Our Florida Vacation - Part 2

So….what a great start to the week we had on our first trip together to South Florida. We got to spend such quality time with family and friends, grillin’ and chillin’.

After a few very action packed days, Caitlin and I decided it was time to have some “couple time.” After saying good-bye to Joel and Ryan and getting a good sleep the night before, Caitlin and I woke up early around 6 am on Tuesday and packed the car to take off for Key West!! The weather was a bit overcast, but we busted through morning rush-hour traffic and were finally out of South Florida and hopping onto US-1 down to the Florida Keys. We needed breakfast and, though I had promised Caitlin that we would have Chick-Fil-A at some point on our trip, all we came across was a Wendy’s for a quick pop-in for breakfast. I got a nicely made egg sandwich and Caitlin got a delicious chicken biscuit with honey butter, which she managed to get all over her nice shirt. We continued on our way taking in the sites, naming each Key aloud as we passed through them, and fantasizing about how great it’d be to have an island as we drove through/by the nearly 1700 islands that make up the Keys.

Outside the Hemingway Home!

 Once we arrived, as is often the case in Key West, the clouds parted and the sky was a beautiful blue again. We went to my usual spot to rent scooters and quickly haggled the attendant down from $110/day or $75/4hrs to $65 for the entire day and free refills on gas. Caitlin and I grabbed our things, locked the car, and were off on our scooter zipping around the island seeing it all the best way. We drove by the beaches, houseboat marinas, the Coast Guard and Air Force bases, and through neighborhoods thinking about what it would be like to be permanent residents of Key West. It was a hot day and we had a few things that we wanted to do, so we drove down the  strip, Duval Street, and I showed Caitlin the places I used to frequent while I was down there playing music at the bar, Irish Kevin’s Bar. We parked the scooter and walked into grab a pair of Kino sandals for Joel, which turned into a pair of Keno’s for all of us by the end. We considered visiting the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum, but decided just to commit to Caitlin’s real interest for the day: the Ernest Hemingway Home (with the 6-toed cats of course). We walked a ways to get down there, sweating in the tropical sun and decided a pre-tour beer was necessary. We stopped into the Green Parrot Bar where I had my usual couple of ice cold beers to Caitlin’s one. We cooled off and enjoyed being in Key West together before venturing back out to explore the Hemingway Home and listen to the amazing stories about such an amazing man. Certainly is always an experience learning about the incredible life that just that one man lived. 

Cooling off at the Green Parrot Bar

Afterwards, we walked back towards the main end of the strip and decided to have another cold beverage. This time we chose Fat Tuesday, which specializes in frozen drinks.  I was anxious for their 190 Octane with a 151 floater! Caitlin decided to go with the slightly less intense Pina Colada, but fortunately, due to some misunderstanding, Caitlin also ordered a 151 floater (test tube of 151 Rum upside down in the drink) and was right there along side of me! We took those drinks to-go (love Key West!) and decided to finally grab something decent to eat. We walked into a local favorite, Hog’s Breath Saloon, and sat down outside under the shade trees and blowing fans. We had a basket of conch fritters and then had a couple of pulled pork sandwiches!! I should confess, however, that lunch did end up being interesting and funny after having drinks with 151 floaters. We snagged Caitlin’s dad a shirt and decided that it was time to get recharged. I had the perfect idea! The hotel next to the scooter rental (and our car) has a wonderful little pool and bar area that on previous trips to Key West I’d sometimes hang out at and I felt confident that we’d be able to do the same this time. We scoped it out, changed into our suits, and were splashing around in the cool refreshing/rejuvenating pool in no time. It was such a welcomed relief from the hot day and

Southernmost point of the US...Mile 0!

completely revived us both. We talked about work and Boston, and after a while changed back into clean clothes so we could go enjoy the famous Key West sunset shows on the boardwalk. We had a mojito and watched a juggler on a unicycle while we waited for the main attraction (aka “the most awkward performance ever”)….The Key West Catman!! We stayed for nearly the whole show and then decided to walk back down to another famous attraction, Sloppy Joe’s. There we sat at the bar for a beer, talked and watched the band play. At one moment I slid a pair of diamond earrings in a box out of my pocket and pushed it in front of Caitlin. She was surprised and seemed quite happy by it all! They looked great on her. From there we went to our final stop, my old stomping grounds and employer, Irish Kevin’s Bar! It was great to be back, but it was so different and most everyone who had been there when I was had moved on as well. I did see an older employee who remembered Tyler and me playing there, so we all chatted for a bit. We also got to watch some of the ridiculous show on stage before hopping back on our scooter for our final ride back to the car and then back to Ft. Lauderdale. It was a long drive home, especially listening to the Heat lose to the Celtics on the radio, but I stayed awake (as Caitlin valiantly tried) and we were home by midnight! What a day…

