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

[dizneeat]

Karin, I am enjoying your pictures of Key West. Your hotel was beautiful! What a great DisMeet too!

We had so much fun meeting Joh and her family.
And, we are in love with the Southernmost ..... it is so beautiful. We cannot wait to go back in the summer.

I have done that trolley ride twice and enjoyed it both times

We have done it every time we went to Key West and it was always fun ...... even more fun if you do it for free.
They have them in several towns and they are all fun.

Karin...Looks like you are having the best time. The pictures of Key West are beautiful and your view from your balcony is gorgeous, I would sit out there for hours. Yummy breakfast and once again I have to eat my boring lunch. Yes, DISmeets are the best!!

We really enjoyed the laid back time we had in Key West. Perfect start to a perfect vacation.
That balcony is the icing on the cake. Sitting out there, watching the waves and enjoying a drink is wonderful.
Oh, and we had a few more AWESOME DISmeets.

Karin,
Just found your trip report today - I'm late to the party!! I found your last trip report close to the time you finished it so glad I got in earlier this time The view from your balcony looked amazing!!!

Welcome!
You aren't late to the party - I am only working on day 4 of 30 ....... so, there is plenty to come.
Thanks for reading my other TR too.

 

[dizneeat]

Ooh, that breakfast looks really fresh and yummy. I think my family went on that tour when we were in Key West.

It's really cool that you had a great guide. We know how important that is right? I'm talking about the Jungle
Cruise of course.

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your day! Btw, I started my PTR! It's in my signature.

The Southernmost Beach Cafe is so nice. It really is smack dab on the beach and it has such a relaxed feel to it.
I know what you mean about a great guide/skipper - that's why we love the JC at night.

All caught up. Great looking food on the plane as always.

for two DISmeets already on the trip.

Krispy Kremes...what I wouldn't do for one of those now.

Your room in Key West is beautiful.

One of these days we have to get there; the trolley ride would be something Mark would like.

You are all caught up!
We had DISmeets galore this trip. So much fun! DISfriends are the best.

I am sure you both would love Key West. Wonderful, scenic drive over all the bridges and Key West it self is so beautiful.

Do you realize how many pages you have here? I am away from dis for a month and you just don't wait, do you However, with your handy dandy links I may just be able to catch up.

Airplane Food -

I know I say it each and every time I see your food, but YUMM!!! I just don't understand quick how we have settled into crackers and peanuts. I do remember having real food...once upon a time...

Airport Hyatt -

I thought of you when I walked through MCO recently. What a brilliant idea to stay a night there after a long travel day. I do not have quite the time you do... but with layovers and such we are a full day.

Owners Locker Package -

Oh my goodness! That would have been so frustrating! I am glad that it was found though!

Airport Food Court -

It is always so hard to find food at the airport! And your pizza didn't look all that great. I am sure you had tons of good food come your way soon though!!

Breakfast at WGPE -

Someday, I HAVE to eat there. YUM!!

Dismeet at World of Disney -

I think meeting people from dis just make the trip so much more special!!! How cool you got an unplanned one

Drive to Miami -

What a scary drive! The fall rain in FL is just crazy! Glad you made it to Miami though and saw some blue skies.

Getting off the highway -

I should have figured you wouldn't be too far into your trip before Krispy Kreme entered into your journey.

Marriot in Key Largo -

What a nice room! I love all that space.


Dive Training in Pool -

Wow, that is interesting. After trained...do the people go out into the ocean?

The Beach Hotel -

I love this one the most so far! The colors are so calming!! Your view is awesome too. The pictures are just amazing.


Lunch at the Turtle Kraal-


While the food may not have been stellar... it looks like you had good company and the the turtle race was looks like a fun little game. Too bad no one one the big prize.

Welcome back, Ann!
Sorry you had so much catching up to do ....... but I am only at day 4 of our trip.
Ann, if you ever come in late and need a hotel for the night - the Hyatt is just so relaxing. Just make sure you steer away from the foodcourt at night. We have already decided to either go to the hotel restaurant or more likely order room service next summer.
We found the diving lessons in the pool so funny. Especially as they had signs that said no diving.
I guess they were lateron going on a boat excursion and did some diving there, but I am not sure.
We love the Southernmost and were so lucky that I decided to rebook us last time.
In 2009 I had the Reach Resort (which is right next door) booked and somehow was still looking for other opions. Then one day close to when we were leaving I found an add of the Southernmost on the beach Hotel (we had stayed at the Southernmost Motel in 2000). They had just opened their new addition and were having promotions. It really felt like I had to rebook there and the Reach was dumped and we went to the SM. Needless to say we loved it and "had to" go back there.
To be honest, the food at Turtle Kraal didn't matter all that much to me. Yip, it was not what I had remembered, but the company we had was awesome. I would have loved Daniel to win the big prize. He was so excited.

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.

ditto

It IS a beautiful hotel and was it was a really nice room.

 

[dizneeat]

Karin,
I go to work for 4 days and you add 4 more pages!!

That's only a page a day.
I need to get that TR moving so I can ge most of it done before we leave for our next WDW vacation in 4 months.

