Bienviendo a Miami (and West Palm)

Day 1 - I continued the drive to Miami and landed myself at my friend Ashley's apartment in Hollywood. Sarah drove down from West Palm and we did some catching up as I prepared for the girls a version of a dish I like to make to throw on the grill sometimes. It's individual tinfoil packets with pieces of potato on the bottom, topped with andoullie sausage (sometimes I use chorizo) and then shrimp (usually I'll also put scallops on top of that but we didn't have any). Then I put some butter, garlic, white wine and dill on top of that and we took them down to the grill. Because I'm from the Chesapeake area, I also usually put old bay in there as well but this was an improv version of the dish. I don't think they use Old Bay in the land of the stone crab and spiny lobster.

We grilled out, had a couple of glasses of box wine and caught up by Ashley's pool, just  short distance from the beach. It wasn't a late night though, I'd had a long day already so we went to bed.

Day 2 - Ashley and I met up with her boss and went to a free yoga class at LuLu Lemon. The teacher was everything I imagine an attractive Latino yoga teacher in Miami to be. At one point in the class he instructed us to find our "sit" bones and joked that if we couldn't find it, he would come around and help us. I'm telling you, any woman (and maybe some of the men) in that class who deny that they weren't thinking in their head "Nooo, nope, I can't find mine, please come help me!" is a liar! My mat had been in the trunk of Doris the Yaris so I'd borrowed one of Ashley's and we cleaned it just before class. I was slipping and sliding all over that thing, so the store owner came over and offered me one of the mats in the store to use. At the end of the class, she turned to me, pointed to the mat and whispered, "this is a gift, I want you to have this." Once again, the generosity of a stranger. It's a really nice mat and because she gave it to me, I wound up giving the one I had in my trunk to Ashley. Just sharing the love.

After yoga we went to the beach and were eventually joined by Kim & Mark and their friends who were also in town. We hung out there for a while and agreed to meed later at the Hollywood boardwalk for dinner. We had dinner at a good sushi place then did some walking around.

Day3 -  The next day, met Kim at her place and went to a state park to BBQ some lunch and hang out on the beach. I was surprised by the beaches at the park, they were really pretty. At one point some people were digging in the sand in the shallows of the water and talking a lot in spanish. We went over to check it out, and one of them pointed to my feet and started screaming something in spanish. I started screaming as a result, and then they were all laughing, because they had tricked me. They were fishing around for a stone crab who had burrowed himself down in the sand and eventually they did get him out. It was my first time seeing a live stone crab up close.

After lunch, I made my way to West Palm to spend a night with Sarah at her place. Really nice area and a contrasting pace from Miami, but the drive there was terrifying. As Mark had said, driving on I-95 in Miami is like being in the Daytona 500 every day. I had a really fun time just taking it easy with Sarah and chatting with her and her boyfriend John, who said to call him Jack now and that it's short for John. I'm still trying to figure out how that makes sense. Sarah made us a big spaghetti dinner and it was really comforting and relaxing to have a hearty home-cooked meal. Then, Sarah forced John-Jack and I to watch 'The Bachelor' and I have to say I'm so happy I would be in India for the next week's episode because I found myself getting interested in the show and did not want to get hooked.

Day 4 - Drove back toward Miami and really wanted some cuban food before I left, so I made it my mission to get some. I'd wanted to try Versailles after seeing Anthony Bourdain go there on 'No Reservations' and then John-Jack's friend Eduardo said it was the place to go for cuban as well, so I decided this meant I had to go. I made my way to little Havana and entered the cafe part of Versailles, which also had a bakery part and a cuban coffee/cigar shop part. I ordered a cuban espresso and through a broken spanglish dialogue, the Criollo, which was some sort of sampler platter. It came with incredibly flavorful chunks of pork, an item that looked like a corn dog but then you dug in and it had ham and cheese mixed inside, sweet plantains, a tamale, some pulled beef in a tomato based sauce, and something that looked a little like slimy potatoes but tasted heavier. It was delicious.

Ashley's boyfriend was home for the day so I took the rest home to him. Afterward, we made our way to Ft. Lauderdale to the Elbo Room, a bar that has been so popular there for so long, it was recently declared a historical landmark. After doing some quality people watching at Elbo Room, we made are way back to Hollywood to a restaurant called Le Tub for dinner. It was a neat little place right on the waterway with tubs and toilets all over the place with various plants growing out. Ashley is in school for physical therapy and had just aced a test so we celebrated and on the way out, we went to say hi to a celebrity at the bar. Well, he's a celebrity if you're from Vienna, Virginia; the owner of Vienna Inn! What a small world.

Phew! Now I'm all caught up with my time up until India, which is where I am now. I may not be able to post any photos while I'm here because of the internet connection but I'll try to post something by this Sunday when I have my next block of "free time" from yoga teacher training. I can tell you that I'm loving it so far!

