If we can DREAM it, we can do it! ..... another 30 day vacation Update 02/07

[englishrose47]

The food looks delish Karin !!! I am trying to catch up on my threads, but have such long days ahead it is an uphill battle

 

[Linda67]

Karin, thanks for bringing some Florida sunshine to a cloudy London day

It's funny, when I saw the photo of the specials board at the Southernmost Cafe - I thought, Oooh, I would be ordering that special for sure .... and so did you

Everything looked yummy and I love the photos from the balcony

 

[pas130]

REALLY great idea! The Keys are awesome, you'll love them.

Almost tempted to book an April trip there, and save WDW/US for August...

 

[podsnel]

What a great day- that shrimp looked delicious!

 

[WDisneyMom]

Another great update. You and Tom take the best vacations!!

 

[dvc4life]

Oh, Karin, your dinner selection looks absolutely delish! Wish I could have had that for supper tonight. Yummmm.

And what a beautifully relaxing view from your balcony. Love it!

 

[RGirl]

Hi Karin! All caught up again.

Wow - the view from your balcony is AMAZING!

What a fun DIS meet - too bad the food was not as good as before.

A crab and shrimp omelette????? WOW - that sounds (and looks) amazing!

The pictures from the trolley tour are beautiful. I really need to make time to visit Key West someday!

Key lime pie on a stick looks pretty dang delicious too! WOW!

And your dinner looks great - such a nice relaxing evening after a fun day. Hmm - really wishing I was on vacation right now!

 

[englishrose47]

Just checkin' in again!!!!No time to start my TR yet !! Between work and just catching up at home with bilss and unpacking I am exhausted !! I think I need a vaction !!!!

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Oh Karin I can see this is going to be a great read. I am loving the Key West pictures. We had so much fun there when we went. We may add that to our next FL trip. I've never driven down there and I want to. We like to go to Disney for long trips like you. If you can't stay at least two weeks what's the point? If we do a week or less it feels like a weekend to us. Looking forward to hearing your view of CR Atrium club level. We did that in 2011 and had a fabulous time. I could get used to that, but can not afford it for the entire 14 nights.

Subbing...

 

[dizneeat]

Once again Karin, great update....a fun day, beautiful pictures, yummy food and drinks, what could be better!

Thank you, Elaine.
We had such a wonderful time at Key West, everything worked out really well but unfortunately our time there was too short ..... I wish we could spend more time there, but Mickey is NOT allowing so much time away from him.

Key lime drinks & Key lime pie.....yum!! Looked so good!

You can't miss the Key Lime on the Keys. And I just LOVE anything lime, so this was right up my alley.

Karin,
You got a picture of an Osprey!! At least I think it's an Osprey. They are birds of prey that live near the ocean, their primary food source is fish. My parents live on an island off the coast of Massachusetts and the local nature conservancy puts up platforms on poles for the Ospreys to build their nests on. The shoreline has become so developed it is hard for the Ospreys to find treees to nest in (because they don't like to put their nests too close to the activity of a house). There is a pole right out in front of my parent's house and we love to watch the Ospreys fish and raise their young every year. They are magnificent birds!
Barb

We were so stunned to see one so close to our room and all the hustle and bustle of Key West.
We have them here too, but they are rather shy birds, so having one so close was awesome.

The food looks delish Karin !!! I am trying to catch up on my threads, but have such long days ahead it is an uphill battle

Tell me about catching up, Rosie! Sometimes, when there is lots to do for school I do not have enough time to stay on top of all my subscribed threads and even after two days it is hard to catch up.

 

[dizneeat]

Karin, thanks for bringing some Florida sunshine to a cloudy London day

It's funny, when I saw the photo of the specials board at the Southernmost Cafe - I thought, Oooh, I would be ordering that special for sure .... and so did you

Everything looked yummy and I love the photos from the balcony

I am glad I was able to brighten up your day a bit, Linda!
You know, when the server explained the special, they always sounded outstanding, so I just had to try and order their special.
If you ever go to Key West, the Southernmost is the place to stay.

