(Monday, March 7 – Friday, March 11th, 2011) – An unexpected snowstorm early on Monday morning was one of several events that contributed to us arriving at Minneapolis Airport later than planned. Other factors (that contributed to the events that followed) included the Park-N-Go being full, not making it on the first shuttle (it was full), and the security check taking longer than expected. We finally made it through security, and heard, over the loud speaker for the entire airport “____ party-final call for boarding, you have ONE MINUTE to report to gate G13”! Adrenaline rushed through us, as we immediately began to jog, and then a full scale sprint to gate G13. I ran up to the gate as the attendant was closing the boarding door for the plane. She asked “where are the other three?” I quickly gave her accurate information that they are “coming right behind me” (although I did not know precisely how close behind me) – Yikes! Soon all arrived on the plane, and we settled into our seats, with our morning exercise completed (haha).
The flight was smooth sailing, and we witnessed some awesome views of the west Florida coastline, and of Miami, as we approached the Miami airport.
We arrived in Miami to beautiful, sunny weather – what a sharp contrast to the Minnesota weather we had been in just hours earlier!
Our next adventure was to acquire our rental car for the vacation, and we took the shuttle from the airport to the Alamo rental car desk, where we had a short wait in line to get our “full-sized” sedan. To our surprise, we were upgraded to a brand new Grand Caravan (since they were out of full-sized sedans).
Linda (aka – Flower Girl, my sweetheart), drove us to a local Miami grocery store “Price Choice Food Markets” to stock up on supplies. We then drove a bit further and checked into the Holiday Inn Miami Beach!
We couldn’t wait to head to the beach, and we quickly changed into our beachwear! Miami Beach was a magnificent sight, with the warm sun shining down, and a warm gentle breeze coming in from the Atlantic Ocean. We soon found a perfect spot on the beach and settled in!
The Atlantic Ocean water seemed a bit cool at first, but after being in the water a little while, it actually seemed warm. We enjoyed the ocean waves coming in on us, and we took turns floating like bobbers in the water – it was an amazing feeling (we are so blessed)!
Rachel found some interesting coral on the beach (kind of spongy to the touch) – maybe a relative of “Spongebob”? We decided to eat at a place call “Carrabas” that was a short walk to the south along the boardwalk. We initially sat out on the deck of Carrabas, right off the boardwalk, but found that they only served a “lunch” type menu with some appetizers. There were also scraps of food under the tables with birds eating them right under our feet (to which Rachel threatened to give one a “kick to the tummy”!). We decided to go inside to Carrabas, for the full menu (and we were glad we did)! The food was delicious (especially the “Chicken Bryan”) – Yum! What an awesome and wonderful first day of vacation! Can’t wait until tomorrow’s adventure!
Tuesday, March 8, 2011 – What an amazing 2nd vacation day – we are so blessed! Jesse & Rachel discovered the hammocks, and Linda (aka Flowergirl, my sweetheart) and I relaxed together in pure bliss! The hammock would sway back and forth gently as the morning sun covered us, like a warm blanket, streaming down through the palm trees.
We strolled along Miami Beach, taking in all the morning sunshine that we could before packing up and heading south towards the Floriday Keys!
We enjoyed a breakfast of tasty bagels & strawberry cream cheese, along with fruit and “Mandarin Mango” juice (that isn’t available in Minnesota). We departed the Holiday Inn and headed south on Highway 1 towards the Florida Keys. We arrived at Key Largo and stopped at a couple of places to do some shopping. We found ourselves caught in a sudden downpour in Key Largo & waited it out at the “Sandal Factory Outlet”. We later braved out into the rain & decided to eat at Evelynn’s, a Key Largo restaurant. We enjoyed the food at Evelynn’s that included a “Conch basket”. The conch was lightly breaded & deep fried, and tasted okay (but Linda’s maui-maui was more better!). We later found out that the Keys was considered the “Conch Republic” by the locals, due to conch being so prevelent in the region.