Key West: The Rest (days 3-5)

Slowly but surely I'm posting these! I have very little internet access here in India!

Day 3 - I made my way to Ft. Zachary Taylor Park for Yoga on the Beach. It was incredible to practice with all of that ocean and open air around and I walked away feeling very relaxed. I didn't walk far though, only a couple yards down onto the beach, laid out my towel, and started working on some sleep while the beach was still fairly empty.

For reasons I do not understand, a huge family came and picked a spot only 2 feet away from me to set up their day at the beach. The beach was still virtually empty so why they decided to come right up next to me like that is totally beyond me. I thought about just inviting them to come sit in my lap, since they may as well have. I didn't move my towel though until they did the ultimate offensive thing, which was to set up a huge umbrella right next to me and put me under the shade. They messed with my tan, so it was time for me to separate myself from my perplexingly rude adoptive family. There were no words in our goodbye.

I did get up at some point and do some walking on the beach, a little frolicking in the water, and some climbing on rocks. And when I say climbing on rocks, I'm even just talking about walking on the beach. There isn't a lot of sand in Key West, the beaches are very rocky. I think almost all of the fine sand on the island is actually imported from the Bahamas. There were also some very large rocks though that came out into a mini peninsula and others that made these kind-of mini rectangle islands. It looked man-made but what their purpose is, I have no clue.

I love dolphins and think they're one of the most interesting and amazing animals so I knew going into this trip that if I was going to spend money on one super-touristy thing, it was going to be a wild dolphin-watching excursion. I'd asked the front desk at the hotel to recommend a good one for me and the woman working said "Oh yea, I know this one run by two really nice ladies that only take a few people out so it'll be a really private and exclusive experience and it's a reasonable price, etc etc etc." Sounded good to me, so I asked her to book me. Well, today was the day of my dolphin tour. I got ready after the beach and started walking to the marina where I was supposed to meet the boat but the problem was, I wasn't sure which boat I was supposed to be on. I whipped out my phone and googled the name of the company that the front desk had jotted down on a sticky note for me and what I saw first on the website was, "Key West's only women only, lesbian friendly dolphin tours!!!"
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..............wait a second... am I going on a...? I am? The hotel probably thinks I'm a lesbian? Well, whatever. I like all kinds of people. I was not upset, but I couldn't help but laugh. I mean come on, that is a funny thing to just accidentally find myself doing. Girls-only love boat!

Oh.. and it was also scheduled to be a sunset cruise. So an extra romantic girls-only love boat. Even though the girl at the hotel left this little detail out, she was not kidding when she told me it would be exclusive. The only people on this 3-hour tour was me, Captain Angie, and Pam and Kristin, who were a really nice couple. We all had a lot of fun talking and laughing and they didn't think any less of me because I am straight. Or at least not to my face, I think they might have been a little curious about what in the world I see in men. I admit that sometimes I wonder that too. Don't we all, ladies? What I love about men though is that they put up with us, too. I could not date me. We didn't see any dolphins but we did get some snorkeling done and I got to test out whether or not my new digital camera was actually water proof. Good news, it is! I did get to see the sunset from the boat and it was even more beautiful than that night before.


We said our goodbyes and then I met Art, my friend from Eden House, for dinner at Bagatelle on Duval Street because we'd seen a lot of good reviews for it. The food was delicious and Art has a gift for conversation, so it was a recipe for a great dinner.

Day 4 - Finally made my way to the bakery on the corner that everyone had been raving about and got something you will almost never see me eating, a danish. I decided since I'm about to go to India to eat very healthy and do yoga every day, I may as well fatten myself up a little bit so that I have something to lose. It was delicious because it was sinful, and sinful because it was delicious. 

This was my last full day in Key West and I hadn't made an official decision about what I was going to do with it, but I decided this could be my"party" day. I hadn't been focused on that aspect of the island yet. I was OK with that, but I thought it might round out the trip nicely. 

The only real decision I had made though was to continue spending some time deciding by the pool. What a life. Eventually Art, Gordon and Linda, and Dottie and Ken (another couple I got to know), all converged around the pool as well. We got to talking, one thing lead to another, and the first plastic cups of wine were poured. So began my party/ last day in Key West; wine by the pool with the friends I'd made. Percet!

The transition between everything that followed that first glass of wine could be "one thing lead to another and…"

Very little was planned in advance, we all just went with the flow. Things lead into a very good dinner out. I just can't remember the name of the restaurant. And at dinner, the conversation lead to the group deciding to go see the female impersonators show at Aqua.

You're welcome because we went ahead and did that research for you, and we found out that you don't need to go to that show. Not when there are far better ones like at La Te Da in town. It was fun because we were all together and there were some good songs (one of them did Sister Act!) and a really energetic and flattering waiter named Chris. But, the three talents there only lypsynced and walked around begging for tips the whole time. We agreed that we were glad we went so that we would know never to go back again.

