Flo-Rida!

This past week, I had the pleasure of heading to the east coast for some FuN in the SuN before the dreaded winter months with Kirk for a week. Though it was a bit muggy and humid, I LOVED being in the warm weather. We met up in Denver (where it was snowing! I couldn't believe it!) and flew down to Orlando for a couple of days on some roller coasters at Universal Studios and Island of Adventure. I had to reassure Kirk that the rides were perfectly safe and that he wouldn't die on the roller coasters; he did pretty well, considering he's an old fart...he only screamed like a girl on the really BIG roller coasters! (Disclaimer, everyone: that last statement may or may not be true...I'll leave it up to you to decide :)). We had fun getting headaches from the roller coasters, eating ridiculously overpriced theme park food, criticizing some people's fashion choices (just because you are at a theme park and it's warm out does NOT give you the right to walk down the street in a speedo and nothing else) and getting absolutely SOAKED on the water rides. But after a couple of days, we were ready to head south and do some SCUBA diving!

We drove down to Miami (in a horribly, fuel-inefficient Dodge Caliber) the next day to meet up with Zeke, Clint and Janna, our partners in crime for the rest of the trip. We only spent the afternoon there, which was plenty of time to spend some time at Miami Beach, enjoy the pool, eat some delicious Cuban food, walk around and check out the Art Decco, See the late Versace's residence, eat gelato for the first time, and stay the night in a ghetto hotel room with a broken window that uses an actual key for the room. (Don't worry, we felt safe that about 3 cop cars were hanging out at the hotel across the street from us all night). After that, we were ready to move on!

The rest of the time was spent in the Keys. While Zeke and Co. went to the Alligator Farms, Kirk and I headed down to Key Largo for some diving. I think I made a wise decision to not eat before going diving, given my track record on 5 ft swells on the ocean. No puking for me! Thank goodness for dramamine! (for the record, one of our fellow divers was not so lucky; he puked all over the boat. And Kirk laughed at him. How rude. :)) It was a fun time, the diving and visibility was great, and we enjoyed getting to know our fellow divers. I feel like we couldn't ask for a better, more chill group of people.

After diving and a delicious dinner topped off with a yummy Key Lime Freeze at Mrs. Mac's, we drove down to Key West to meet up with Zeke, Clint and Janna again. Let me tell you, our hotel there was a far cry from our Miami residence! It was so nice! I slept very well that night! We actually had internet access at our hotel! :)

FYI, Key West is known as the "Conch Republic", in honor of the seashell. And a little lesson, the word "Conch" is not pronounced like it looks; it's pronounced "Konk". In case you were wondering :)

The next morning, Zeke joined us for some diving. We had a boat all to ourselves and had the pleasure of diving the Vandenberg shipwreck, a 1940's ship that was sunk in just May 2009. It was cool to explore the ship and still be able to see all the controls and the writing on the panels, in addition to the sea life. It was a great dive, and the divemaster was a great guide. Shout out to Bonsai dive shop on Key West! We did a second reef dive on that trip, where I had my first time seeing jellyfish while diving. A little freaky, given my fear of being stung by jellyfish, but I made it through without incident. And I had a second successful, puke-less day!

The afternoon was spent in the town of Key West, exploring the sites, going to the Sunset Festival, eating SEAFOOD for the first time, going on a lame ghost tour of Key West and eating Key Lime Pie!

I had a great time, loved spending time with friends and fam, and was definitely NOT ready to head back to work. Thanks to everyone for coming with me! Guess it's time to start planning the next trip! Any suggestions?!