the way there we heard a song called Anniversary on the radio.

We found free parking about a half mile from Duval Street which is where most things are in Key West. James says it wasn’t the best part of town but I think it was fine. We were right next to this hill with old run down buildings that looked like a military base of some sort which I wanted to explore. We didn’t - it was fenced off and I don’t think you were supposed to go there.

Immediately, I found a restaurant a short walk away and off we went. On the way we passed a bunch of chickens running free. This is a thing down here where there are chickens and roosters everywhere. They run free and yell a lot but people and animals leave each other alone which is nice. It seems they used to be eaten and used in cockfights but I don’t think either thing happens legally anymore. Well, you can eat chicken but I’m not sure you can just pick up a street chicken and cook it up.

Anyway, we were getting close to the restaurant and I saw a big line. I didn’t know what it was for and hoped it wasn’t the place I wanted to eat. James let me know it was actually for everyone to pose with the Key West southern most point marker. We did not wait. I suggested we stand there for a while photobombing everyone that had waited but didn’t want to stop and miss out on lunch.

Our first stop was Seaside Cafe at the Mansion. When I looked this up I thought there was food James would eat but when we got there it was all seafood. We decided to just have drinks and some fries here and move on to the next spot. One thing down, I had my pina colada.

Moving along down the main drag we hit a few stores and galleries. The butterfly conservatory was pretty cool. We didn’t see the live butterflies but they had a bunch of beautiful ones in cases on the walls. We, of course, grabbed some souvenirs along the way.

The next big feature was Keylum. We found a place with seafood tacos (shrimp to be exact) and went on in. We each got a mojito which was so fresh and the food was amazing. The tacos came with rice on the side and I love my rice. I had never thought to do this but it had black beans and feta mixed with the rice and wow. James had a…drum roll…. burger. He said it was good.

I couldn’t believe this but while we were waiting for our food the song I walked down the isle came on their radio. I checked the time and it was 2:10pm. Funny enough that was the same time 1 year before I was walking down the isle. So I sat there and sang it with a big goofy smile on my face the whole time.

Continuing down Duval Street we went into a few more shops on our way to Sloppy Joe’s Bar. I loved the atmosphere here, it felt a little like New Orleans. They had live music playing and 3 different bars going. The singer was from OCMD. And last thing on the list - Key Lime Pie. We sat at the bar, James ordered a rum runner and I ordered my pie. We sat for a while and each had a rum runner before heading back toward the car.

On the way back we walked down this beautiful street which turned out to be where the little white house was located. Apparently Truman spent a lot of time down here and now they have a little white house. This area was so much more peaceful then the main road full of shops and restaurants.

I decided I wanted to drive back across all the bridges so after we stopped for gas I took the wheel and got to make the 7 mile bridge drive (well among others). Right on the Marathon side of the 7 mile bridge is a restaurant called Sunset Grill & Raw Bar. I had wanted to go there for dinner but after our tour of food in Key West, I was feeling rather full. It is about an hour drive from where we parked back up to Marathon so I had a little time to digest and we decided to stop by Sunset Grill and at least grab a drink. We pull in and had the idea to get take out so we could come back home and get comfy for dinner. It was a nice place and I’m so glad we decided not to eat there, I heard the host telling someone it was an hour and a half wait for a table. We went up to the bar, grabbed a drink and ordered some food to bring home. After the food came out we wondered around the place for a minute. They have a pool and dock area, you can see the sunset from the pool. It was a nice place and I can see why it was so busy.

We got back home and cleaned up before dinner. Walking around in 85* weather all day makes you sleepy. So we ate our food and took another look at the sky with the binoculars. Again, that UFO from yesterday was not there tonight. We thought a storm was coming in tonight but I haven’t heard any rain yet.

For our last day in town tomorrow we have another adventurous day planned with jet skis and snorkeling.

A Relaxing Day in Marathon

After adventuring yesterday, we decided to take it easy today and stick close to the house. We got up and made French toast for breakfast. Thankfully, someone before us left some cinnamon behind because it was one thing we never thought of when getting ingredients even though it is the most important part of French toast. We did, however, have the best brioche loaf of bread.

Once breakfast was cleaned up we packed up and went to Sombrero Beach. This is a small sand beach down the street and it didn’t charge to go in. There were pretty many people there but it wasn’t hard to find a place to set up. The beach was very shallow compared to what we have at home, there was enough space for about 2 rows of people between the grassy area and the water. We remembered towels this time but what I didn’t remember until we got on the beach was how much I didn’t want sand in the car. The beach trip lasted about an hour until we were baked and I worried about sand lasting forever in our new car. Then we were on our way back home to sit on our pier.