After that show, we lost Dottie and Ken to the night, but Art, Gordon, Linda and I pushed ahead and walked to the Green Parrot where we'd heard there was a must-see band playing. I don't recall their name, but if I could describe them, their sound was something like rock with a Cuban/Miami flavor to it. 

We were all bopping around, having a good time, and noticing this one group of men noticing us. One of the men finally came over to me and asked, "are you here in Key West with your parents?" He was gesturing toward Gordon and Linda and my response was "Oh yea, we're here celebrating my birthday and their 30 year wedding anniversary." I'm not sorry I lied. Sometimes the opportunity for a solid bar lie is too good to pass up. We chatted a bit and I was feeling pretty full of myself so when I noticed everyone was low on beer I told Gordon, "watch this, I'll get ALL of us free beers," and I turned to my new friend and said I was going to the bar to get a beer. Sure enough, he punched his buddy who was leaning against the bar in the arm and told him to get me, my parents, and "Uncle Art" all beers. Everyone got a beer expect for Linda, who the buddy passed a glass of Patron too. Turns out this guy had a thing for Linda. "You have to drink that whole thing," he demanded. "I don't have to do anything," she responded between tiny sips. I think that just further fueled his crush. Poor guy, he didn't stand a chance. Not to mention we noticed all of their wedding bands. 

Day 5 - The bakery from the day before made a positive impression, so I went back. I got a danish and a coconut water and as I was walking back to the hotel, the shop owner ran out the door after me. "Excuse me miss…" I was thinking I must have short-changed him on accident of something… "can I check the expiration date on your coconut water? I think I might have given you a bad one." Wow. That would never happen back at home. I was going to miss the pace of life here. I packed up and said goodbyes. Oh, and I went ahead and pre-booked a room in October for Fantasy Fest weekend. I'm told it's an experience and the friends I'd made plan to be there, so it will be a reunion weekend!

The drive from Key West to Miami was a little less than four hours, although it wasn't long before I needed some lunch on the way. The hotel had a list of the best sights/restuarants on A1A throughout the Keys, so I picked a restaurant in Key Colony Beach that they said were known for their fish tacos and blue cheese chips. I found Sparky's Landing about a miles off of A1A, which I liked because it didn't have as many other tourists dropping through since that was considered "far" off the direct path from Point A to Point B. I went to the bar and the bartender took my drink order and then lead me to a spot on the outside deck overlooking the water. We got in the whole where are you from/what do you do conversation and I learned that he had a masters degree in (insert some big word that has to do with lobsters here) and that he came to the Keys to do lobster research with Florida Game Commission. Bartending was his side job to help pay off student loans. My response? "Lobster research? Don't we already know everything we need to about lobsters? They taste great in butter and rolls." His response, "Yea I know but don't tell my boss I won't have a job."

The blue cheese chips were in fact amazing. Fresh fried chips with a generous helping of blue cheese crumbles on top and a drizzle of an herbed olive oil. I'm salivating just thinking about them again. The plate they give you is huge though and there was no way I could finish it on my own and still have room for fish tacos. Perfect timing for a group of people to sit down next to me! I offered them the rest of my chips, explaining that it wasn't because I didn't like them and that I just wanted to save room for my next dish. They were really excited and grateful and once again, I got into the where are you from/what do you do conversation. They were two couples in which the men had been doing some work in Key Largo for the past couple of months and had flown their wives in for the weekend to head down to Key West for some fun. 

When my fish tacos came, it was just too hot for me to eat them in the sun, so I told them to enjoy their trip and took my plate to the bar inside. A couple of minutes afterward, one of the husbands approached me at the bar and handed me some cash saying "this is for the chips." I informed him that that was more money than those chips cost and he replied, "yea, but we're not trying to survive for the next few months like you are, I'll make more money. This is all the cash I had in my wallet, otherwise I'd donate more. Have an amazing journey. I insist you take this." And then he walked away. How touching to have a stranger want to support and encourage me like that. Not a bad way to transition from the Keys to Miami.

Key West - Day 2

Day 2 - Woke up with a slight hangover. I guess that's what all of those free valentines pity drinks will do to you. Got my favorite hangover cure from the market at the end of Fleming street then curled up in the fetal position in my favorite hammock and let it rock me back to sleep.

Fun bike I saw on the walk to the market

Funky cars all over the place!

View from my nap hammock back toward
the pool at Eden House

 After I slept things off a bit, I found a yoga studio with great Yelp! reviews so I pulled myself together and started the walk toward Duval street. Got there a couple of minutes late and they were meditating so I didn't want to barge in. I was close to a major tourist attraction and hadn't really seen any yet, so I checked out the Southernmost point of the US and grabbed breakfast at a cafe there. It wasn't the best meal I had in Key West by far, which only further affirmed why I stay away from chain/tourist places to eat when traveling. I'd found another Yoga studio on Yelp! with a class time I knew I could make it to, so I went off in that direction.