Hi Karin! I don't get on the boards much anymore, but I was thinking about you and thought 'hey I bet she has a new TR I'm missing!". Lucky for me you're not too far in to it so I'm all caught up now.

I've lived in Florida for 27 years but I've never been to the Keys! Your hotel there looks really lovely. I'd love to visit the Hemingway House, did you see a lot of cats there?

Hi Abby! So good to see you here and know that you will be on board for this trip!
You really need to visit the Keys some day. They are truely wonderful.
We didn't go to the Hemingway House this time, even though we had planned on going. But the lines were too long for us to get into - pics coming later.
They have SO many cats there. Wherever you look you'll see one. I love the "six toed" ones! Very cute.

 

[dizneeat]

Day 4, August 14

A Trolley tour and a dinner at the beach - Part 2

We decided to check out the sponge and shell shop and after that walked over to the little shopping area there.
We walked through the shops and found a store that had lots of things for cat lovers and we could not help ourselves and bought about 30 Dollars worth of cat toys for our little princess.
When we were done shopping we went outside to get on the next trolley to finish our tour, but it was already full and we were told that another one should be there about 20 minutes later. What to do? What to do? Well, why not check out the area a little more.
There was a cruise ship in port, the Magic and we were going to take a look at her.

Nope, not the Disney Magic, but the Carnival Magic

and seeing her in the harbour got us really excited for our upcoming cruise on the Disney DREAM. We explored the area and watched people get off and on the cruise ship and in no time the 20 minutes were gone and we decided to wait for the next trolley after that and have a snack in the meantime.
So we walked back into the shopping area and got a bottle of water and a

Key Lime Pie on a stick. They are actually Key Lime Pies dipped into chocolate and then frozen with an ice-cream stick in it. I really love them and there are several different brands to have on the island. Now, while this one was nice, it was pretty sweet and lacked some of the tartness of the lime. We finished our water and then walked outside to walk around a little more before the next trolley came in.
When we arrived there, a trolley was just rolling in and they were telling people to get on, as, as soon as they would be full they would pull out. We got on, found a seat towards the middle and within a matter of minutes we were pulling out. At every stop we went to, people were waiting and since our trolley was full and no one wanted to get off, the driver called in for more trolleys to be sent out. The tour rolls through most of Key West

and there were long lines of people in front of every sight we went to.

Part of the tour is a drive on one of the coastal roads

and along Higg’s beach.

The view was really beautiful and we enjoyed our tour a lot. Once we got to the Southernmost at the Beach again, we got off, as we were hot, tired and hungry.

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

 

[jenseib]

What a fun afternoon. It is making me want to go to Key West again...both times I have been there via cruise ship. I might have look at one going there in the near future.

 

[WDisneyMom]

Another great update and pictures, Karin.

That key lime pie dipped in chocolate and frozen looks amazing. I have only even had chocolate dipped/frozen cheesecake which is very yummy.

 

[KatMark]

Great update, Karin. Key West is beautiful. And it has a shell shop which is calling my name. And I love the Sloppy Joes Bar...I want to go there now.

Mark would probably love that key lime pie ice cream (not me...I don't like pie or key lime).

 

[dizneeat]

What a fun afternoon. It is making me want to go to Key West again...both times I have been there via cruise ship. I might have look at one going there in the near future.

It was a really beautiful day and it got even nicer ....
If you can go to Key West, try to drive there, Jen, it really adds to the experience!
And ... you don't have to be as lazy as we were - there's lots to see, it's just that we did all that the last time.

Another great update and pictures, Karin.

That key lime pie dipped in chocolate and frozen looks amazing. I have only even had chocolate dipped/frozen cheesecake which is very yummy.

Thank you!
That Key Lime Pie on a stick is SOOOOOOO good! I had an even better one the next day.

Great update, Karin. Key West is beautiful. And it has a shell shop which is calling my name. And I love the Sloppy Joes Bar...I want to go there now.

Mark would probably love that key lime pie ice cream (not me...I don't like pie or key lime).

Thank you, Kathy.
We just love Key West. Such a beautiful island.
You know, we have NEVER been to Sloppy Joes. Every time we walk by it is packed!
The shell shop is nice, lots to look at.

 

[Linda67]

Another wonderful update Karin

Key West looks beautiful, I would love to visit there one day

The frozen key lime pie looks yummy

 

[dizneeat]

Another wonderful update Karin

Key West looks beautiful, I would love to visit there one day

The frozen key lime pie looks yummy

Thank you, Linda!
It was a very nice day. And if you haven't been to Key West yet, you really should try and work it into your vacation plans. It is a beautiful place.

I just love that Key Lime Pie on a stick. And I had a really incredible one the following day.

 

[pas130]

Tom enjoys meeting my DISfriends too! He even joined the DISboards, is just very quiet.

The hotel is just a few steps from Southernmost Point.

I am now OFFICIALLY researching the Keys SOOOO...fly to MCO do WDW...fly to Miami...do the Keys fly back to MCO do US/IoA...all plans subject to change

 

[jedijill]

Yay, finally caught up! The Keys look amazing.

