A last day at the (South) beach

We wrapped up our last full day in Miami by taking in South Beach one more time. This time, however, we actually stuck our toes in the water and enjoyed the sand and surf...for about 10 minutes. I picked up a shell, a friendly local took our photo and all seemed right. There is nothing, nothing I tell you, like spending a week away from it all and getting to know all the little parts of another part of the world. And, as they say, the nice thing about Miami is it's so close to the United States...

Hopefully we'll have another adventure or two in us yet. But, as some of you know, we're expecting our first child in February. Who knows, maybe we can take the little one on those adventures with us...just not to Key West (until they're 21!).

Thanks for reading and for future updates, pictures and the like with what's going on with our unborn child and it's mother, remember to check back here.

Back in Miami, at the monastery

After two and a half days in the Keys we returned to Miami for another day and a half before we departed back to reality in St. Louis.

One of the places we made sure to hit was the Ancient Spanish Monastery. Located in North Miami, the Monastery is the oldest structure in the United States. Tycoon William Randolph Hearst was in Spain and came across the building. He love it so much he purchased it and had it broken down, stone by stone and shipped to the United States in 1925. About that time hoof and mouth disease was running rampant and the boxes were broken open and the hay used to keep the stones packed was removed and burned. The workers did not put the same stones back in each of the marked boxes.

The broken down monastery stayed in pieces and in storage until 1952. Heart's financial trouble forced an estate sale and the monastery was purchased by two gentlemen as a tourist attraction. Assembling the monastery took 19 months and over a million bucks. And when they were done putting it together there were pieces left over (but, really, who hasn't been there before?).

In 1964 the Diocese of South Florida purchased the monastery and it has been in its care ever since.

We enjoyed our visit to the impressive structure. It was absolutely beautiful and, as you'll see, very photogenic.

For pictures click HERE.

Key West...in a day

We decided to dedicate one day to see as much of Key West as we could. We made the two hour drive down US 1 to the southern most point in the continental United States.

First we hit the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park. It is, by far, the most beautiful beach I've ever stepped foot on. The water was aqua blue and warm, the beach was bright white and the people were friendly and clean (no trash cans, whatever you bring in, you must take out). It cost us a few bucks to get in to the park but it was totally worth it.

After showering off we found a place to park (no small feat) and decided to hoof it for lunch. We found a nice dive, shanty looking spot that came highly recommended in our Lonely Planet guide. The food was great, it was the best burger I had on vacation and the mahi mahi earned a thumbs up from Lisa.

Next it was off to Hemingway's house. There we viewed many of the famous six toed cats as we took a guided tour of the famous authors home. At one acre, it's the largest piece of personal property on Key West.

Once we got our fill of Papa Hemingway's cats, it was off to the southern most point in the continental United States. You've probably seen the buoy looking thing that marks it (see photo above).

The rest of the evening became a sample of the local taverns. I had a few drinks at the Green Parrot and Sloppy Joe's (Hemingway's prefered bar of choice). We watched the sunset and then hit the road for the two hour trek back to Key Largo.

It was a hurried trip, a busy trip but it was an awesome trip. I'd move there tomorrow if it wasn't for the whole making a living thing.

For photos of our adventure in Key West, click HERE