It was a Spinal Release class at Shakti and I hadn't been to a specifically focused class like this before so I wasn't sure what to expect. The class was taught by a lean, tan shaggy-haired man named Carl and I only needed to talk to him for half a minute before I got a totally groovy, chilled out vibe from this centered dude.  He lead the class through bends, twists and stretches to work the six movements of the spine and that was all well and good... until he brought out the "contraptions." They were swing-looking things hooked up to the wall that he had us do various upside-down poses in to stretch our spine and counter-act the pounding we put on it walking and running... which eventually causes us to "shrink" in old age. A very good thing for you... but it felt very bad to me that day with my lingering hangover.


Delores and Tom, some family friends who are very close to my Grandmama, happened to be living in Key West for the month of February, so I made plans to meet them for a sunset happy hour that night. After resting up a bit, I made my way to their cottage that happened to be very close to Mallory Square where everyone goes to see the sunset. I was a little early so I dipped into a couple of shops on the way, including one that sold various antiques and artwork. I did some casual browsing and when I came across the jewelry, I got goosebumps. Remember the bird necklace my grandma had worn for good luck on all of her world travels over the years and had given to me for this trip? There in this little shop in Key West was a charm for sale with the EXACT same mother-of-pearl birds that matched the necklace perfectly. Whether you believe in signs or serendipity or just coincidence, you have to admit... that's pretty cool. I bought the charm and have since added it to my necklace. It will be so special to give back to my grandma after my trip with this addition.

The birds!!!

I made it to the little cottage that Delores and Tom have been living in and it was this adorable studio-style place, much like the little cottage I live in at home in Virginia. Delores was exactly as I'd always remembered her; dressed in bright and fashionable, yet age-appropriate and classy clothing and accessories, and with a bright charisma that was made even more pleasant by her southern accent. They showed me Mallory Square, where everyone flocks for the best view of the sunset and to watch various street performers, including a man who has his house cats trained like lions and puts on a little circus show. I think that's as much of a must-see in Key West as the sunset it… I'm still trying to figure out how the heck he got those cats to do that. They usually seem like such uncooperative animals that don't give a s#&!… just like the honeybadger. Note: If you don't get the honeybadger reference, you can look it up on YouTube but do so at your own risk, there is some profanity, etc. It's a social meme at this current point and time but I bet IF someone were to read this blog in 5 or 10 years they would not understand why that comparison might be funny.

When it came to the sunset, this was not Delores and Tom's first rodeo. Rather than standing among the hoards of people lined up along the edge of the water in the marina, they lead me to a restaurant that was just behind everyone and up the stairs to the upstairs bar/patio area, which was much less crowded than I thought it would be. We'd hardly gotten to the top of the stairs before we hear someone holler "Carlyn!" and there were Linda and Gordon from Eden House waving to me from the bar… I knew I liked them. 


We joined them for happy hour drinks and sunset watching and through conversation discovered that Delores was from the same area Linda and Gordon were from and she'd gone to high school with Gordon's cousin or something like that. These coincidences used to surprise me a long time ago, but they just don't anymore. Once the sun got to a certain point in the sky, it really was as though curtains had been drawn back and it was performing a show. People started looking all in one direction and vigorously taking pictures every 30 seconds or so because the sun, colors, clouds, sails in the foreground… everything kept changing and getting prettier and prettier. I found it hard to juggle conversation during the sun's show with also trying to get pictures with my camera, my camera phone, and then also my mental pictures. I did get some beautiful shots though and afterward, I was able to return to the group's fun conversation and my wine. 

Delores & Tom

After happy hour, Delores, Tom and I went to a restaurant right near their cottage called Kelly's for a bite to eat. When we sat at the bar, the waiter complimented Tom, "wow sir, you're with two beautiful ladies, you're a lucky man!" Without hesitation, and as cool as a cucumber Tom replied, "What? Don't you have two?" I'm still laughing about that one. 


We shared some appetizers and an entree and I'm going to tell you that though I understand most of the time you will want to get seafood in Key West, you must go to Kelly's for the wings. We had some with a sweet chili sauce of some sort on it that I am still thinking about. Whenever I do go back, I'm not even going to bother ordering anything else but those wings…. and maybe a margarita. I had the Top Gun margarita which was really delicious and then I noticed a lot of memorabilia from the Top Gun movie around the bar. I think Delores noticed me noticing because that's when she told me that the restaurant belonged to Kelly McGillis, the main actress in Top Gun. Supposedly, she took her money from the couple of movies she made and then came down to Key West and invested in it a couple of businesses and had this restaurant as an homage to the movie that made her famous. Starred in Top Gun AND Key West business queen/sometimes resident? Kelly, you are my hero. 

I still have a couple of days of Key West to write about, however in the interest of keeping these short enough to read, I'm going to break it up into another post. If you're even still reading...