Hakim makes a new friend

We had planned Wednesday to be a fairly uneventful day, so we got up and had breakfast. Then I offered to treat my mom and Samir (and Caitlin, of course) to an afternoon at Flamingo Gardens. Mom used to take Samir and me when we were younger with our cousins, running around, terrorizing the park. I had a feeling Caitlin would like the visit because it gave a real nice snapshot of Florida in about 3 hours. The first stop was the juice bar to grab fresh squeezed juice and smoothies. We toured the park’s botanical gardens full of local trees/plants/flowers/etc, animal and reptile exhibits featuring gators, panthers, bobcats, otters, and others, an aviary with a birds-of-prey sanctuary, took a guided/narrated tram ride around the park, and visited the historical home of the original owners. From there we went to Beverly Hills Café for a healthy (yet HUGE) salad lunch. This place is famous for their salads and we wanted something light since we’d be grabbing a bite to eat before the Marlins game later that night, these salads were anything but. We then headed home while Mom took Caitlin to get their nails done. My dad came home from work around the same time they got back and we all got ourselves dressed and ready to go to Jersey’s Wings and Raw Bar for some wings/beer before the Marlins game. Though we were all still a bit (or a lot) full from our big salads (reference Seinfeld here), we still found ourselves getting excited by the prospect of the delicious hot dano wings (a combination of buffalo, teriyaki and butter garlic sauces together). We had just enough time to enjoy the meal, and were off to the game at the Marlins’ new stadium where the Miami Orange Bowl used to be. What a sight it was to see…WOW…it’s a massive stadium with the retractable roof, closed that night in fear of inclement weather, and comparable to the inside of a mall. It was comfortably AC’d and the array of foods and drinks that were available was unbelievable. Ceviche and mahi tacos where one would expect hot dogs and chicken tenders to be, though those items were certainly still available. We all watched the game, munched on peanuts, ate cookies and cream ice cream out of a mini helmet, and enjoyed one another. The Marlins were playing the Atlanta Braves and sadly lost, but fortunately we all weren’t very bothered by that. After the game ended, we hopped in the car and decided that it was only appropriate to drive Caitlin over to Miami Beach, through South Beach at night since we were so close. We saw all the art deco hotels and restaurants, Versace’s house, outdoor musicians, fancy cars and the many other movie star style things that go along with Miami.

 

Marlins Stadium

On Thursday, our last full day, Caitlin and I decided to take a nice long drive around to see where I grew up. We went by my elementary school, through the ranches, and over to Everglades Holiday Park to see the gators and look out into the expanse that is the Florida Everglades. I had wanted to grab some gator bites there, but decided that we could just get them when we went to visit Samir at Bass Pro Shop. So from there we went by my old high school, down towards 595 and 95 and over to Bass Pro to see Samir. Caitlin and I chatted with Samir for a bit, wandered around the store, then played some cool hunting and target shooting games before sitting down for a quick bite with Samir during his lunch break. Caitlin and I ordered conch fritters and alligator bites to split and Samir ate the rest of Caitlin’s Beverly Hills Café salad from the day before. From there we headed home, stopping off at Bob Roth's New River Groves on Griffin Road for some fresh juice, little jars of honey for my staff and an award winning key lime pie to have after Caitlin and I made dinner for everyone that night. She and I stopped off at Publix (not for subs this time!) to get our ingredients for the night’s dinner. We prepared a cool cucumber/avocado soup to start, followed by fish tacos with avocado, rice/beans, green onion and picante/salsa and Caitlin’s delicious spicy Asian shrimp with a cool yogurt raita. We sat on the patio and Caitlin served everyone while explaining everything to everyone wonderfully.  We had our soup and then everyone was immediately dug in, making tacos with fish and/or shrimp. We had some beer and wine to accompany it all and enjoyed the meal together. From there, we moved inside to have some key lime pie, said good-bye to Nana and spent the rest of the night watching the Heat beat the Celtics.

Avocado-cucumber soup and fish tacos w/ all the fixings

Finally, Friday had arrived and we were slow to pack up our things, not wanting to leave the great week that we’d spent with everyone. Ian was still in town, so Caitlin and I met up with him for breakfast at Bogart’s Bagels and Samir met us halfway through. After breakfast, we drove over to a local farmers’ market to pick up some things for family and friends back north and then returned home to gather our things and have Samir drive us to the airport. It was an amazing trip and felt so great to show Caitlin South Florida through the eyes of a Floridian, hoping that she would/could appreciate all that it had/has to offer in terms of fun, sun, people, activities and, of course, food and drink!! As we always do, we drank well and ate well and enjoyed the week to the max in between! We’re definitely looking forward to going back again soon!