Fun fact: I only named one of my three daughters. Weird I guess but Jess quipped up with “Brooke” and “Reese” at our gender reveal ultrasounds and I liked both names. With our third child, and knowing she would be our last, I wanted to finally delve into this whole naming business. I love to read and Ernest Hemingway was always my favorite author so I decided on Hadley, his first wife’s name.
For the past few years we get together in a tropical destination with Jess’ family for a week and just soak up the sun for a bit. So when the annual Lipcius family vacation talks came up I was excited to hear we would be renting a house in Islamorada in the Florida Keys. A pool, right on the beach with a private dock, a boat rental… what more could you want?!
I hate flying. Have I mentioned that before? Never sit next to me on a plane. I have a whole process to ensure the plane doesn’t go down in a fiery blaze. Left foot first as you embark, three Hail Mary’s when you sit down, sit cross legged as plane takes off. My fellow passengers should thank me. I’ve never been in a plane crash so I’m 100% on my Plane Process. Hmmm… maybe you should sit next to me on a plane…
So our drive down to Islamorada took quite a while but we spent the night by Disney Springs and broke up the trip a bit. The rental house was amazing! I’ve never been much of a morning person but it’s hard to sleep in when the most gorgeous sunrise is streaming in through your windows. The sunset was equally as amazing as we would walk down our dock nightly to watch the oranges and pinks take over the sky.
We grilled out on our deck most nights with seafood from Key Largo Fisheries and key lime pie desserts from the quirky named Blonde Giraffe Key Lime Pie Company. I have never tasted a better key lime pie and the staff was so friendly! We average a pie a night so work outs needed to be upped when we returned home. Thankfully it was still Winter and we could hide in sweaters!
A friend of mine once told me a Keys visit wasn’t a Keys visit without stopping at Robbies. Robbies is worth spending the better part of a day at, there’s so much to do! Feeding the tarpon, shopping for souvenirs, drinking/ eating the day away… they even have chocolate dipped key lime pie on a stick! I only had a bite of that delicacy as the girl’s polished that dessert off in a bite or two!
We rented a boat for an afternoon from a New Jersey transplant who was quick to tell us about the upcoming housing shortage. Apparently all home building in the Keys is due to cease in a few short years? Not sure how true this is but we loved snorkeling off of his boat and he did recommend some fun places to sail by. We saw a few sea turtles up close and personal. I couldn’t believe how quickly they swam!
On the day before we headed back home (waa waaaaa) we made the two hour trip down to Key West. Finally, the Hemingway House! Just as gorgeous as I had hoped and filled with his famous six-toed cats. Heaven! I made it a point to stop at the on-sight bookstore to purchase my favorite novel of his, The Old Man and The Sea. We grabbed lunch at a Cuban restaurant and made friends with the many wild chickens that call Key West home. Note: these chickens have zero fear. A pretty sunset down, we headed back to Islamorada for our last night there.
The Keys is a must and we cannot wait to go back sometime soon!
On to the next adventure…
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