You only turn 50 and 65 once, so we decided to do it right! We're heading to Key West to celebrate our birthdays. We are calling it our "mid-life crisis road trip". We flew into Miami and picked up our rental car. We got our "mid-life crisis" convertible Camaro and we were ready to hit the road with the top down! Life lesson #1: You only have luggage or a convertible..but not both haha. The trunk won't allow it. We decided to go to a different hotel each night and slowly make our way to Key West. We left our big suitcase in the back seat and brought a small hand bag that we would take into the hotel. We would just take what we needed for the night and the next morning in the small bag. It eliminated having to drag our suitcase in and out of the hotel...and being that it was in the back seat of the convertible, we were glad we planned ahead to do this! (To see our planning document, go to the bottom of this blog) As we started to Key Largo, we made a few stops along the way. We went to the fruit stand "Robert is here" and got key lime shake. They had so many options, it was hard to choose from but we knew we needed to try Key Lime. We stopped at Alabama Jacks and had some smoked salmon before getting to Key Largo. We got settled into our hotel, sat on the patio and visited our friend the manatee! We walked around the town before dinner and had a beer at a local pub. We made it to Snook's Bayside for our sunset dinner. We made reservations but didn't need them. The waiter said it was because the weather wasn't great but I'm still glad I made them just in case. It was a nice place on the water and a beautiful sunset. I swear Gil has "screw with me" on the back of his shirt. He got selected to pull the horn at sunset. Gil was in the military and one of his friends saw that we were going to Key Largo. He set us up to meet his daughter and son-in-law. We had a great visit with them and a night cap to end the night. The next day, we drove about an hour down the road to catch our fishing boat. Captain Chuck was SUCH a nice guy! We had the best time. I had never fished...ever! He was so patient trying to teach me to cast etc. I think he got just as much of a kick out of watching my excitement. I caught my very first fish EVER, my first big fish (relative, of course) and my first eel, haha. We both caught a lot of fish. We had so much fun and the weather held out for us. What a morning. I don't want to brag, but someone caught bigger fish than someone else. After fishing, we headed down the road on our way to Islamorada (our next hotel). It rained yesterday (but we kept saying "it's not snowing")...but today, the top is down and the weather is awesome! We stopped at the 7 mile bridge and then on to lunch at Robbie's. There was quite a wait (they said 40 minutes) but after about 10 minutes, they called our name so I'm glad we waited. We were able to feed the tarpons. They were fast little buggers. Scared me to death. The only way we got this picture was using the "burst" mode on the camera. There is no way you could get it any other way. Once we got to the hotel, we sat next to the water and enjoyed the sun...it was snowing in Utah! We had a nice dinner with fried key lime pie...it was good, but nothing to write home about. The next morning, with my coffee and sitting on the beach...this was my view. Yes, this is really my picture. My favorite part of the day. "This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. " Psalm 118:24. Good morning Florida. Let's make it a great day. We finally made it to Key West (it's only like 3.5 hours from Miami and we have taken three days lol). We took the conch train and learned about the area. I've always thought it was a good idea to do the local tour when you first get to a new place to get a good feel for the area and what you want to go back and see when it's done. Apparently, we wanted to revisit a local Irish pub because we went up and down Duvall street and then sat and had a beer and enjoyed the comedian in the bar. We might return after our sunset sail tonight. We knew we would enjoy the sailing trip but WOW! What an amazing sunset sailing trip. Only 10 of us on this huge catamaran and a beautiful sunset. It was breathtaking. There were "free" drinks and appetizers but they had more free drinks than food and we let the wine get to us a bit. We weren't bad but we rented bikes instead of driving around Key West (which I would HIGHLY recommend...it is so much easier to get around and you don't have to find parking). So we had a little too much to drink, we are riding bikes, which we haven't done in YEARS and we are in a town we don't know and Gil is trying to use his phone GPS to get us around. Now image...too much to drink, trying to hold your phone to read the GPS, all while balancing on a bike. It might not have been my brightest idea but I've never laughed so hard in my life. We hit a red light and Gil forgot he was a "vehicle" and not a passenger and he Gil plowed through all these pedestrians screaming "I have the right-a-way". I had to explain to him...he didn't. Hopefully tomorrow he does better on the bikes. We decided it was better to go back to the hotel and we laid in bed and laughed for hours. The next morning we got up at a good time, not too early but early enough to go around town on our bikes when it wasn't too hot. Mrs. Elmy held bicycling class and student, Gil passed so we hit road. We went to the southern most point and looked around Fort Taylor. The bikes have been a blast. Spent a couple hours going through the lighthouse and then Hemingway's house with all his 6-toed cats (I think they said there are 60 of them). Such an interesting life. On to the next adventure of our "mid-life crisis road trip"...parasailing. We really enjoyed this but honestly, it's a little overrated. We paid $69 a person and we videoed the whole thing from the time we took off from the boat and landed on our GoPro. Our video is exactly 7 minutes long. So you aren't up there very long at all. I'm not an "adrenaline rush" type of person but this really wasn't as exciting as I thought it would be. I'm glad we did it...don't get me wrong but I don't think I'll spend the money to do it a second time. I think it is a once-in-a-lifetime event. Another day gone but not forgotten. Crashed a wedding at The Basilica at St. Mary's By the Sea (fascinating story about when it was built), wandering the cemetery because we are weird like that and visited the memorial for the USS Maine, and then one last sunset at Mallory Square before we head up the road for the night. One more day and we have to go back to reality of 14 degree weather. Well..the journey has come to an end. We had a nice breakfast on the water and spent the day at John Pennekamp State Park and went snorkeling. The road trip has been one to remember. I can't wait to turn 51! He is not happy giving it back...I tried to tell him that our 2005 Trailblazer with 160,000 miles accomplishes the same task. It gets you from point A to point B. He's not buying it.... To me, it is almost as fun planning for the trip as experiencing the trip. I love doing research online to see what we should see and do. We don't plan everything on the trip but we do print out the research for that area and decide what we are going to do by how we are feeling at the time. We always have something we can do...here are my notes. They may not make sense to you but at least it is something! Key Road Trip Research (Click Here).
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