Thursday, May 29, 2014

Date 122 - Life's a Trip!

Date: May 22, 2014 - May 26, 2014
Type: Travel & Vacation
Cost: $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Planned By: Both

Adam and I went on vacation to Southern Florida over our long Memorial Day weekend. This was also combined as our 3rd Anniversary Trip.

Day 1 - May 22, 2014
Our plane was delayed out of Cleveland so we had some beer at the airport Great Lakes to kick off our vacation. We got in to Miami, FL around 10PM. Alicia and her boyfriend, Alfonso (Fonzi), picked us up and we went to get some food. We went to a Colombian restaurant where I got a Colombian hotdog and Adam got a seasoned steak kabob. They were both pretty good and the hot dog was definitely a lot different than a regular American hot dog.

Day 2 - May 23, 2014
Alicia and Fonzi had to work so Adam and I explored Miami alone. We started out at Balans, an outdoor cafe, for breakfast. Then we walked over to Bayfront Park and Bayside. We spent most of our time at Bayside, which was a really nice shopping/dining center on the bay. We got some drinks and food and then walked back to Alicia's apartment.
That night Fonzi was able to get us suite tickets at the BB&T center for the Cirque Du Soleil Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour! We had amazing seats, and food and drinks were also provided. It was awesome. The show was also really cool. The music, dancing and acrobatics were fantastic! Adam and I had never been to Cirque Du Soleil so this experience was very exciting!
When we got back to Miami Adam, Alicia and I went over to The Blackbird Ordinary to meet up with our friend Brian. We stayed out for one drink then went home and went to bed.

Day 3 - May 24, 2014
We all woke up early to start our drive to Key West. We stopped at Craig's for breakfast in Key Largo. It was a cute little diner with pretty good food!
Then, also on the way, we stopped at the Tiki Bar in Isla Morada. We got a Rum Runner then walked around to see the pretty views. Also in this area was Kokomo the bar that inspired the Beach Boys song!
Then we continued driving the rest of the way to Key West. When we got there we checked in to our hotel and spent some time by the pool with some drinks. Then we went to Duvall street for drinks and to watch the soccer game. Adam and I took a walk around to see all the different bars and then walked back to Durty Harry's the first place we stopped during our Honeymoon, 3 years ago! When we all met back up we went to the Half Shell Raw Bar for an early dinner. We had fun looking at all the license plates, and we were surprised by how many were from Ohio.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel to get ready for the rest of the night. We played some drinking games during the Heat basketball game (not for us for Fonzi, we don't like the Heat). When we all were ready to go we went out to experience the night life of Key West. We had a lot of fun bar hopping and people watching. Late in the night we decided it was time for bed and went back to the hotel.
Day 4 - May 25, 2014
We started out with our free breakfast. Then we rented bikes through our hotel and rode them in to town. I loved riding the bikes, even though I hadn't rode one in years. We all got the hang of it pretty quickly. We rode down to the Southernmost Point, then saw a few other historic sites and then rode over to a couple beaches. At that point we were exhausted and extremely hot so we rode them back to the hotel.
We booked a Schooner boat ride for 2-4 PM. The ride provided beer, wine and sangria. We had a lot of fun talking with the shipmates and drinking for a couple hours. I don't think I'd ever been on a big sail boat so it was really fun and different, and the views of the island were beautiful.

After our boat ride we went to some more bars and dinner. Then we went over to Mallory Square and watched some street performers and the sunset.
Our other big activity of the day was the Key West Walking Ghost Tour. We all got a Groupon for this activity and we met up with the group around 8:30PM. The tour started at 9PM and we walked around hearing ghost stories about different historical places around the island. It was a lot of fun and pretty creepy. I kept trying to get pictures of orbs or even a ghost but I never got one. That's OK though because the stories still freaked me out. Soon after the tour we decided to go back to the hotel and go to bed.
Day 5 - May 26, 2014
We woke up, had breakfast and hung out at the pool for about an hour. Then we started driving back to Miami. There was a ton of traffic so we ended up going straight to the airport. It was sad to leave our friends, but we were very happy to make it to the airport in time for our flight.. Well, we actually made it there with way extra time. We went to Jose Cuervo Tequilaria for dinner then waited for our flight. We stopped in Charlotte on the way then had a short flight to Cleveland. We made it back home to our precious little kitty around 12:15AM - he was super excited!!
Overall, this trip was a lot of fun. If you know us or read this blog you know that Adam and I have been on 3 cruises in the last 3 years so this trip was a lot different. There was some things we missed about the cruise vacation but we had a great time visiting Alicia and meeting her boyfriend, Fonzi. And I can't wait to see them again!! And I definitely can't wait to go back on vacation.. you know what they say... "No man needs a vacation so much as the man who just had one!"

To read about our previous vacations check them out here:
Florida/Bahama Cruise
Bermuda Cruise

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