Key West-Islamorada Anniversary Vacation 2015

For our 11th wedding anniversary, Nick and I decided to go back to the Keys for a relaxing vacation. After visiting NYC last year, we learned that we need relaxing/lazy time off rather than go on vacation somewhere that requires constant on-the-go like NYC. Although we do not like to vacation in the same place twice, we both wanted to go back to Casa Morada on Islamorada Key because it was the most relaxing vacation we'd ever had. To make it a slightly different trip than it was 3 years ago, we added a day in Key West for fun. I'd never been to Key West before and Nick hadn't been since he was a teen.

 This is the bridge that I feared. It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. I just kept reminding Nick to not exceed the speed limit.

 I really liked the roaming chickens around Key West, reminds me of Puerto Rico.

 Our hotel in Key West was a little "naughty".....it said it on our bed spread. :)  We were told the other side of the hotel said, "Sleep Saintly"

 I loved these wooden branches chairs. They must cost a fortune. Very cool.

Our quaint little hotel. The pool area was very relaxing.

The family! The rooster was very protective of his family, it was endearing. 

 Below is a watermelon, cucumber lime juice that was delish. Very refreshing. I've made watermelon juice twice since I got back. I may never eat another watermelon....all I want to do is juice them.

 I resisted the temptation of the 1/2 lbs cookie most of the day but when we left the movie theater at 11pm, I was searching hi and lo for a sweet shop and that's when I caved for the $6 cookie. It was delicious though, like a mini cake.

 I'm very glad that we went to Key West although I probably don't ever need to go back again. The hotel was FANTASTIC. Nick is becoming quite the connoisseur of boutique hotels and he made an excellent choice with "The Saint" in Key West. The hotel is brand new, just opened in February and it was perfect.Below is the front of our hotel. I  highly recommend for anyone visiting Key West (without children- they don't allow children).

 One of the things we loved about the hotel in Key West is that it provided free bikes for us to explore the island. At first it was strange to ride on the road, without a helmet on a cruising bike without handle brakes (it had the old school back pedal brakes) but we got used to it. I hadn't cruised on a bike in years so that was a nice change.

Mile 0 Marker

 We did the touristy thing and visited the southernmost point. We rode by the Hemingway House but did not pay to go in.

 This cute movie theater is right across from the hotel. We watched the documentary "Merchants of Doubt"....one we'll use for our classes for sure. We were trying to cross off as many things as we could of things that we're not able to do when we're with the kids. Going to the movie theater is one of those things. We don't ever go to the movies so we took advantage of the location.

When we came back our hotel was all lit up in blue lights.

Did I mention the hotel is a little naughty???  ;) 

The hotel has a balcony that looks over Duval St. It's great for people watching.  

 Lunch at Garbo's Grill. This "food truck" was on our list because it was featured in Guy Fiery's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives show and it has great reviews online. I had the fish tacos and they were as good as everyone said they'd be although a bit pricey for the portion. But it was a great little place with good ambiance.

 Nick tried lunch at Frita's, a Cuban spot that had good reviews. The food was just ok according to Nick but it was another vegetarian option.

For lunch and dinner the day before we went to The Cafe, the vegetarian/vegan friendly hotel in the island that everyone online raved about. It didn't disappoint. We went for lunch and it was so good we went back for dinner. 

Below are buffalo tofu "un-wings" at The Cafe. We wished they were cut thinner but this crispy fried tofu dipped in vegan buffalo sauce was amazing. I also caved and ate their homemade bleu cheese because it was just too damn good. 

I didn't take a picture of our lunch but it was delicious too. I had a Mahi sandwich that made my eyes roll back at the first bite, it was that good. For dinner, we had thai curry noodles (top) and spicy schezuan stir fry over brown rice. The sauces were so good and all vegan. I loved the spicy schezuan (sp?). The reviews were right!