Almost tempted to book an April trip there, and save WDW/US for August...

Hm, maybe I should talk you into the April trip. ..... and then into a late August trip, as we will be there as well.

What a great day- that shrimp looked delicious!

It was a wonderful and relaxing day! And those shrimp were as delicious as they looked.

Another great update. You and Tom take the best vacations!!

Thank you! We love our relaxed vacations ..... such a blessing to stay for a month, as there is NO rush to do anything.

 

[dizneeat]

Oh, Karin, your dinner selection looks absolutely delish! Wish I could have had that for supper tonight. Yummmm.

And what a beautifully relaxing view from your balcony. Love it!

The food at the Southernmost Beach Cafe is very yummy. And you cannot beat that you are eat right there at the beach.
We just love the view from the balcony. And when we got the chance, we actually booked the exact same room for next summer.

Hi Karin! All caught up again.

Wow - the view from your balcony is AMAZING!

What a fun DIS meet - too bad the food was not as good as before.

A crab and shrimp omelette????? WOW - that sounds (and looks) amazing!

The pictures from the trolley tour are beautiful. I really need to make time to visit Key West someday!

Key lime pie on a stick looks pretty dang delicious too! WOW!

And your dinner looks great - such a nice relaxing evening after a fun day. Hmm - really wishing I was on vacation right now!

Being caught up ...... need to update again then.
The hotel is just so awesome and the view from the balcony is the icing on the cake!
And meeting Joh was just awesome, made our trip to Key West all the more special.
I had even better Key Lime Pie on a stick the next day - this one was perfect, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Just checkin' in again!!!!No time to start my TR yet !! Between work and just catching up at home with bilss and unpacking I am exhausted !! I think I need a vaction !!!!

Rosie, take your time to catch up and to start your TR.

Oh Karin I can see this is going to be a great read. I am loving the Key West pictures. We had so much fun there when we went. We may add that to our next FL trip. I've never driven down there and I want to. We like to go to Disney for long trips like you. If you can't stay at least two weeks what's the point? If we do a week or less it feels like a weekend to us. Looking forward to hearing your view of CR Atrium club level. We did that in 2011 and had a fabulous time. I could get used to that, but can not afford it for the entire 14 nights.

Subbing...

Welcome!
I hope you are enjoying the rest of our trip as well. Key West is beautiful, isn't it?
If you have never driven to Key West, you definitely should. It is so much fun and so beautiful. Lots of long bridges and crystal clear water underneath.
Oh, I do so understand about the long trips to Disney/Florida. We LOVE our summer trips. In February I only have a week off and once we have arrived time just seems to fly by so fast and before you know it, you are on your way back home.
Well, we are thinking about returning to Club Level at the Contemporary this summer, BUT .... not sure, funding is of the essence.
We'll see, but we really LOVED it up there.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 5, August 15

A lovely view, a wedding and a guest in the tree - Part 1

We were up

and getting ready at around 8.30. About half an hour later we left our hotel room and got into the car to drive to Sarabeth’s.

The restaurant is in a converted church building and we love to go there for breakfast. We found a spot to park our car right across the restaurant,

fed the meter and headed over to the restaurant, where we were greeted at the door. There was a nice table waiting for us inside

and we sat down and started to study the menu. The waiter filled our glasses with ice-water and we finally got to order our drinks and food. Tom had

some coffee and I went with

some hot tea. We got our drinks and a little while later our breakfast was served. Tom had ordered the

Goldie Lox, silky smoked salmon scrambled with eggs and cream cheese. It tasted as delicious as it looked. I had ordered something I had been longing for, for a long time, the

Green And White, scrambled eggs with scallions and cream cheese. And I did remember correctly, they were to die for. Both dishes came with buttered toast and some yummy jam. Tom had the Orange-Apricot one while I got to taste the Strawberry-Rhubarb one. Both were really wonderful and made for a great sweet finale.
Once we had paid our bill we headed back to the car and decided to head to Mallory Square.