We finished eating and continued west along Highway 1 towards Marathon Key. We arrived at our seemingly mythical destination, Tranquility Bay, at about 4:30 pm! The resort was magnificent, and we discovered, at check in, that we had been upgraded to a three bedroom beach house!
We were all amazed at the resort – that exceeded all of our expectations! We trotted our luggage into the beach house and quickly headed out to explore the resort grounds further. We soon discovered the “relaxation pool”, and we enjoyed having it all to ourselves! The surroundings, night sky, and lights surrounding the pool on the palm trees were very romantic! Finding out that I had my wallet in my swimsuit was not very romantic (haha).
After an enjoyable evening in the relaxation pool, we headed back to the beach house for a nice meal to cap off an awesome second day of our vacation!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011 – Woke this morning, in paradise, at 0600 – to a couple of flashes of lightening (over the Gulf of Mexico). What an awesome night’s sleep in the incredibly comfortable bed here at Tranquility Bay Resort!
With some early morning stretching & exercise with Linda (a.k.a. “flower girl” – my sweetheart) we were ready for the adventures of the day! We visited a local grocery store, “Publix”, to stock up on supplies for breakfasts and lunches for the next couple of days. We also stopped at the “Lazy Lizard” which we thought was a restaurant (and we were going to see what it looked like). It turned out to be a gift shop (as the restaurant is called “Lazy Days”). Kinda like the “Lazy” title, as it fit in with the 80 degree & sunny weather, so we checked out the wares in the “Lazy Lizard” gift shop. Flower Girl found a nice looking necklace & bracelet, and I was examining a couple of t-shirts (but couldn’t find a good fit).
We had made reservations to go snorkeling (at 12:30); but received a phone call saying the trip would be canceled today, due to high waves in the Gulf of Mexico (boo!). We decided to head to Sombrerro Beach, located at Marathon Key, and it turned out to be an awesome beach (although not quite the awesome-ness of Miami beach)! The waves were coming in nicely at Sombrerro Beach, and we enjoyed the Atlantic Ocean water (which seemed cold initially, but then comfortable after diving in!).
It was windy today, which dried us off quickly after we came out of the ocean, back to our towels on the beach. After some additional quality beach time, we headed back to the beach house (gotta love those words “back to the beach house” – delicious!).
We then decided to experience the “Family” pool at Tranquility Bay Resort (the largest pool in all of the keys)! The Family pool was much larger than the “Relaxation” pool, and the water was equally warm and pleasant! We later found out that the pool was a “saline” pool (as opposed to chlorine), which accounted for the slightly salty water. We liked the saline pool much better than a chlorine pool!
Much to mine & Jesse’s dismay – we could not float correctly in this pool either (even with the excellent coaching provided by Rachel & Linda)!
Linda and I then visited the “Relaxation” pool again (our favorite) – for some peaceful solitude – it was delicious! We decided to check out “Seven Mile Bridge”, located at the westerly most side of Marathon Key, and we were treated to an amazing sunset.
We soon discovered that the sunset happens very quickly, as the awesome sunshine descended quickly below the horizon (in a matter of 8 to 10 minutes) – Yikes, get some photos pronto!
We next went back to the beach house to get ready for “dress up” (or fancy) night, and a meal at the Butterfly Cafe (at Tranquility Bay Resort). We all dressed up – and cleaned up well (all looking good!) & headed to the restaurant.
We arrived at approximately 7:1o pm, and found the restaurant essentially empty, except for one family dining (about 20 other tables empty). We were asked if we had reservations, and the “Park-n-Go” experience quickly flashed into my mind (yikes!). We made reservations for 7:30 pm (and ended up getting seated at about 7:25 pm). The table was outdoors on the porch – what a wonderful setting on this warm delightful evening! The food was excellent – Mahi-mahi for Linda & I, and Carribian Jerk Chicken for Rachel & Jesse. We are so blessed, and thankful for this wonderful evening!
