Twenty-eight

Turning (gulp) 28.... When Sam and I were little and the basement was a wide open space we used to play house. We had our cabbage patch dolls and imagination.. First, we would choose our boyfriends - this for me was always drama because I of course wanted the guy Sam chose the time before. So like calling shotgun it was first come first serve in the boyfriend department... Names that come to mind for our imaginative world were: Dean Cain... Jason Priestley (aka Brandon Walsh).. Luke Perry (Dylan McKay)-and other names that if I actually write them might be more embarrassing. Second we would chose our ages.. this again was like a shot gun moment because it was always a fight over who was 28. I have no idea why this number held such a special meaning in our heads but 28 was the age I wanted to be most. After those two pivotal points were chosen the remaining time playing house was enjoyable. Fast forward to yesterday and I am now that age I always wanted to be!! 

To start the birthday celebration I received a cryptic text from Cher that said "Picking you up at 9:20 sharp.. Wear a sundress and a little sweater because the restaurant might be chilly also bring a passport and swimsuit" At 9:20 I was whisked away toward Duval Street. We parked near the Weston and walked toward Mallory Square. Cher had planned a great brunch on Sunset Key at Latitudes and we were to board the ferry and take the 5-10 minute ride to the island. 

For reference in this photo the island in the background is "Sunset Key" and the  boat heading toward us is the ferry

To get out we had to travel toward the front of the cruise ship and go under the lines leading toward shore. Kinda creepy!! That ship is so tall... 

The building to the right behind the palm trees is "Latitudes" 

The beach in front of Latitudes 

Sunset Key is a private island and there are only certain areas that you are allowed in. To use the beach it is $40 a person if you are not a Westin guest. You can also rent villas out here which would/could be pretty awesome.

Brunch view
We pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. I tried Eggs Benedict for the first time- it was amazing! 

After brunch we headed back toward Key West and spent the remaining afternoon shopping as well as preparing for fantasy fest. From 4:30 - 6:30 I went to soccer practice - yes I am an assistant coach for the U-14 girls. They are very funny but yesterday they were very distracted by the young boys who were practicing at the other corner of the field. After practice Rick and I got ready to head toward Duval for dinner with our roadies of "Rick Thompsons"

We decided to try a new restaurant and chose "Hot Tin Roof" for this adventure. The restaurant had a very neat atmosphere - and we were seated in a huge private curved booth. I made Rick slide toward the back to sit near me instead of our standard straight across seating. I am not sure he liked it..

Rick obviously got a burger :)

After dinner we went to a bar that is climbing the charts as one of our favorites- Smokin Tuna Saloon. I like this bar because it is all outdoors and it has great live music. Plus it is a little off of Duval so it doesn't tend to be that crowded and you can't here the crazy yelling girls from the new Coyote Ugly.

At Smokn Tuna we watched the Packers/Sea Hawks game before the ref drama and talked with the bartender. His name was Steve and he had recently moved to K.W from New Orleans. Steve had spent two years in Cedar Rapids but quickly realized he didn't like it and they moved to Wyoming. I am not sure what isn't to like about Cedar Rapids, except the smell when you first drive into town.. I am sorry but it really stinks! After the standard where are you from and how did you end up here conversation Steve informs us that he had just recently met another couple that had moved down from Iowa.. WHAT!! I was very excited to hear this news because maybe we would have something in common with this other couple...who are they - I wonder if we will meet them. Rick informs me after we had road our bikes home that we were that other couple that had moved here from Iowa. Turns out Rick and Steve had already had the conversation of where are you from how did you get here about 2 weeks ago. Damn it. 

Thank you again for all of the wonderful birthday wishes. Miss you all.. Come visit soon 

XOXO

R&M

Conch Life

I know it has been a little while since the last update so here is a picture collage to update you all about this conch life.

Almost every night after work Rick and I make dinner and hope on our bikes to head toward the water just in time to cheers the sun. We tend to park near the Galleon and walk around toward one of our favorite little spots called the "Tiki bar". Every night there is live music and the bar tenders are really nice. In this area there are usually not very many people but a front row seat to enjoy the sunset as well as the sound of the water. Here are some of our shots this week:

Part of our walk from parking our bikes

This particular boat looked extremely fun. I don't know if you can tell from the picture but it was loaded to the brim and they had a live band playing while they cruised around..

The Tiki bar makes one mean mudslide.. 

This week we have also found ourselves at Mallory Square to enjoy a sunset. Mallory Square is a "tourist" attraction for a number of different reasons. First it is almost always guaranteed that there will be a very nice view of the sunset because any cruise ships that are in the area have to leave before so that those people on the island don't have the views blocked. Mallory Square is also known for its street performers. There is everything there.. fire jugglers.. artists... pretend to be a bush and jump out and scare tourists man.. and "the cat man" Most of the performers are very good at what they do and they have perfected the routine they show to the tourists but they tend to be very loud because they are working for tips. As you walk around you will hear the snide remarks they make either about their fellow performers or even about the size of the crowd they have (or don't have). I prefer our little Tiki bar but Mallory Square tends to have great people watching.