Table for One: Valentine's Day in Key West

I learned something important from Key West before I even got there: the United States does not know how to do hostels. I'd reserved myself a bed from the only hostel in Key West to save some money and meet other travelers, but soon learned that the sheets were moldy (major health problem for me), the staff was rude, and it was just an overall sketchy place. I should have known, plenty of people before had told me that for the most part, hostels are perfectly good accommodations in other countries but for whatever reasons, any hostel one would find in the United States would be poorly run and not even as good of a deal as overseas. 

I called the first place I could find on Google on my iPhone and wound up with a reservation at Eden House without seeing any pictures first or anything. I just liked that the guy sounded nice on the phone and that the rate was reasonable. As far as last minute hotel reservations goes, this instance had to win some sort of award. They gent running the front desk was just as friendly in person as he'd been on the phone and offered me a free beer upon my arrival. Then he showed me around the beautiful property that looked almost like the garden of eden itself and where Goldie Hawn had once filmed a movie, and then he showed me to my room and informed me there would a free happy hour by the pool at 4pm. Jackpot! Eden House had really great little details though, such as no alarm clocks in the room on purpose and a suntan lotion and aloe bar free for guests to use. I guess you'll eventually think of everything though when you're running the oldest hotel in Key West. The best thing of all though? It is walking distance to nearly everything! In case you couldn't tell, I am recommending this place. 

I settled into my room and then made my way to the pool to soak up the warmth and contemplate my plans for the night. It was Valentine's Day, afterall. Somewhere in the middle of making all of my evening reservations and turning a nice shade of brown and pink, I found myself making my first Key West friend! His name is Art and it turned out that he was also taking a hiatus from work to do some traveling over the next couple of months. I am in good company! Art is a talker just like I am and so we kept the conversation flowing effortlessly right into happy hour, which finally got us out of our chairs and mingling with other guests. This is when we met two fantastic couples, Ken & Dottie, and Linda & Gordon. Linda and Gordon eventually became my "Key West Parents," but that's for another post. We all had a blast at happy hour getting to know one another and telling stories and it wasn't long before I got the (partially alcohol-induced) notion that this was going to become a fun and comfortable home-away-from-home.

Because I was having fun, time flew. I had to rush through getting ready for my big Valentine's night out with myself, which wasn't so hard since I only had to worry about impressing myself. I arrived to dinner at the Casa Marina resort and once again, I'd booked something completely sight-unseen and wound up having my expectations completely exceeded. All I knew about it was that I should go because Patti's dad, who used to live in the Keys, said so. It may not be the kind of place I'd be looking for on a normal day on my trip but for Valentine's Day, it was perfect. I walked through the aisle of palm trees and up to the hostess stand on the beach and took in a sight of white-linen tables scattered all over the sand in front of the water and under lit-up palms. 

I couldn't help but laugh out loud a little when I turned to tell the hostess that I was there for my reservation because I felt like I was playing out the real-life version of that scene in the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall when Jason Segel is at their beautiful resort in Hawaii and asks for a table for one. I was just waiting for the hostess to yell "Yeah clear everything off the table, it's just one person!" or ask me if I want a magazine to read. Not only did none of that happen though (well... except they did clear the other plates off of the table), but they completely hooked me up! They sat me at the best table right against the water's edge and gave me a couple of glasses of free champagne on the house. The four-course meal was delicious although I may have had a positive bias about everything going on around me since my toes were in the sand the entire time and I had an amazing view of the ocean. 

Thanks to another recommendation from Patti's Dad, I made my way to my after-dinner activity, which was the cabaret at Le Te Da. I knew it was a female impersonator (aka drag) show, but once again, I was basically walking into something I knew no prior information about. Even though I got there a half hour before the show had started, it was already pretty crowded. However since I was by myself, they were able to squeeze me into a table with a bunch of strangers close to the font. Once again, being solo can have it's perks. 

The show itself was impressive. It was one incredibly talented man who played woman after woman in this mix of a singing and comedy show that he didn't lip-sync whatsoever. When he sang a Marilyn Monroe song, he sounded like her. When he sang a Reba song, he sounded like her. And he did a pretty good job of looking like them, too. Plus, he was hilarious. It was an awesome show and I highly recommend it. His name is Chris Peterson and apparently he performs at La Te Da pretty frequently. I did go to one other show during my trip that I'll discuss in another post and that one was total trash compared to Chris' show. 

As I was leaving the show, the hostess came up and asked me if I was really by myself for Valentine's Day. Apparently, the bartender had seen me come in and was "smitten" and wanted to know if I'd be his Valentine and have a drink with him. I tried to make up a million reasons why I couldn't but I guess I did a bad job of communicating them because the hostess convinced me to wait at the downstairs bar where a fun piano player was just getting started. The bartender, I think his name was Ryan, came down about 20 minutes later and was true to his word, he only obligated me to one drink and then let me go home when I wanted to. I did have fun though, I got to meet the performer, Chris and the guy singing and playing piano was awesome. 

