Toes in the sand

As some of you know, I was lucky enough to be able to take a much needed vacation at the beginning of the month.  Marc and I flew down to Ft. Lauderdale (his home town) to spend some time with his family and hit up the Florida Keys.  Since it was my first time in the Florida Keys we made sure to do all the fun tourist stuff.  I won't bore you with all the details but I'll give you the highlights!

Robbie's Tarpon Feeding:: the Tarpons are fish that lurk around the docks of this now tourist attraction. The story goes that Robbie and his wife saved an injured Tarpon, nursed it back to life, and when they released it back to the wild, he continued to bring his friends to the docks where there was always food!  Now you can get a bucket of fish and reach as close as you want to the water, and wait for the fish to bite! If your brave enough you can let them get your hand and the fish will jump out of the water! They only have sandpaper like teeth, so the damage isn't that bad!

Mile Marker 88:: GREAT lunch and rum runners, along with some history!  Henry Flagler had his heart set on building a railroad that went from the main land to Key West.  He started construction in the 1890's and had a working railroad by 1907. Over the years he finally made it to Key West (1912).  There were troubles along the way including mosquitoes and hurricanes that plagued the workers and they never thought they would make it.  In 1935 and hurricane destroyed all the hard work, and rail tracks can be found through out all of the Keys.  MM88 is one of those... be sure you check out the picture in the slideshow!

Islamorada Sand Bar:: We spent a day out at the sand bar anchored up with all the other boats! We had a great captain (Marc's dad), a lot of first mates, and two sea dogs! The ocean was pretty rough so the sandbar wasn't as crazy as normal, but it was very enjoyable. This is normally a great spring break spot with tiki hut boats selling dogs, burgers, and beers!

Lulu's Bait Shack & Bahia Cabana:: Two local hot spots in Ft. Lauderdale where we got to sample their food and drinks. Conch fritters are a must eat in this area - and were awesome! Along with the rum runners, fruity cocktails, and mahi mahi!

While we weren't being tourists we enjoyed lots of family time, cut throat UNO, pool time, pizza parties, HEAT games.  It was an awesome trip and ended all to soon.  After a quick flight back to reality, Greenville and my office awaited me.  I am still working on the retire early plan so I can go back forever!