We didn't stick around to see the show, but these two guys were not impressed with the crowd staring at the sunset.... 

But when the sunset looked like this - how do you not stare??

Today was the first day in a few weeks where I got off work early (YEAH!).. Rick and I were able to grab our bikes and ride down town and walk along Duval. We have met very interesting people in our time here in Key West and most are very welcoming when they find out we are new to the island. A nice guy today gave us some great advice about living here " keep your job.. don't call into work hungover(man)... make time for yourselves (man).. find friends who have boats and keep them as friends.. and get your local IDs so you can get local discounts" -

Hope you all are keeping warm in Iowa.. we miss you.. as always COME VISIT SOON!
xoxoxo
~Rick and McKenzie

Rick

Unknown to Rick's baby face he turned 30 on Saturday. He doesn't like it when I say he turned 30 but I think it is wonderful. I don't personally know what it is like to turn 3-0 but in my head anytime your age ends in a 0 it is the start of something new. So it is fitting that we are in a new place for Rick's big 3-0 turn. 

I awoke Saturday morning with the idea of getting Rick breakfast. I was so excited to walk into our apartment with a bag of those delicious croissants but when I drove up to Old Town Bakery there was a sign on the door - "Closed for September see you October 1" - WHAT!?... apparently the month of September is a very slow season down here and multiple restaurants close for the month. On the flip side of this statement there are also some restaurants that give great deals for locals, like half off entrees. 

So I drove away from our favorite bakery extremely sad because the beginning of Rick's birthday had just been ruined. I got back to our apartment in time to greet Rick at the gate with a "Happy Birthday -my plans were ruined because these weird Conchs take whole months off during the slow season" The remainder of the day was not that exciting, we both had to work:. My day of work was stressful.. that will be another blog post at some point.

 

We started off the offical Rick celebration with a few Rick Thompson's. The weather was a little drizzly but we decided that biking to dinner was the best idea. We loaded up our bikes with our cocktails and started toward our destination, the marina/boardwalk. Here are some images of the ride to the marina:

 We really like the marina area of K.W... it is great for enjoying the ocean as well as people watching. This board walk is not like Jersey Shore, although I did see quite a beef cake when we were being seated for dinner. He had really thin narrow hips and then his upper body just exploded... he made brother John look like a skinny kid. I don't really feel that boardwalk is the right descriptive word for the area.. it is more of a dock/walkway area that meanders around restaurants and hotels and then it has appendages that go out into the actual marina. The marina is full of many different boats.. there are really large sailboats,pirate ships, yachts, catamarans, center console fishing boats, and so many more. Here is a beauty I picked out as a birthday gift for Rick if I had millions of dollars: 

Rick and I settled on trying the restaurant Conch Republic. This placed had good atmosphere.. the outer boarder of the restaurant is lined with large windows that are on garage rails so they can be completely opened so you get the full breeze of the ocean as well as the chatter of the people on walkways. The food at the conch republic was decent, although surprise surprise Rick stuck true to himself and got a burger :) At the end of dinner a colleague of mine joined us for a drink and then we all headed to Aqua.. 

Aqua is located on the southeast side of duval and is a drag show. If any of you had read my facebook post regarding Rick's birthday and promising no drag shows I obviously broke this promise due to a work related requirement. Aqua is an experience that most people do not get to see.. probably because they choose not to but honestly from my perspective it is pretty funny. One particular drag queen "Inga" is pretty ridiculous.. "she" is first off all like a 6'3"/250 pound linebacker. "She" is "blonde" and wears a ton of makeup and is outrageously wrong yet fabulous. "She" designs and makes all of her costumes.. one of which is a large sequence turquoise green dress with large eyes in the boob area and a mouth for the lower part (I hope you are all imagining this) and then she goes around the room "singing" ridiculous songs and grabbing girls boobs and caressing men... yikes.. while they place money in her, well where ever she wants them to. We stayed for one drink outside of the "danger zone" and two performances and then head to Ricks bar. Thank goodness Rick is such a good sport about the things I drag him to. 

The rest of the evening was spent at the martini bar in the upstairs of Rick's bar. The bartender is a co-worker of mine and she was generous with the drinks. We left Ricks around 12.. got pizza at Mr. Zs and started our bike ride home which was entertaining...

"Thank you for all the birthday wishes and phone calls" - Rick

Hope you all have a great week - GO CYCLONES!!!