Andy and Jessica Take Miami and The Keys...Shwing!

We're baaaaack! We had so much fun! We left South Carolina last Thursday after work and stayed in Cocoa Beach, FL that evening. On Friday, we got up and were able to catch a glimpse of the NASA headquarters in Cape Canaveral...which was frickin' awesome! We ended up in Miami a little after lunchtime and got to explore beautiful South Beach. I tried find some celebrities, but apparently they have their own little private beach somewhere. We were going to stay in South Beach, but every. single. hotel. was booked solid because of an International Film Festival going on. So, we moseyed over to downtown Miami and spent the rest of the afternoon there. We ate dinner outside at an AWESOME authentic Italian restaurant. If anyone goes there anytime soon, let me know...I will give you the name of the restaurant!

Since this is a road trip (Andy and Jessica style) we jumped back in the car after dinner and headed further south to the KEYS!!! They were only an hour away from Miami, so we figured what the hell. We arrived in Key Largo a little while later and were able to get a condo at a cute little beachfront resort. On Saturday morning, we got up early and donned the bathing suits...yes, it was 70 degrees, but it felt wonderful compared to the freezing weather we've been having in South Carolina lately. We chilled on our little private beach for about 20 minutes before I was over it and wanted to explore some more.

We found a Tiki Bar on the beach in Islamorada Key so that I could get my strawberry daiquiri fix, and then proceeded to drive through all of the Keys...all the way to Key West! It was an absolutely beautiful drive. We were able to go across the Seven Mile Bridge which was really cool. P.S., I'm obsessed with bridges. In Key West, we saw Ernest Hemingway's house and ate in the backyard of a restaurant where he used to have Cock fights back in the day. Yes, there were actually Gamecocks walking around while we ate lunch! After lunch, we got a little taste of the lighthouse and downtown area before we headed back to our place in Key Largo. We ate dinner at a local thai/sushi restaurant Saturday night...we tore it up! Well, I did anyway. Andy hates seafood, so he settled for some thai beef and veggies.

We had to get up early Sunday to start the drive back home. On the way back, we were able to see the outskirts of the Everglades, Ft. Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, and Vero Beach. For the record, swamps are nasty repulsive. I also wasn't aware that wild boars freely roamed the interstates of Florida...you learn something new everyday.

We arrived at the homestead Sunday evening, crashed, and woke up Monday to start another work week. It was quite an adventure to say the least! We had so much fun and we're glad we got to see everything that we did. I highly advise everyone to put it on your bucket list!

Here are some of my favorite pics that we took...thanks to the tripod that Andy got me for Christmas, I think I got some pretty sweet shots! I'm trying to play catch-up with everyone's blogs right now...it's been crazy around here lately. Please know that I am thinking of all of you!