We finally found the entrance to the parking lot, paid for parking and made our way down to Duval Street.

What we wanted to check out were the Crazy Shirt shops as we had seen online that Crazy Shirt carries some really cute Disney Tees. We quickly made it to the first store. And were disappointed to find out that they don’t carry them in Key West. So after checking out all their designs we headed on to the next store, which was supposed to be just down Duval Street.
We stopped at many shops looking at what they were selling, then even found one shop which carried Vera Bradley stuff. They still had the same kind of purse which I had and which now still was soaking wet, so we decided to think about it and maybe pick one up on the way back. We finally found the second Crazy Shirt shop and again we didn’t find anything we liked that much that we were tempted buying. So we walked further down Duval Street.
While we were still exploring we noticed that there was a “Kermit’s” store and decided it was time for a break and a snack.

Kermit’s carries everything Key Lime and we had not tried any of their products beforehand. So Tom got a

Limeade, which was cold and tart and yummy, while I indulged in the best

Key Lime Pie on a stick. It had a slightly thicker crust than the one I had had before and this time it was nice and tart with a real lime taste. It sure was messy to eat, but since they have chairs and loads of napkins around I was able to manage pretty well. We had paid parking for three hours and by now almost two hours were gone, so we decided to head back to the car.
We still stopped at some of the shops and yes, we did pick up that Vera Bradley purse on the way back. We were both tired when we got back to the car, so we drove back to our hotel, had a cold drink and some sandwiches and salad out of the fridge, before enjoying the loungers on our balcony. While we were out there we noticed an Iguana on the palm tree right next to our balcony.

It was fun watching him sitting on one of the leaves enjoying the sun as well. Then we noticed some commotion at the beach area right underneath our balcony.

To be continued ............

 

[pas130]

Oh boy Karin....commotion....I hope it is GOOD commotion...

 

[jenseib]

So you were laundering your money....

I love the cruise ship shots...especially the one sailing away.

It just looks like such a perfect relaxing vacation.

How cool to see an iguana in the tree. And he is pretty. We saw some plane ughly ones at the Mayan ruins. But I guess they change color to blend in don't they? So yours looked like the tree, mine looked like the ruins.

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

The food at the Southernmost Beach Cafe is very yummy. And you cannot beat that you are eat right there at the beach.
We just love the view from the balcony. And when we got the chance, we actually booked the exact same room for next summer.



Being caught up ...... need to update again then.
The hotel is just so awesome and the view from the balcony is the icing on the cake!
And meeting Joh was just awesome, made our trip to Key West all the more special.
I had even better Key Lime Pie on a stick the next day - this one was perfect, my mouth is watering just thinking about it.



Rosie, take your time to catch up and to start your TR.



Welcome!
I hope you are enjoying the rest of our trip as well. Key West is beautiful, isn't it?
If you have never driven to Key West, you definitely should. It is so much fun and so beautiful. Lots of long bridges and crystal clear water underneath.
Oh, I do so understand about the long trips to Disney/Florida. We LOVE our summer trips. In February I only have a week off and once we have arrived time just seems to fly by so fast and before you know it, you are on your way back home.
Well, we are thinking about returning to Club Level at the Contemporary this summer, BUT .... not sure, funding is of the essence.
We'll see, but we really LOVED it up there.

I am. I love the European updates. A very good friend of mine lives in Germany, and she has been trying to get us to visit for years. My 11 year old daughter has this fascination with Paris too, so when we hit the continent I plan to stay and explore for a while.

The only thing I didn't like was being up so high with kids. The whole time they're out on the balcony I'm a nervous wreck.

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Oh my yum! The pie on a stick. I have to try that. I wish I had beauties like you saw in my palm trees. What a handsome fella.

 

[annmarieda]

Welcome back, Ann!

