After a full afternoon of flying and an awesome bird's eye view of a lightning storm we touched down in a tiny airport called Melbourne on the East Coast of Florida and began our relaxing 10 day getaway. For the most part, we stayed with my sister-in-law and I got to meet my gorgeous nieces and nephew for the first time. They are super cute! YAY for being Aunt Kate. Here is our little family portrait (the cat had to get in on the action too.)
A very welcomed change from New York's 50 degree and raining weather was the 80+ degree days spent on the beach and finally getting some melatonin action going on our pasty winter skin. Breaking out the shorts and flip flops is always a good feeling! We got to spend time hanging out with the sister and brother-in-law, which was special since we don't get to see them very often.
We rented a car and decided since we had wheels, we would do a bit of road tripping (road trips are my specialty). We drove all the way to the tip of Florida and then carried on, crossing the Florida Key Islands which are all connected together by one long bridge.
On the way we stopped by "Bobby's Marina" to feed the Tarpon. A school of 50-100 tarpon linger at the end of "Bobby's Dock" everyday waiting to be fed by the flock of visitors that come to hand them a snack. Armed with a bucket of bait, we went out on the dock and I was pretty amazed by the size of these giant fish. Sometimes a Tarpon will thrust itself right out of the water to meet its lunch halfway up in the air, its quite a sight to see. So after our bucket was empty and the fish (and a couple of pelicans who had caught onto the idea of a free lunch) were full we headed back on the road to Key West.
After a 6 hour drive through some really breathtaking scenery we made it to Key West and our hotel, but most importantly our bed. But resting would have to wait as we needed to get down to Mallory Square in time to catch the sunset. Lucky for us our hotel was not too far from the downtown action so we travelled on foot in order to be able to down a few Key West cocktails. Mallory square is the place to be at sunset with performers everywhere showing you their latest stunts. The hubby even got called to participate in a show and had to do 20 push ups in front of a big crowed. It was so fun!
The sunset was spectacular and made me want to permanently locate to a tropical island! We strolled down Duval Street and ended up having dinner at "Sloppy Joe's Pub" which entertained us with some really rocking live music. We then headed back to the hotel and passed out after a very, very long day!
We woke up in time for breakfast the next day and started making out way back North. We stopped on an island beach we had spotted on the way down and spent a few hours exploring a seaweed path and finding hermit crabs.
We were back in Fort Pierce for a day before did some more road tripping. This time we headed West to Sarasota so that I could meet Hubby's aunt and uncle. Before going to their house for a BBQ we spent the afternoon on Siesta beach. The west coast has some great beaches and this one in particular had such blue water and white sand.
The whole time we were there it was "love bug" season. YUCK! These little suckers were everywhere and after so much road tripping we managed to knock out a whole colony I think. I don't want to gross you out... but this is the result.
So that was our little vacation. We are back to rainy New York with the promise of a whole week of thunderstorms! THANKS. If you need me, I'll be cuddling up with my comforter dreaming of white sand and turquoise waters!
LOVE these pictures!!! Well, except the bug encrusted car is a little gross ;)
ReplyDeleteLooks like a perfect vaca!
SO glad I found your blog! I'll def. be following this cuteness!