When we got back we sat outside and I read some in the shade before hitting the sunshine again. We laid out on the lounge chairs in the sun for a little before I jumped in the outdoor shower. Yeah, we have an outdoor shower. That was awesome because it felt like you were in an oven so having something to cool off was perfect. I will say, nice thing about here is there is always a breeze. We moved back in the shade for a nap before dinner.

Dinner was chicken on the grill. I had started marinading it after breakfast and it turned out pretty good. We made some mac and cheese with another side salad. We had decided after all that sunshine today we wanted some ice cream. We went to Paradise Flavors right down the street which gets great reviews. I have to say, they have delicious ice cream. We went into the pink and white stripped building and the worker inside was so friendly! He was adding more ice cream popsicles to the freezer and telling us about what they offer. They have standard ice cream but are known for the paletas (ice cream or frozen fruit on a stick). We each got one that was some sort of chocolate with hazelnut and anyway it was good. I also picked up a frozen chocolate covered banana and James grabbed a standard peanut butter.

Before I reveal our big astrological adventure of the day, I wanted to mention a few things about the Florida Keys in general.

The gas prices are about the same as at home. Things are not as expensive on Marathon to buy as I thought they would be. I mean groceries cost a little more but I thought shipping products here would cost a lot more and that would be passed onto the consumer but it doesn’t seem to be the case. Also, I have seen every brand that we have at home - we’ve gone many places where you can’t find something you are used to at the store for example but I haven’t run into anything like that. We bought Stoffer’s macaroni and Log Cabin syrup, they sell Turkey Hill drinks. I even saw my bank here.

Anyway, back to our day. After dinner we settled down and after dark went outside for a little chill time. I brought my astrological binoculars along with us (they were so worth the $70 I paid for them, I’ve taken them everywhere) to check out the sky. For the first time since we arrive, there were clouds. We stepped outside with the binoculars to see clouds. But…they weren’t everywhere. We could see Mars from our dock which is easy to pick out due to its color. To the left of Mars was this really bright star that was twinkling. Through the magnification it looked very white and almost blue at the edges. It didn’t twinkle so much when you could see it so close up and it didn’t move at all. I was checking it out for a while but the weird thing is by the time James decided to take a look it had disappeared. All that to say, we have now decided we saw a UFO. (It was not there the next night, we went back out and checked around the same time.)

Sunday is our 1 year anniversary and we plan to go down to Key West for the day!

The Drive to Marathon

Look at us, so alive. This was before the drive

Wednesday March 30th we both went into work before starting the drive. I went in for a full day while James put in a few hours and then packed the car. We started the trip around 6:30pm and it was expected to take around 20 hours.

We made a quick stop at Sheetz for gas and food then James started the drive and got us through the main cities and into North Carolina before switching around midnight. We listed to some Always Sunny In Philadelphia podcasts to keep us going. I tried to sleep for a little but ended up only getting about an hour before we switched over. I drove us through the night and South Carolina into Georgia before stopping for breakfast. I have to say I was pretty worn out by this time and was happy to move back into the passenger seat. I got through the night by listening to Fly radio on Sirius (which plays all the old hip hop songs) and James toss and turn. It did help to keep me awake.

In Georgia we found a Cracker Barrel off 95 South to stop at and get some delicious breakfast. They have iced lattes now! After this James took back over and we kept moving. After about 2 hours we switched back and I took the wheel again. I knew I didn’t want to drive through Miami so I took another turn ahead of time and James actually got some sleep this time.

Once we hit Miami and I was along for the ride again, things got a little weird. We hit our first bit of traffic. I can’t believe it took that long, we were so lucky. The weird part was the GPS freaked out. We were 2.5 hours away from our rental and then we heard a loud noise then we were 9 hours away from our destination. No idea what happened. I turned on the maps on my phone and it said 2.5 hours so we plugged my phone in and all of a sudden we were 7 hours away. The phone updated saying there was a faster route that would take 3.5 hours and we took the detour. I still don’t know what happened but assume there was some sort of accident on the road we had been taking. From that point on the maps could not get it together. We were getting here anywhere from 7:30pm to 2:22am and it was constantly updating. We arrived around 6:30p on March 31st. In about 48 hours of being awake I think we each got about 2 hours of sleep.

We rode in on route 1 which is the only road to the Keys. Most of the time it is one lane but the view is beautiful. We finally got to see the blue tropical water we came here to see!

Our house is so comfortable. We are right on a dock with a boat launch. If only we brought our boat. There is a super comfortable couch and bed. They have given us towels, sheets, dishwasher detergent, laundry detergent, all the stuff we need.

We unloaded the car and found food. Getting some dinner at prime time was a little busy but we went to the grocery store and picked up a premade chicken alfredo meal and side salad. We even grabbed some cupcakes for dessert but didn’t stay awake long enough to eat them. We went to bed around 10 and I fell asleep in about 5 seconds. Best night of sleep ever.