Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Key West and More



Well, Scott and I had the opportunity to taking a little vaca before his internship started and before I got too big to enjoy it. We had a blast. After going back and forth between a cruise, Mexico, Dominican Republic, we decided that we live in a state where people travel from all over the world to visit...why not explore a little ourselves. So, we roadtripped it down to Miami, then to the Florida Keys. We had a blast.This is Miami Beach. Everyone was really dressed up so I felt a little silly walking around wearing my swim suit. Oh well.

OK...here is a prego shot. I felt a Little self conscious in my swim suit. Its not the belly that I felt embarrassed about, it was the bum and thighs that have seemed to grow right along with the belly!! Butt (no pun intended..hehe)...I am coming to accept the fact that everything grows along with the belly! :)

Miami Beach. We got there around 3:00 and stayed for awhile. It was awesome actually going to a beach where there were waves (ok...waves compared to the Gulf). Scott was cracking me up. He was "tackling" the waves sideways and told me to "hit" it hard and it would knock my feet out from underneath me. Well, not only did my feet get knocked out from underneath me, I had a little swimsuit malfunction as I popped back up for breath! Whoops...Then I started laughing so hard, I gulped up the salt water. No more "tackling" after that one.

Scott hates it when I ask random people to take our picture...BUT, we need to document!! After the beach, we walked around Miami Beach and went to TGI Fridays. Neither of us were starving, but baby needed to eat. We had a lot of fun. We were both getting tired and I was getting slap happy! Miami was super cool, but I felt a little foolish walking around in my swimsuit in my pregoness. Everyone was totally dressed up and ready to party as we were headed back to our hotel.

Key West. Sunday Morning, we woke up, went to Sacrament Meeting, then drove down the Keys. The water was so beautiful and clear. We are at an AIDS Memorial dock. Apparently Key West is known for their gay population. We even saw a drag queen on Duval Street. Crazy site I had never seen before.

We tried Alligator tail. After watching Bear from "Man VS Wild" eat Alligator tail, Scott wanted to try some too. Neither of us loved it and I never have to eat it again, and probably won't. It had kind of a fishy/chicken taste with a stringy texture.


Our original plan was to rent scooters and take them around Key West BUT, because of the pregoness, they would not allow it. So, we did the next best thing...rented the most ghetto bikes. It was really fun, but I swear, these things were such crap. Scott didn't even have grips, and our tires were both low on air. BUT, minus getting lost for the first 30-45min, it was awesome. We biked for a few hours and it even saved us the hassle and expense of parking around the city. We would just see something we liked, found either a bike rack or fence, would lock the suckers up and go explore. What we DID NOT do is put enough sun screen on. Who would of thought the tops of your hands could burn so badly! Both of us got pretty fried...


The Southern Most Point of the Continental US. Look how blue the water is. SO inviting and warm too..
We wanted to Kayak AND Snorkel, so we found a tour that did both. This is before we started. Snorkeling was pretty cool. We saw a lot of Lobsters and even a couple of Stingrays. I ALMOST tried to touch the Stingrays a couple of times, but freaked out each time. Good thing I did, because our guide told us that they have a very painful sting as their defense mechanism...

This is right after we Kayaked. Kayaking was pretty cool. Our guide took us around a Mangrove (type of tree) island and we saw some cool birds, even a bald eagle. It was absolutely beautiful. The water was like glass and there were awesome storm clouds all around us. The calmness of the water reminded me of the movie "White Squal" and if you have ever seen that movie, you know that there was the calm before the storm. Shortly after this picture was taken, the winds picked up and rains started pouring down! We could no longer see the Keys. It was kind of an adventure.

This picture does not give the storm any justice. It was coming to an end, but you can't see the rain pelting us in our face. We were soaked!! It was really funny. I just kept laughing.


The awesome sunset after the storm. We made it home alive. The thing that kind of sucked though is we biked to the dock where we left, and had quite the ride back to our hotel. We got lost once again going home, but not for too long.

This is at one of the Key's on our way back. I told Scott that if I saw "picture worthy" scenery, we needed to stop and take some footage...

I told Scott to cheese it up on this one...

You can't really see how bad my burn is. It hurt pretty bad! You can almost see the line across my wrist where my key chain was.

On our way back home yesterday, we stopped at an alligator farm in the Everglades. I really wanted to take Scott on an airboat ride (I went on one years ago). Not only did we get to go on an airboat, but we got to see TONS of Alligators at this stop. This guy was nuts and was "Wrestling" the poor alligator.

Not the most flattering picture. This is on the airboat. They get really loud so we had to wear protective covering. It was so fun though. Our driver got us going pretty fast, then when we woud get to an opening in the Everglades, he would crank the "wheel" and do a 360. We did get a little wet on this trip. It was kind of scary, but awesome at the same time. We saw some more alligators while in the boat. The weather was starting to get really stormy so I think that our tour was cut a little short.