I took a cab back to Eden House because I didn't quite have my bearings and didn't want to walk alone even though there is a crime rate of... like... zero in Key West. I hope my parents are proud. Instead of making my way to my room, I bee-lined it for a hammock outside just because I could and relaxed there under the palms and stars and reflected on my successful first day in Key West. The rest of the trip was just as colorful and relaxing and hilarity most certainly did ensue, but I'll save all of that for a second "highlights" post since this one is already very long! 

2/13 in Cocoa Beach, Florida

On my way from Myrtle Beach and Key West, I decided to take a day of rest and exploration in Cocoa Beach, Florida. I'd never been there before and don't know a soul who lives there, so I thought it might be a fun little stop. From the moment I hit the Florida state line, and possibly sooner in Georgia, I started seeing billboards for the Ron Jon shop in Cocoa Beach. My memory may be a little dramatic, but it felt as though there was another one at every other mile marker. I started to get a crazy inkling that maybe this was the big attraction in Cocoa Beach.

I spent most of the day catching up on rest, emails, etc in my hotel room since the temperature was in the 60s and way too cold for the beach. The only people at the pool was a Canadian family who probably thought it was warm enough. For whatever reason, it actually felt like temperatures were in the 70s or 80s on my balcony and the wind was blocked so I was able to sunbathe there for a while and even got pink on one side of my body. I know it's not good for you, but since that was the first sign of new color I'd seen on my skin in months, I got really excited about it. 

I decided that the Ron Jon's billboards would win after I had a hard time seeking out other activities and I decided to walk there via the beach. Being the day before Valentin's Day, a lot of people decided to make beach art to show their love. I enjoyed taking pictures of their art...

A man was walking down the beach saw me taking a picture of the shell heart and asked if I wanted my picture taken since I was alone. After he took my picture, was stood and talked for a bit and he told me he's a retired aeronautical engineer who now a "snow bird" who split his time between Cocoa Beach and the Poconos and that he really loved living in Cocoa Beach because he thought it had the bluest sky anywhere. I looked up and realized he might be right. The sky was the brightest blue I'd ever been under, as you can see for yourself in some of these photos I took outside of the Ron Jon shop once I got there.

I actually thought the sculptures themselves were a decent attraction, especially within their surroundings of the bright blue sky, colorful shop and towering palms. I then made my way into the shop and discovered that Coacoa beach has surf boards like Myrtle Beach has hermit crabs!

 I felt ever so slightly like a creep just walking around the store taking pictures, but I actually did buy something. I've actually had some naysayers with regard to this whole trip I'm doing who think it isn't wise for me to go alone or to have left my job, etc. So, when I saw a bracelet in the shop that had "I may be a dreamer" engraved on one side and "but I'm not the only one" engraved on the other, I felt very attracted to it and had to buy it. At some point on this trip, I'll meet someone who is on a similar journey and may have faced similar questions and challenges, and I'm going to give this bracelet to them.

The birds wrapped around my wrist in this picture are actually a necklace that my grandma, Maga Joan, gave to me as a good luck charm before I left for my trip. In addition to being a dancer, actress, writer, one-time surrogate mother to a baby gorilla, she used to be a photographer for the Peace Corps. She did quite a bit of traveling as a result and so her daughter, my aunt Megan, gave her this necklace as a good luck charm. Now that I'm in Key West I have cool story about this necklace that happened here.. but I'll save that for when I get around to my Key West post.

The checkout girl recommended I go to Sandbar for a bite to eat. I approached the outside and was a little concerned because it looked incredibly touristy and cheesy, but I do like pretty colors so...

... into the mouth of the monkey (?) I went. I'm so glad I did. There was a live reggae band and fun paraphernalia all over everything. The bartender was a sweet old woman named "Yo" who informed me that there were $1 margaritas for Mexican Monday and she was generous enough to make them as strong as a $6 margarita. They advertised the "best fish tacos" and I thought "wow, they have the best cannoli's in the world in Myrtle and now I can have the best fish tacos here... what are the odds!?" To be honest though, these mini grouper tacos with mango salsa were the best fish tacos I've ever had, so I guess there is truth in advertising once in a while! According to a signed surf board in the restaurant, the famous surfer Kelly Slater agreed with me. Overall, a great little day trip to Cocoa Beach!

If a group of people go out in a mask...

...did they really go out at all? I think my night out in Myrtle with Alex, Michael, Kendal and Connie really speaks for itself. This was all Alex's idea. Didn't I tell you that she was goofy?