Jill in CO

 

[jamiesgirl]

The Keys look beautiful! And I should know better, than to read your TR before dinner....that key lime pie looked SO good!!!

 

[deenbrad]

Finally caught up! Now I'm really wanting a trip to Key West!

 

[dizneeat]

I am now OFFICIALLY researching the Keys SOOOO...fly to MCO do WDW...fly to Miami...do the Keys fly back to MCO do US/IoA...all plans subject to change

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

Yay, finally caught up! The Keys look amazing.

Jill in CO

Glad you are caught up! The Keys are just so beautiful. We love it there.

The Keys look beautiful! And I should know better, than to read your TR before dinner....that key lime pie looked SO good!!!

Well, yes, Mary Ellen, you should know WAY better than to read my trip report on an empty stomach.
I am really sure, you and Joe would love the Keys too! Maybe we should just plan another trip together.

Finally caught up! Now I'm really wanting a trip to Key West!

for being caught up! It feels really good to have talked so many of you into visiting the Keys!

 

[dizneeat]

Day 4, August 14

A Trolley tour and a dinner at the beach - Part 3

Once we got to the Southernmost at the Beach again, we got off, as we were hot, tired and hungry. And once we got back to our room we had a drink and a sandwich made with the groceries we had picked the day before, then sat outside on the balcony for a while enjoying the sun.

When we tried to go online later in the afternoon we noticed that the computer mouse had died and even changing the battery didn’t work. So, since working with the touchpad is a real pain on the netbook we got into the car and needed to get a new one.
So we opened the safe to get out our drivers licences and discovered that the sink above it, which we had used to quickly cool down some drinks and to keep the wine cold had formed some condensation which had dripped onto the safe. Well, that safe was not waterproof as everything inside was soaking wet!
So we hung our money up to dry, along with some of the paper cards we had and my lovely Vera Bradley purse. Now, after everything was saved and hung up to dry again we were ready to head out and look for that computer mouse. And after visiting a shop or two we decided on getting one that was slightly larger than the one we had had. Shopping done we went back to our hotel and freshened up, sat out on the balcony for a while

and then finally headed over to the Southernmost Cafe on the Beach for dinner.

This time we knew better than to wait at the side entrance and walked right over to the hostess. Again, we were seated immediately and we both ordered some Diet Coke to start with.
We looked throught the drinks menu and we both found something we wanted to try. Tom ordered the

Key Lime Margarita, Margaritavilla Island Lime Tequila, Ke-Ke Beach Key Lime Liquor, Triple Sec and Sour, while I wanted to try the

Key Lime Pie, Citrus Vodka, Ke-Ke Beach Key Lime Liquor, Splash of Lime and Pineapple Juices. They were both very nice and the perfect start to our dinner at the beach. When our drinks came out the server brought out some

nice crusty Baguette and took our order for dinner. We had received a voucher for a free appetizer which we wanted to use and were informed that we could indeed order that, and that our meals came with a

house salad. We both love salad, so we were happy to hear that. I think Tom ordered his with Italian dressing, while I had ordered the balsamic one. Once we had enjoyed our salads our free starter was delivered to the table.
It is a tasting portion of their

Coconut Shrimp, tempura breaded shrimp, rolled in coconut, then fried to a golden brown, served with a pineapple dipping sauce. The shrimp were really nice and plump and fried perfectly and the pineapple sauce was the perfect accompanyment. We enjoyed the food and the setting very much and before we knew it our main courses were ready and brought out. I had fallen for the special of the day,

Pan seared Snapper with Bernaise Sauce over a crab and green asparagus risotto and chef’s vegetables. It was delicious! Tom had ordered the

Jumbo Sea Scallops, tender pan seared diver scallops, placed atop a bed of wilted spinach, finished with a roasted tomato cream sauce, accompanied by jasmine rice and chef’s vegetables, which was equally wonderful. We were both pretty stuffed after we had finished our main courses and were ready to ask for the bill when the server told us that our voucher not only entitled us to a starter, but a dessert as well. And since we were so full and had told her that there was no way we could eat that, she offered to pack up the dessert to go. No that was something else. We decided on the

Key Lime Pie, which we received a few minutes later all boxed up and ready with forks and napkins in a small bag.

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

 

[dizneeat]

Day 4, August 14

A Trolley tour and a dinner at the beach - Part 4

We decided on the Key Lime Pie, which we received a few minutes later all boxed up and ready with forks and napkins in a small bag.
We paid our bill, left a nice tip and walked down to the Southernmost Point

as it is just a few steps from the hotel.
There were still lots of people lining up and we just took a photo from afar.

We decided it was time to head back to our room

and enjoy some more time on the balcony. Once we had arrived we put the cake in the fridge, picked up a drink and walked outside onto the balcony to sit in the evening sun and watch the sun go down.

We sat outside for quite a while taking it all in and later settled on the bed watching TV. We tasted the Key Lime Pie, which was really good and at around 11pm we decided it was time to turn off the light and go to sleep.

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

 

[HowieHowie]

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

 

[WDWaddictt]

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

 

[Mom&RN]

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