Ann, are you doing the Princess marathon in February? If so, any idea when you will arrive and where you are going to stay?
We'll be at BLT from Feb 21 - 23. Tom and I would LOVE to meet you there. Ellen (MamaPotts) and Diane (pinkxray) will be there too at the same time.

Thanks! It is kinda good to be back. I swear... I am struggling to get my house back in order...and dis just continues to be a challenge for me.

I am registered for the princess in February. My thought is to come down just for it since I shouldn't take advantage too much of my boss who has told me she will allow me to start all my busy week's tasks early. Sooo. 2/21-2-26 No idea where I am staying...or who I will be with. I DEFINITELY have to meet up with you and Tom though!!! I would be a highlight of my trip!!!

And...as your your recent trip...

the safe - OMG, I can't believe it was not water tight and everything got wet!

Your meals - OMG!!! YUM

The iguana - How absolutely cool to see one just lounging about like that!!!

 

[dizneeat]

Oh boy Karin....commotion....I hope it is GOOD commotion...

It was ALL good, Jeanette!

So you were laundering your money....

I love the cruise ship shots...especially the one sailing away.

It just looks like such a perfect relaxing vacation.

How cool to see an iguana in the tree. And he is pretty. We saw some plane ughly ones at the Mayan ruins. But I guess they change color to blend in don't they? So yours looked like the tree, mine looked like the ruins.

I am always hoping to see a Disney ship in port! But so far NO luck. Guess it's good that way, because I would be sitting there at the pier looking at it all day.
It was fun to see the cruise ships sail out again. Unfortunately it marked the end of yet another day.

That was one fun Iguana. He would really pose sometimes. And he stayed! For QUITE some time.

I am. I love the European updates. A very good friend of mine lives in Germany, and she has been trying to get us to visit for years. My 11 year old daughter has this fascination with Paris too, so when we hit the continent I plan to stay and explore for a while.

The only thing I didn't like was being up so high with kids. The whole time they're out on the balcony I'm a nervous wreck.

You really should consider a long visit and visit different countries. When you do, I hope you are going to visit Austria too. Lots of history all around.
Paris is beautiful and I can totally understand why your daughter wants to go there.

As for Club Level at the Contemporary. Since we travel without children, this never even occured to me, but you are right - it would freak me out with small kids around.

Oh my yum! The pie on a stick. I have to try that. I wish I had beauties like you saw in my palm trees. What a handsome fella.

We were so surprised with the Iguana in the tree. And he was really enjoying it up there.
And you HAVE TO try the Key Lime on a stick! Just be sure you try the one from Kermit's, it is really yummy.

Thanks! It is kinda good to be back. I swear... I am struggling to get my house back in order...and dis just continues to be a challenge for me.

I am registered for the princess in February. My thought is to come down just for it since I shouldn't take advantage too much of my boss who has told me she will allow me to start all my busy week's tasks early. Sooo. 2/21-2-26 No idea where I am staying...or who I will be with. I DEFINITELY have to meet up with you and Tom though!!! I would be a highlight of my trip!!!

And...as your your recent trip...

the safe - OMG, I can't believe it was not water tight and everything got wet!

Your meals - OMG!!! YUM

The iguana - How absolutely cool to see one just lounging about like that!!!

Ann, I can so relate to having to catch up with real life. That's what I do on a daily basis.
This should really be fun in February. We are staying at BLT and once you have figured out where you are going to stay we can figure out where to meet.

I could not believe that there would be so much condensation and then that the safe would not be waterproof. At least we had VERY clean money after that.

 

[annmarieda]

I will let you know as soon as I find out more. There is still a chance I may not go. Airfare is being tricky... but also, I don't necessarily want to take a trip completely solo and that is what it is looking like may happen. We will see though. I have till December 1 to apply for a deferment on my race registration. I for sure will be going back for the ToT race next fall (so the end of September) It is really too bad I cant just transfer the registration from the princess onto that registration...but it has to go to the 2014 PHM.