Below is some footage from the alligator farm.
We got home at around 9:30 and rented a movie (Bride Wars). I decided to work for a few hours today, but it is always hard to go back when you have been vacationing for a few days. I am so glad that we got away. Scott came home to one of his grades (kind of) for school. He got a 3.5 on his Legal Research and Writing paper, which is totally awesome! It was a nice "Welcome Back." for us, especially him!

22 comments:

Kelsey K. Hartley said...

What a fun trip! I've always wanted to tour the Florida Keys. I'm terrified of accidentally snorkeling with sharks. Did the tour guide mention the chances of that happening? Alligators are just as scary though. Anyone that wrestles them IS nuts.

You are one of those really lucky prego women because of your long legs and torso. It's harder to hide 10 extra lbs. on a 5'1" frame; I promise. You are cute prego! Are you still running at this point?

Lindsay said...

Kelsey, We did not see any sharks, but when our friends went I believe that they saw Reef Sharks? But since we were not at the Reef snorkeling, there were none.

I am not running anymore, just speed walking or eliptical. Running hurts my back and the Doc told me to take it easy. I will however, be running a marathon a year after baby comes!! :)

Boquinha said...

Um, Stingrays? Stingers? Crocodile Hunter? Ring any bells?

Maxim is frustrated that you didn't get any pictures of the bald eagle (he loves bald eagles). He kindly requests that if you again, you take a picture.

Kate and Maxim thought the Alligator wrestling show was wild! Kate says she would NOT want to do that job.

Lindsay said...

The Stingrays were just little guys so I thought there was no harm in trying...:)

Tell Maxim that we WOULD have brought our cameras, but since we were on the kayaks, and kayaks=wet, the tour guides told us not to bring anything that could get ruined!! I know...sad.

Kate, I would not want to do that job either!! The guy was crazy!

Eric and Kassi said...

That looks like a fun vacation! That is a ton of alligators. I wouldn't want to be stuck in that pen with them either.

Lisa K said...

I love alligator tail! I grew up on that stuff.

J Fo said...

What a fun getaway! You are so cute prego! You guys sure pack a lot of fun stuff into a few days. I think I would have just stayed at the beach all day long!

That alligator stuff was freaky. How is that guys still alive?! Crazy!

JonandLo said...

Looks like a blast...and I am so exicted to see your little budda. It's so cute and tiny. Glad you guys got to take a vaca before your little girl comes. Welcome home!
ps- those crocks are so scary!

Brandon and Katie said...

how fun!! we need to get together asap! we miss you guys. we want to find a weekend and take a trip down to the beach house we just went to. only an hour away and so relaxing! do you think you could find a weekend before baby comes?

Kathy Lee said...

You look so cute in your swimsuit! You shouldn't be self-conscious at all! Emily told me your were coming to Utah, what for?

Lindsay said...

Katie we miss you too and of course we could find a free weekend! Where was it?

Kathy I am coming for a family reunion then will be staying a couple of extra days. I wanted to stop by and say hi.

Lovell Family said...

Looks like you guys had a lot of fun. Steve and I tried alligator when we were down in FL after after getting married....it was disgusting...tasted like stinky fish!

I agree, you look great! I had a dream the other night that I was seriously obese....I'm talking quadruple chins....I've been worried about my weight gain this time around....but it hasn't stopped me from eating!

Jenny said...

Looks like you had a fun trip! I'm glad you got to go- fun memories of vacation before baby! hehe I had a freaky nightmare of alligators being in our family room the other night- weird...

Dr. Mark said...

Looks like you guys squeezed a lot in. You're giving us more reasons to head down there again. ;)

Boquinha said...

Um, Sweetie, did you SEE the alligators??

Boquinha said...

Oh, you're talking about the water, right? Yeah, that I'm up for!

Lindsay said...

Hey..you guys are always welcome...we would go again if you came! :)

Cynthia Lovell said...

Loved your blog!!! You look GREAT prego!!! Can't wait to see you in person!

Dents said...

looks like a fun trip. The water looks really beautiful. I would never have tried the alligator tail, I guess now whenever you see an alligator, which is probably a lot in Florida, you know what it tastes like.

Cynthia Lovell said...

cute prego sister!! I can't wait to see you!

katie said...

you two are so cute and adventurous! love the little belly. i hung out w/ your sister today. she is looking totally fabulous and her little luke has awesome hair. anna hasn't quite warmed up to me yet, but she will by the end of the summer :)

Tami said...

Fun! Fun! I was that pregnant when we went to Hawaii before having Noelle and I came to one big conclusion...there are so many people of all body shapes that prance around in bathing suits on the beach, so why not just enjoy yourself! I'm so glad you guys got to break from the stresses of school/work and get away!