Goodbye, Sun. See you tomorrow!

Well, it appears that January and February have escaped me. I don't know if it's that I'm getting older or simply busier, but time passes faster than ever before. It feels like January just started, but I realize Friday will be March! Geez!

I spent the past weekend in Key West with RA. It was such a great trip, and I'm sad that it's already over.

We had an early morning flight on Thursday and made it to Miami by about 10. We then picked up a rental car and started making our way down to Key West. The drive was easy and beautiful. We stopped for lunch in Islamorada at a place called Lorelei. It was a nice little place on the water. Coincidentally, as we approached the restaurant, there was a boat outside that said "To Catch the Cure for Cystic Fibrosis." You could enter in a drawing to win the boat. Awesome! At Lorelei, we enjoyed conch fritters and fish sandwiches. And Rum Punch! Vacation was under way!

Upon arriving at our new home in Key West, we got unloaded and changed into clothes for warmer weather. It was almost 80 degrees in Key West (compared to feels-like-28 in Atlanta that morning). We went out to the pool, where it was complimentary cocktail hour, before we started making our way to a sunset party. The sunset party was very fun and filled with entertainers. We watched one guy on a tall unicycle (maybe 10 feet) juggle torch-things that were on fire, throwing one under his leg while on the unicycle. Crazy! Did I mention that he was on the edge of the pier, meaning that he'd be in the water if he fell backwards? After the party, we went and got dinner at a place called Alonzo's. Dinner included a half-pound of stone crabs, which is a lot smaller than it sounds. We also had some key lime pie. Delicious! Then we headed back to home base after a long day of traveling.

Friday morning we got up and went for a jog to explore the places nearby. We found a small fish market (Eaton Street Fish Market) where we went for a late breakfast/early lunch, I guess. RA had a lobster roll and I had a crabcake sandwich. They were both delicious! We then changed into swimsuits and hit the pool. It was perfect! We hung out by the pool for several hours before grabbing a small bite to eat at another restaurant next door, Azur. I had this amazing salad with a mound of warm goat cheese on the top. We then headed back and got in a quick nap before getting cleaned up for the night's activities.

Friday night consisted of a sunset sail, which was amazing. Not only was there a ton of wine available, but there was also CHEESE! It was fun watching the other attendees get more and more sociable. (I overheard someone say the line in the title. Hilarious.) I did have enough wine that, as I took a picture of the sunset, I counted "One...Two..." before realizing what I was doing. Smile, sun!

The most memorable part, though, was probably when we got pulled over by the police. Yes, in a sailboat. I didn't even know it was possible, but I'm glad it happened! I was taking pictures of the police, which I'm sure was emasculating, but I was excited. I'm not even certain why we were pulled over, honestly, but I think it had to do with the wake zone. Rebels of the sea!

After the sailboat ride, we got dinner at a place called Two Friends. I wasn't feeling particularly hungry, so, in addition to our conch fritters, I got a Caesar salad. I also ate part of a baked potato. I know I'm not making this food sound interesting, but I sure did love it! We topped that all off with some even more amazing key lime pie. Then we called it quits to prepare for our long day on Saturday.

Saturday we took a ferry to Dry Tortuga National Park, which was 70 miles west of Key West. The ferry ride took almost two and a half hours, and we spent a decent bit of the ride napping. This nap was after our breakfast on the ferry, which included CHEESE CUBES!

Upon arriving at the island, we got our first glance at Fort Jefferson. When I say "island," I mean this thing was small. You could have seen from one beach to the opposite beach if a fort wasn't smack-dab in the middle. The fort was super cool and it's incredible that a structure like that was built on such a small chunk of land.

We waded into the water and realized it was freezing. Well, at least compared to the heated pool we were in the day before. We sucked it up and got on our snorkel gear anyway. We ventured out in the water and saw some really cool fish and underwater plants. It's so neat seeing such vivid colors in nature.

We enjoyed some lunch before heading back to the beach area, where we discovered a dog swimming in the fort's moat. It was such a funny sight to see. After another few snorkeling attempts, I realized I was starting to feel sunburnt. Thankfully there wasn't much time until the boat needed to head back because the sun hit me like a ton of bricks.

We enjoyed very strong piña coladas on the way back. RA was experiencing some motion sickness, so I spent my time chatting with a really nice couple from North Carolina. We made it back shortly after 5 and got changed for dinner.

We went to a place called Turtle Kraals for dinner. I got a salad again because I was feeling full. After dinner we went to a gelato shop and had some delicious chocolate and peanut butter gelato. Yum! Drained from the sun, we headed back to start packing for the trip home in the morning.

The trip back was nice, but of course saddening. Vacation always passes too quickly! We stopped at a place called Bob's Bunz for breakfast. We dropped off the rental car and got to the airport about 90 minutes before our scheduled flight. As we entered the airport, RA realized he left his jacket in the rental car. We thought he had time to go back, but it ended up taking him forever. I went ahead while he hurried back.

When he finally got to security, we were really pushing it time-wise. We ran through the airport movie-style because we knew our plane should already be in the boarding process. Upon arrival, we found out our flight had been delayed. After several more delays, we finally took off about 90 minutes after our scheduled time. We made it back a little after 7.

I had such a great time. I wanted to document the trip before I forget any of it. I'm very fortunate to have gotten such an awesome opportunity!