 

Well obviously we're all a little goofy in that group. Not the most flattering picture of me at the end there but I think it is a hilarious picture and I like being able to laugh at myself. A couple of those photos are courtesy of Kendal. The next day, we pulled it together and went to an Oyster Roast at Murrell's Inlet, a nearby town on the marsh. It was unseasonably cold but it was probably still warmer than at home and I love oysters, so I was pretty happy. Although they may have made me sick, but I forgive them and that's a whole different story I'm not going to get into. I'm trying to keep this post low on word count since the last one was so long, so here are some more pictures:

Alex's husband designed the logo

The next day was my last in Myrtle and I spent most of it visiting with Grandmama some more, as well as with my Uncle Steve & his wife Donna and my Uncle Rusty and his wife Suzanne and my cousin Grace. It was an awesome added bonus to be able to spend time with additional family before going abroad. Overall: excellent trip to South Carolina!

Southern Hospitality

My trip has finally begun, I'm in it now! I spent my last day at home frantically packing and cleaning. I have no idea why it came as a surprise to me that this would be a difficult trip to pack for, but it was. It was about when I reached this point that I had to tell myself that I can't take it all with me...

I tried the best I could to stick to the "two of each" rule (2 pants, 2 long sleeves, 2 short sleeves, 2 dresses, etc..) and just get over the fact that I was going to be seen in the same outfits over and over again in photos... even though that is my worst Facebook nightmare. The saving grace is that due to layovers and flight routes through Dulles, I actually get 2 different opportunities over the next few months to swing by home and switch out articles of clothing. Phew! Once I got everything into my new 70L REI backpack, I loaded it up into my rental car who I named Doris the Yaris, and said "see ya later" to my snow/frost/ice covered Northern Virginia home and winter.

As I made my way down 95,the sun started to come up and the temperature got noticeably warmer. It was even nice enough for me to roll down the window a little. Yes, just one window. Doris the Yaris isn't very old but keeps it pretty old-school anyways with features such as CRANK windows! So, I could only safely roll down the one on the drivers side while zooming down the highways. The fuel efficient little Toyota doesn't stop there with "character," she also has no automatic lock system whatsoever so it's all using the key and reaching around to lock/unlock and there was nowhere for me to plug my iPhone in to play music. Luckily I still had a huge stack of CD's that Patti (aka DJ Master P, aka P Jammer) made for me in college and when we lived together and so I was able to just go down memory lane with those for the seven hour drive to my first stop, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I sang a lot of Mariah. You're all lucky you missed that.

I'm staying here in Myrtle Beach for a few days with my Grandmama, the coolest quintessential southern belle I know. The first thing I noticed when I pulled into the driveway was a shirt hanging in one of the front trees and I playfully thought, "there she goes making yard boys take their shirts off again." She taught me everything I know about flirting.

Kevin's shirt. We think...

It turns out she knew nothing about why there was a shirt in the tree but she does in fact to quite a bit of flirting with the man who does her lawn. He's Kevin, a cute waiter in his 30's from the club. She likes him so much she has come to do her yard work as well. In her sweet southern accent she has reminded me not to be too friendly with Kevin... he's hers. She then sends me up to the upstairs bedroom to get myself settled in with a vase of fresh flowers for my room... that's just southern hospitality for you!

Those smiling faces in the photo behind the flowers?
That would be Grandmama herself and her late husband,
 Don, who we all miss very much

After I'd settled in and spent some quality time with Grandmama, I went to meet my friends Alex and Michael at my favorite spot in Myrtle Beach, Bimini's Oyster Bar. It's a cute little place with beachy murals painted on the walls, picnic furniture, and lots of oysters and hushpuppies. Alex and Michael are a married couple who are both in the marketing field like me but in Myrtle Beach and I love that I get to include seeing them in my Myrtle trips now since Alex moved here after we graduated from college. They both looked so good in their work clothes, coming to meet up with me in my "I just got done driving 7 hours" clothes. Alex looks like a barbie doll like a lot of girls in the south do, but what I love about her is that she is actually one of the most down-to-earth, sweet-hearted and goofy people that I know. We picked right back up on old inside jokes, gossip catchup, and telling Michael the same "oh and this one time..." stories he's already heard.

Alex & Michael at Bimini's

Alex and I at Bimini's

They mostly wanted to ask about my trip and when my upcoming stop in Key West, Florida came up, they told me a few places they liked there for me to check out and then got on the topic of how many cats, chickens, and sunglasses there are all over Key West. "It seemed like they sold sunglasses in every store," Alex said, "they've got sunglasses there like we've got hermit crabs here in Myrtle Beach!" I thought that was a pretty hilarious comment because it's so true. Every beach shop large and small in Myrtle has a wire cage full of hermit crabs in brightly painted shells for tourists to buy as living souvenirs. I've never actually seen a hermit crab in the wild here though, and certainly not with an electric blue and neon orange polka-dotted shell. After dinner we went back to their new house, which is gorgeous, and I got to meet their new Boston Terrier puppy Beamer and reunite with Daisy the Chihuahua.... the only Chi whose company I actually enjoy. (There, I said it, I can't stand all the rest of your Chihuahuas.) I had to call it an early night though because I was so spent from the long day.

