So we’ve been back a whole week and I’ve yet to mention our trip much. Just basking in the afterglow of a wonderful vacation. This is more a travel diary for me to read and use for reminiscing than it is for others, so there may be more detail here than the casual blog reader cares for.
Planning and thinking about trips is really fun for me, so I spent plenty of time doing just that in advance. Wednesday after work, James and I made the five hour round trip to drop off Bosley and Colby at my parents’ house. Thursday I left the office about 1:30 and went home to help James with the final packing arrangements, then Jonas arrived and we left with Brian for the airport on time! We caught up with Gary at the gate and our flight left on time as well. The plane had quite a few children, but when you’re flying to Florida, what do you expect?
Upon landing, we tried to catch up with a friend who retired from Chubb that Gary and I know, but it was too late for them for dinner. I had a great back-up plan called the Red Fish Grill down in Coral Gables. According to their website they are open until 10 pm. We would be pushing it to get there by 9:45, especially since we didn’t know exactly how to get there. James called and was told they close at 9:30 and that we needed a reservation at any rate. Well, hrmpph. So, we ended up driving to South Beach and finding a decent Cuban place there called La Galleria. The service was slow but the food was great. Gary and I each had a mojito, and it was the best one I’d ever had. Gary had never had one before. At first, he said it tasted okay, then about halfway into it, he began to rave about it! It was quite refreshing. We had several mojitos at other places during our stay in Key West, but all fell short of the mojito at La Galleria.
We spent the night at a La Quinta in south Miami (not South Beach). Nothing more needs to be said about that. It was a place to sleep.
We were only 12 miles from the end of the Turnpike Friday morning. We hit US 1 and within 45 minutes, we were in the Keys! We found a place called the Key Largo Coffee House and so we stopped for coffee and breakfast. It was great! In my mind, Key Largo is kind of the “poor man’s Keys”. A lot of people come down from the Miami area, both Miami residents as well as tourists, and most aren’t adventurous enough to keep driving down the Overseas Highway. But, this place was very Key-like and the coffee was outstanding. They also have wi-fi internet. I suspect it will be on our list of traditional stops from here on.
About the time we ordered our coffee, I began to relax and feel like we were really on vacation. The whole trip was still ahead of us – who knew what Key West might have in store for us this time? The stress just melted away and it stayed away until after our trip, so that tells you right there we had a successful trip.
We got back in the van and headed down US 1. We had a beautiful, cloudless day and I for one thoroughly enjoyed the drive. We got into Key West about 1 or 2, a bit ahead of schedule and just in time to catch up with Bobby and Ian at the store to shop for our weeks’ worth of groceries. We unloaded, dropped off rental cars, and commenced our relaxing.
More later, including details about the house we rented and Bobby & Ian’s wedding!
Current mood: content
Current music: “I Hope” by the Dixie Chicks