Our Key West Adventure: Day 6

Unfortunately, day 6 was our last day in Key West. We headed into town to enjoy a delicious brunch (a crepe for me, an omelette for him) and do some shopping before saying goodbye to Aunt Beth and Uncle Gabby. We made the short trip to the airport, where we boarded our flight to Orlando. After a three hour layover, we landed in Allentown a little bit after 9:00 pm. Here's a fun fact about the Allentown airport: our plan landed at 9:10 pm, were in the car by 9:18, had to stop at CVS on the way home (Brad needed some after sun) and we STILL made it home in time to see the rose ceremony on The Bachelorette! By the way, can you believe that Courtney is still around? Score one for ABE!!

Apparently, tonight's post is full of tangents. Continuing with that trend, I just wanted to let you know that our workout plan is still on track (woohoo!), we had a great weekend filled with friends, and there are no photos on this post because I'm typing this on the iPad and don't know how to get photos into the post. Can anyone help me with this?

Back to regular posts soon! Until then...

Nikki

Our Key West Adventure: Day 5

Day five in Key West was a little bit more low key than our other days. Since the weather wasn't quite as nice as it had been the other days, we decided to forgo a day at the beach and hung around at the house.

In the morning, we took a nice long bike ride around Sugarloaf Key:

 A view of the Key Deer Refuge...with no key deer. 

We spent most of the afternoon lounging around in the hammock before headed down the road to check another Key West sunset.

We had a great seafood dinner back at the house with Aunt Beth and Uncle Gabby before settling down on the couch to watch Water for Elephants. This book/movie became a joke after Aunt Beth seemed to misplace the copy of the book she was reading, but the movie was actually really good.

Day six was our last day in Key West--more on that later!

Until then,
-Nikki 

Our Key West Adventure: Day 4

First things first---workout Wednesday was successfully completed at 6:15 a.m.(!) We’ve gotten a little (read: a lot) off track, but we’re turning things around. Brad and I started a 12 week training program yesterday, hoping that it will keep us motivated. So far so good—we’re two days into the program and have successfully completed two workouts. Yesterday’s workout consisted of exercises for the chest and triceps, and today’s workout was all about biceps and back. My arms are already hurting!

And now, back to our Key West Adventure.

Day four started a little bit differently. After spending some time at the house, we headed out on the boat for a day on the water. Our first stop was Marvin Key, a spot known well to Key West locals and is only accessible by boat. The beach is absolutely beautiful and sandbars appear out of nowhere, allowing you to walk in the middle of the ocean! Aunt Beth and Uncle Gabby’s neighbors, Heather and Gema, joined us for the day, along with the dogs. Check out this view!

We spent about an hour at Marvin Key before the weather became a bit iffy. We headed back toward Sugarloaf key and did some exploring of a hidden canal, where there are the remains of bridge that burned down years ago.

 The canal

Our fearless captain

 The burnt bridge...and a dog playing in the water.

 Heather and Gema on the boat.

Because the weather wasn’t quite cooperating, we headed back to shore and spend the afternoon at a pool near the house.

After out time at the pool, Brad and I headed to the house to get ready for our date. Since Valentine ’s Day was the Tuesday after we got home, we decided to celebrate on Saturday night in Key West. What could be better than that?

Brad’s Aunt and Uncle had given us a gift certificate for Michael’s, a restaurant in Key West. The gift certificate was for fondue, so we decided to take advantage of it! Our plan was to have the fondue as an appetizer, and then order entrees. The waiter assured us that the fondue was a meal itself, so we ordered two appetizers and enjoyed the fondue. We’re certainly glad that we took his advice—the plate of “dippers” for the fondue was enormous! 