I woke up this morning around 9am and thought my Grandmama was still asleep so I tip-toed around the house, made myself a cup of green tea, and quietly crept onto the back porch with a blanket, journal and tea so that I wouldn't wake anyone up. It turns out she'd been up for hours and was out at a doctor's appointment when I went downstairs, so I was just tiptoeing around an empty house by myself like an idiot. Oh well, I've done dumber things. Even though it wasn't exactly warm outside, it was comfortable enough to sit in one of the chairs overlooking the pond that the yard backs up to with a blanket on top of me and enjoy the view and the sounds of morning. It was definitely warmer than at home. I wrote my first journal entry in one of the two journals that were gifted to me before I left for my trip. One was from my wonderful co-workers and it included nice notes from them on some of the pages inside. I plan to start using that one after I've filled up the first one, which is a gift that JayJay got for me at an Indian market in Afghanistan and brought back while home on R&R from his current deployment there.

I visited more with Grandmama then went to run some errands for her and to find some lunch. I realized I hadn't seen the ocean yet except from the balcony off of the bedroom. I can't be "at the beach" if I haven't actually gotten up close to the beach though, so I went to pay my respects.

Ahhhh! That was nice and completely worth it :) As many shops full of hermit crabs that Myrtle Beach has, it has got to have twice as many of three other things: golf courses, strippers, and chain restaurants. Not even just chain restaurants though, but chain restaurants with crazy statues and neon signs in front of them. I honestly think the amount of neon running through Myrtle Beach has got to be up there close to Las Vegas. Seriously. I did not go on this trip though to go to a bunch of chain restaurants that I could find at home, so I went in search of a lunch place that only had one location; the one I'd be eating in today. Thanks to Yelp!, I found Cannoli's Cafe just in a strip mall just off of King's Highway. Boy, I'm glad I did. 

I ordered a sandwich and since I was the only patron at the time, we started to chat. His name is Marco and he's a half Portuguese/half Itialian fella. He's originally from Brazil and got to Myrtle by way of New York City after 12 years of fine dining experience and then a few years of designing and remodeling kitchens and bathrooms. He had a dream to open his own place and the cost of living was simply better in South Carolina, so he took that dream down here and opened Cannoli's. He had a cool table in one part of the restaurant that had all kinds of trinkets and fun words and stuff under glass and on top of what looked like an old door. I think it's things like that that can give a place extra character, but it's the food that really counts to keep them open. 

If my mozzarella, prosciutto, basil and beefsteak tomato sandwich is any indication... they're going to be just fine. It came with a slice of pineapple and a little bit of potato salad drizzled in olive oil, which i've never seen before but it actually added a little flavor. 

Delicious lunch!

 

From the table

Some other patrons came in and got some cannoli. I'd already noticed all of the "world's best cannoli" signs all over the restaurant so I was curious but after they kept raving about how good this cannoli they were having was, I knew I had to take some to-go. I took some home to Grandmama and her friend Bonnie she had over for lunch and we all agreed it was pretty good. I visited with the girls some more, went up and practiced yoga for about an hour, and now I've just finished visiting with my Uncle Steve and Aunt Donna who just got into to town. I've got plans to go out with Alex, Michael and our other friend Kendal tonight. So far this is a perfect start to my trip! 

It just got real.

Thank goodness, this trip finally feels imminent. I was starting to get nervous. I've been excited, but something about it seemed really far away... until this weekend. 

First of all, I had my last day of work on Friday. That entire last week I'd gradually started to feel as though I was losing relevance there as my duties and clients got picked up by other people and I had less to do. Friday when they threw me a going away lunch and gave me their well wishes was when it actually hit home that this chapter was over. The nice things they had to say to me before I left helped make me feel less irrelevant and I'm very lucky to say that I haven't had a single day of unemployment since my first job after college about 5 years ago. 

Now I'm sitting here at my house on a Monday getting things organized for the week that I'm actually, finally leaving for my trip while everyone else is at work, or called in sick from their SuperBowl hangovers. So it's feeling pretty real. 

The other thing that made it feel more real is that I had my last weekend out with many of my close friends. I'd be lucky if I had just one friend like these guys and gals. So I must have some awesome Karma from another life or something because I was given an embarrassment of riches when it comes to incredible friends in this life. Not everyone could make it out but all for good reasons and I know they'll be here when I get back. 

Now I have to start tying up loose ends, packing and getting my house in order so I don't come home to immediate chores... I guess the "work" doesn't end just because I don't have a job. I hit the road first thing Thursday! 

Dinner at La Tasca in Arlington with some of my closest friends

Me, Laura and Patti putting in the group effort to finish the last drops of sangria

Ashley, Laura, Me, Patti, Maryam and Brittany - who came all the way up from Virginia Beach!

Last drinks at Whitlows for a long time!