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

[dizneeat]

What a beautiful spot for a wedding!

Couldn't agree with you more!

So jealous of your 30 day vacations. Enjoying reading all about your trip though. We visited Key West a few years ago before heading up to Disney. We took a jet ski tour round the island and I fell off For a while I thought we might have to cancel our Disney plans as I couldn't even walk ... luckily a few days later and I was able to hobble about but boy did it hurt!!! My advice ... DO NOT hire a jet ski

Can't wait for the next instalments

Lucie

I know 30 days seems so long, but they are over just as fast!
And I am truly glad you are enjoying coming along. Yikes, your jet ski accident sounds pretty painful, but I am glad you were able to continue!

More coming soon!

What a great view of the Beach Wedding !!! Your daiquiri looked delicious !!!! Carol is , as I knew she would , thinking about cruising in 2014 after I report how the Disney Cruise is !! I noticed they have a cruise ( not Disney) that stops in Key West hmmmmmm!!

It was awesome sitting practically above it. And it all looked so fun and relaxed.
I loved that daiquiri and it was perfect on that hot roof!
Yeah! I knew Carol would be interested in more cruises! As for getting to Key West on a cruise, I am not sure it would be as relaxed and fun as you literally just have hours to enjoy the island. The beauty of our visits is, that we have the time to take it slow and enjoy it at our own pace.

Great pictures of Key West, my son is heading there in two weeks! I may try to sneak into their luggage!

Go for it, Doris! Sneak into their luggage and have a fun time!

 

[pas130]

How lovely!!! A beach wedding!!! That is neat Karin!!!

 

[KatMark]

Great update, Karin. Love the iguana in the tree. And how wonderful that you got to watch a wedding on the beach...so exciting.

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

I love the wooded sign on the Southernmost beach. Tennessee Williams was right about that. If the place is covered in palm trees and smells like salt water you're good. I think that is why I'm so happy all the time. Of course I'd be much happier if I had an iguana living in our palm trees.

We had planned on using our Disney weekends for house hunting. Now we might have to go back to the original plan. Key West. We'll see.

Your pictures are beautiful. I adore the one of the banana tree.

 

[dizneeat]

Great trip report! Can't wait to read more. Key West looks beautiful.

Thank you! I am so glad you enjoy the trip report!
Lots more to come ........ and you are right - Key West IS beautiful!

What a pretty place to get married! There is something about a wedding, even if you don't know the people it is fun to watch. The plane pictures were also great! I don't know that I could have enjoyed the roof top with no shade. I would have felt cooked!

It was awesome watching the wedding at such a wonderful place.
Even though it was really hot, there was so much to see from that rooftop that we didn't mind the heat that much (and the adult beverage helped too! )
The plane was SO close - it doesn't really show in the photos, but it was pretty close.

I really hope that we are able to meet. As of right now, I am just not sure it is going to happen. I am registered for the phm... but it may be that I have no one to run it with me. If that person then doesn't go, then I have to decide if I am still going to do it. My only thought is... if I transfer it to next year... will have the same situation? If I do go, I need to get something booked so I have a place to stay.

I love all the beach photos! I think it looks so relaxing! You are totally changing my view on cruises and beaches!!!

The wedding is super cool to have caught...

and I am still impressed with the iguana.

Whatever you decide, Ann. IF you'll decide to run we would love to see you!
We LOVED the iguana .... he really seemed to enjoy his spot up there in the tree!

How lovely!!! A beach wedding!!! That is neat Karin!!!

It was such a beautiful event, Jeanette. They were all so relaxed and we heard a lot of laughter!

 

[dizneeat]

Great update, Karin. Love the iguana in the tree. And how wonderful that you got to watch a wedding on the beach...so exciting.

Thank you, Kathy!
The iguana was just the icing on the cake! I sat outside on the lounge chair and watched him for quite some time.
The wedding was fun to watch - and it was watched by many. Most of the balconies were suddenly "occupied".

I love the wooded sign on the Southernmost beach. Tennessee Williams was right about that. If the place is covered in palm trees and smells like salt water you're good. I think that is why I'm so happy all the time. Of course I'd be much happier if I had an iguana living in our palm trees.

We had planned on using our Disney weekends for house hunting. Now we might have to go back to the original plan. Key West. We'll see.

Your pictures are beautiful. I adore the one of the banana tree.

No palm trees, no salt water, no iguanas here, but the thought of going back lets me go on.
Maybe you should use a weekend after some successful house hunting for celebrations in Key West? Sounds good to ME.

We just love all those "foreign to us" trees and plants and I really enjoy taking pics of them.
Lucky you, living so close!

 

[dizneeat]

Day 5, August 15

A lovely view, a wedding and a guest in the tree - Part 4

Around 7pm we thought about having dinner and where to drive for it, but then decided to just stay close and head over to the Southernmost Beach Café again.