                            A seafood crepe appetizer                                 Brad enjoying the dinner

                                     The "dippers"                                  The fondue pot--we had a pesto fondue

After dinner, we walked around downtown Key West for a bit before heading to our second restaurant of the evening for dessert. Aunt Beth had mentioned a place called Better Than Sex, and had a menu for this dessert restaurant in her binder of menus. We were able to get a reservation and very much enjoyed our dessert! The restaurant was dark and cozy, and unfortunately, not conducive to photos. There were lots of candles, and you had to read the menu by flashlight. There were also games at each table (we had 20 Questions), which we played until our goodies arrived. We split a piece of "Between my Red Velvet Sheets" Cheesecake--my favorite part was the delicious chocolate cookie dough crust. I’m going to have to try to figure out how they made it! We also shared some chocolate Pinot Noir hot pepper ice cream—it was definitely interesting, and I’m glad that we tried it.

After our wonderful date, we headed back to the house. Stay tuned for an update on our last full day in Key West!

Our Key West Adventure: Day 3

Day 3 in Key West started much like day 2--with a trip to Bahia Honda State Park for a day at the beach. We arrived around 9:30 a.m., and got to do some exploring up and down the beach before it got crowded.

 These branches were covered in seashells. Brad added one that he found!

 Look! We're on a log in the ocean. :)

On the way back to the house, we drove through the Key Deer Refuge to see the Blue Hole. The Blue Hole is an abandoned limestone quarry which is filled with water and home to lots of wildlife. We were able to spot these guys not far from the shore:

And  we were able to see these Key Deer before heading back to the house:

After a quick change, we headed down to Key West to catch the sunset at Mallory Square: 

Brad's Aunt and Uncle took great care of us while we were there! We had a delicious dinner waiting for us when we got home, prepared by Uncle Gabby.

 Stone crab legs!

Lobster tail!

We also had some (un-pictured) Key West Pinks (shrimp) as an appetizer. Everything was absolutely wonderful, and so fresh! After dinner, we enjoyed a low-key evening at the house, hanging out and spending quality time together. 

Catch ya later with our day 4 adventure!

-Nikki

Our Key West Adventure: Day 2

After a great weekend in Northumberland visiting with mom and dad, (and Brinley, too!), we're back in the Lehigh Valley and ready to start another week. Well, Brad is--luckily, I don't have to work tomorrow. :)

Now, back to our Key West adventure. Day two was spent with on the beach, with temperatures hovering around 75 degrees. The weather was much more cooperative than the day that we arrived, so we most of the morning and afternoon at Bahia Honda State Park. If you're visiting the Florida Keys, this is a place that you should definitely check out.

We headed back to the house after our day at the beach and got ready for dinner at The Square Grouper Bar and Grill. This place was fantastic!

Again, my apologies for the dark and blurry photos from my phone. It didn't seem appropriate to drag my wonderful new camera along to the nice restaurant.

After we split four wonderful appetizers (Flash fried conch with ponzu and wasabi drizzle, Yellowfin tuna and avocado egg rolls with dipping sauce, coconut shrimp with spicy Mango sauce, and seared tuna with spicy pineapple sauce), we got started on our entrees.

 Brad's choice: grilled scallops with roasted corn polenta cake and cilantro honey sauce. We all had a bite, and decided that it was absolutely delicious!

Aunt Beth went for the pasta with key lime butter sauce and roasted tomatoes with pan sautéed seafood combo. Amazing.

I had the jasmine rice bowl with Thai sweet chili butter sauce with spinach, jasmine rice, chopped cashews and pan sautéed shrimp. Really, it was fantastic!

Gabby had the BBQ bacon wrapped jumbo shrimp, of which we unfortunately do not have a picture. Even though this was quite a lot of food, there was still room for dessert!

Brad and I split the chocolate peanut butter pie:

and Aunt Beth and Uncle Gabby split the Square grouper magical brownie (with ice cream, chocolate sauce and health bar crunchies): 

Everything was wonderful, and I highly recommend checking out The Square Grouper Bar and Grill at mile marker 22.5. Enjoy!

Stay tuned for our day 3 adventure. 

-Nikki