We enjoyed our meal together on this wonderful evening, in a setting in paradise. We then headed back to the beach house and “de-fancied” ourselves for the evening. Jesse prepared some tropical drinks (Monkey in a tree) befitting the occasion. The drinks were very good, and we enjoyed the evening together before turning in for the night. What a magical place this is – loved being here! Linda and I viewed the stars out on the balcony at night (we are so blessed)! Can’t wait ’til tomorrow’s adventures!
Thursday, March 10, 2011 – Today was planned to be “snorkeling day”, and it ended up being quite an adventure (but not of the snorkeling kind)!
A beautiful sunrise rose over the trees east of the resort, as I sat journaling, overlooking the Gulf of Mexico – what an awesome place this is!
A snorkeling adventure was planned, through the resort, and we received a confirmation of 12:30 pm departure, so we spent the morning doing some shopping and gathering some grocery supplies. We watched the weather forecast, and storms were predicted later in the afternoon (about 4pm or later), so snorkeling was still looking good (as we would be back by then – before the storms).
We headed towards the boat gazebo to board the snorkeling boat, and arrived in time, with some noticeably dark clouds looming over the Gulf of Mexico (Yikes!). We boarded the boat, which resembled a large pontoon, and began sunblock application, for the anticipated exposure to the sunshine. There were about 10 or 12 other passengers on board already, signing consent forms, when it suddenly began to rain. This wasn’t just a mild spring shower, there were strong winds (gust up to 40 – 45 mph we found out later), and the resort beach chairs were being blown across the beach & palm trees were swaying violently, as rain came at us horizontally (stinging as it hit us, feeling like needles). The captain’s mate reassured all the passengers that the storm would pass quickly & then it would clear up (and be okay for snorkeling). It soon became apparent that this storm was more than anticipated & many passengers began to leave the boat (canceling out on their trip).
We hearty & weather savvy Minnesotans stuck it out to the end, hoping that the snorkeling trip would be salvaged! To our disappointment the word came to all “off the boat” by the captain, and all passengers got off board with the wind and rain beating down on us.
We soon realized that we had to make it back to the beach house, with chairs being blown across the resort, and palm trees swaying violently. We made a mad dash from the boat to the beach house, fighting through stinging rain & wind, and dodging fallen coconuts along the way! Though it was quite an exhilarating experience, we’re thinking that the snorkeling would have been fun too! We were all soaked, so Linda (a.k.a. flower girl, my sweetheart) and I decided to go for some pool time during the remainder of the storm (since there was no lightening). The pool water was very warm, and we enjoyed the entire pool to ourselves while the wind rages through the palm trees surrounding the pool. We decided to stay towards the middle of the pool, in case some coconuts were blown off the palm trees, so we wouldn’t get hit in the coconut (haha).
We decided, with the snorkeling trip canceled, to head for Key West for the evening, in hopes that the weather would clear up & we could view the sunset!
Our travels to Key West were wonderful, and we were rewarded to witness a breathtaking sunset at Mallery Square (with many others)! Other sights at Key West that we took in, included a historic cemetery, and the “Little White House” where President Truman would stay). What a beautiful evening, in a magical place – we are so blessed!
We arrived at Key West and walked to Mallery Square to find a festive, carnival type atmosphere, with many vendors displaying & selling interesting items, and entertaining attractions of skill (of the fire eating, sword swallowing variety, etc.). There was a large ship docked nearby, a Carnival Cruise ship, that caught our attention (due to it’s massive size).
We were fortunate that the clouds from the day began to break, just before sunset, and we were witness to a magnificent sight!
We ate outdoors at a place called Fogerty’s and enjoyed a Dolphin (not Flipper kind of dolphin) sandwich, and a Shrimp & bacon sandwich – Yummy!
We walked the crowded streets in Key West on a magnificent & beautiful evening, in search of the elusive gift T-shirts that we were looking for (without success). We headed back to Marathon Key (to the beach house) after a fun and enjoyable time visiting Key West!
We have been so blessed to visit this magnificent place of wonder, and been witness to such creation & beauty!