 Islamorada:

We stayed at Casa Morada again because we loved it so much 3 years ago. This place is a relaxing haven. On our first day at Islamorada, we didn't waste any time and went kayaking right after checking into the hotel. Actually, we tried paddleboarding first. Neither of us had ever done it and since the hotel provided us with free paddleboards we figured it was a must. Last time I couldn't try it because I was pregnant and I was afraid of falling on the board and hurting myself. I wish we could've gotten pictures of us out in the water but we don't have a waterproof camera.
It was pretty hilarious looking at Nick searching on YouTube for videos on how to paddleboard. I just had a vision of what it would be like and I was just going to go out there and do it. Nick kept telling me what he learned and it just didn't make sense to me. It didn't make sense to lay down, then kneel, then stand when we weren't going out where there were waves, we were loading up on a calm bay so I thought I could just stand from the get go.
I did kneel on the board at first and then I just stood up sideways. It was scary to balance at first but I got control of it quickly......then the wind started blowing me down stream away from where we wanted to go and I couldn't paddle fast enough to counteract it. I ended up floating away, hitting a parked boat and holding on to that boat until I could stop laughing and gain control of the board again. I never fell off which was the most important goal! Nick decided to stand on the board with both legs facing forward. I would've liked to try that out but once I was sideways I didn't think I could move without falling so I stuck with the sideways position, which later Nick told me is the way the surfing "pros" do it so I felt good. :)
We were paddling away all balanced and proud of ourselves when I looked down a saw a jelly fish and then looked around and realized there were dozens of jelly fish all around us. Nick may or may not have had a small freak out moment, his voice changed for sure! Neither of us felt confident enough to paddleboard around jellyfish and the possibility of falling and getting stung. Neither of us know how painful or not stings are but we didn't want to find out and possibly ruin our vacation. That's when we switched to kayaks for the rest of the trip. But I got to cross paddleboarding off my list and I know that I'd like to try it again.
I feel pretty confident in a kayak now. We were in open sea with boats riding around us and I realized that kayaks are a lot more stable than I thought they were. We kayaked for what I think was 1 hour and covered quite a bit of distance. We were a bit disappointed we didn't see any sea life while out like last time but I'm also quite alright with that over having some horror story seeing some unwanted sea life.

We had a list of food places to try at Islamorada too. One was the Mile Marker 88 restaurant.

Lunch by the water at "Mile Marker 88" Restaurant

 The bad thing about the Mile Marker 88 restaurant was these iguanas that were everywhere. I saw one climb up an empty chair and it freaked me out, I was paranoid it would crawl up my chair while I ate. But the food and the view were excellent. It had a good vibe too. 
 We had to go back to Bitton for a french crepe (made by a real Frenchman). This time we had the strawberry cinnamon one and it just melts in your mouth good.

 The sunset from our hotel in Islamorada.

 A pretty perfect evening in Islamorada. Pina coladas by the water, a game of scrabble, my love and the sunset.

 The face I make when Nick says, "let me take a picture of you, I don't want all the pictures to be just me"

 We played chess earlier and it got pretty competitive fast. So many "checks" but eventually Nick "check-mated" me. I can count in one hand the number of chess games I've played in my life so I really didn't know what I was doing but we both held on for quite a while.

 That hammock and I built a relationship over the 2 days. I had an amazing nap on it one day. This is why I love this place. It's so quiet and remote, you really feel like you have the whole place to yourself (even though there were 6 other couples on site).

I think my new goal is to stay at all of their suites. We now have tried the "Jungle Suite" and the "Moon Suite". Between the two, I prefer the Jungle suite although they were both very nice and comfy.

On our way back to Orlando, we made a pit stop in Tavernier (between Islamorada and Key Largo) at the Blond Giraffe shop which was said to have the best key lime pie in FL and home of the chocolate covered key lime pie on a stick. I mean, we had to stop and try that.

Yes, it was worth the stop. Nick and I are not key lime pie people but this was GOOD. So creamy. 

 We also made a pit stop at Lucy's in Key Largo. It's a gastropub that was definitely a Top Chef like experience. The place does not look like much on the outside. I probably would have never stopped at this place if the reviews online weren't as good as they were. This was top notch food and it was like nothing we've had before. It's a tapas restaurant so everything is in small portions. Below are the fish sliders which were probably the most "common" tasting but the "fish buns" (first picture) were the star. Nick doesn't eat fish and he ordered seconds. It was the "bun" that was unique. They said it was Japanese style but I've never seen anything like it before. It's almost like a really airy Nan bread tortilla. The soy based dressing over the green beans was so delicious I almost licked the plate but instead dipped everything else on the table on the sauce and almost slapped the waiter's hand when he tried to take away the plate! Everything about this place was awesome. We will stop again next time for sure.

Overall, this anniversary trip was exactly what we wanted. We got to sleep in, had no agenda, ate great food, took naps by the water, enjoyed the silence, enjoyed each other's company and re-energized ourselves.