So we got ready and walked over to the restaurant, which was quite full already. We both were handed a menu and ordered our

Diet Cokes and once they arrived at the table we ordered our dinner. We had decided to share two starters and instead of a main course just to order a hot sandwich. After we had placed our orders it did not take long until our starters arrived. Tom had ordered the

Cafe Calamari, battered rings and tentacles tossed with mild peppers and flash fried, served with our house made Tzatziki sauce and marinara. Once we saw the size of the order we regretted having ordered two appetizers. It was huge. My appetizer were the

Coconut Shrimp, Tempura breaded shrimp, rolled in coconut, then fried to a golden brown, served with a pineapple dipping sauce. We did our best to finish them both, but had not been successful when our main courses arrived. Tom had ordered the

Fresh Catch Mahi-Mahi Sandwich, blackened local filet, served with Key Lime Aioli and french fries. It got two thumbs up! I had ordered the

Tropical Grilled Chicken Sandwich, grilled chicken breast topped with pineapple slices, Monterey Jack cheese and avocado mayo, served with french fries. I was pretty impressed with it. It was delicious and the pineapple worked really well with the chicken breast. We were both far too full to order dessert and after settling the bill we walked across the beach and over to our resort.
We had one last task to tackle that evening, doing the packing. But before that we sat out on the balcony and watched the sunset.

It was such a beautiful evening and we were both sad that we would have to leave, but there was something else that really pulled us back.
On the desk in the room we had found an offer that said that if we handed in an offer request for next summer we could get a 10% discount on our stay. We had our next summer’s vacation all planned out already and it did not include Key West, but that offer was really inviting.
And the beautiful evening added to it too. And after we had talked it over a little we finally decided to go for it and hand in our request the next day. Once that was decided packing was an easy task and we lined up our suitcases towards the door. Luckily we had found a parking spot at the far end of the garage, which was right underneath our room, so we decided to haul everything down the steps the next morning.
Once we were all set we finally checked on the iguana, and thanks to the torch light on the cell phone we were able to confirm he was still there, before we had a nightcup and then went off to dreamland.

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

 

[jedijill]

The resort looks lovely and I love that sunset. Yay for going back next year at a discount.

Jill in CO

 

[dizneeat]

The resort looks lovely and I love that sunset. Yay for going back next year at a discount.

Jill in CO

It is a really beautiful resort and the service is just outstanding!

The only component in our next year's trip without a discount seems to be the airfare, but there ARE no discounts, just try to catch them early, which I did. I purchased our airfare for August next summer this week.
So I guess I am the discount lady!

 

[HowieHowie]

Loved your Key West trip. The daiquiri looks delicious. How exciting to see a wedding right from your balcony. I love the iguana in the palm tree. The sunset is beautiful, nice way to finish a wonderful week in Key West. YAY for booking next year at a discount. So happy that you booked your summer airfare. We haven't booked anything for next summer. Rachel works in a camp and I'm still waiting for the schedule to come out. I hope we can still get a decent airfare and the DVC we want. We always have everything booked by now.

 

[KatMark]

That food looks absolutely yummy.

Congrats on booking a "bounceback."

 

[nutz2notz]

I found your report on Sunday and am now all caught up.

I am thoroughly enjoying all the details of your adventures and hearing about your drinks and food.

Your Italy weekend sounds wonderful and what beautiful scenery. Key West is so beautiful and what a great view you had and what fun to watch the wedding. Loved the iguana too!

Looking forward to more.

 

[annmarieda]

The food looks amazing! The sunset beautiful!!! I don't blame you one bit for putting in for next year.

 

[michelle9343]

I have been LOVING your report. I really hope to get to Key West someday!!!

 

[podsnel]

Beautiful sunset pics- I don't blame you a bit for going back!

And you're going to Italy AGAIN????? Is that what I saw on another TR???

 

[pas130]

It was such a beautiful event, Jeanette. They were all so relaxed and we heard a lot of laughter!

It's like a dream wedding for me..I am not a frilly girlie gala type. A relaxed beach wedding awesome

That food looks absolutely yummy.

Congrats on booking a "bounceback."

I was thinking the same thing Kathy, a Key West bounceback

 

[jenseib]

I wanted a beach wedding, but it was such a pain for us to try and put together that we went with the court house wedding.

Another fabulous day with beautiful views and atmosphere. I am loving all your palm tree pictures. Only 9 more days til lI can see some and I am itching to get there!

That chicken sandwich looks interesting. I might have to make something like that here and try it.

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Oh my goodness, look at those coconut shrimp. My husband will be making those (or something coconut) for dinner now! Those look so good. I used to get those at Margaritaville all the time, but they didn't look that good.

Um, we could never house hunt in Key West. Have you seen the real estate prices for the keys? Yeah, that will never happen. We have found some places close to Disney for less than $30,000. The properties aren't the best right now, but after we fix them up they'd make the perfect vacation home.

The only thing worse than our addiction to Disney is our addiction to palm trees. This is my front door. It looks like a jungle, does it not? No iguana's though.

 

[eandesmom]

Ok, how much vacation time do you guys get? I am SO jealous!

Oh well, even if I had that much I couldn't afford to do all that much with it so I will just live vicariously.

You were an updating machine while I was gone. All your updates made me really miss Key West, so beautiful! I cannot believe the crowds though, yuck. The Southernmost Cafe is definitely on my must eat at list the next time we go back, that was some amazing looking food.

Key Lime Pie on a stick. Who knew?

 

[dizneeat]

I am VERY sorry, but I guess there won't be any updates this weekend. I am still trying to get everything organized for our trip to Italy the day after tomorrow.

We will leave at 4am on Friday (National Holiday here) and the drive should be around 5,5 to 6 hours. The weather isn't looking all that good, but who cares, we will be on vacation.

We will return on Sunday in the late afternoon and IF I can get everything ready for the next day in time I might even be able to post a few pics from our trip.

I hope to peek in now and then from Italy and will see ya all again on Sunday/Monday!