Our Trip to Key West, Continued.

 We left Key West and drove to Marathon Key, where we stayed in a lovely Marriott named Blue Waters. It had a great pool and hot tub (with a beach view)

A fire pit at night time and a nice restaurant space, as well as spacious rooms. I would go back in a heartbeat!

That night at dinner (some seafood place) this was our view:

I won't say much about the food.....it was less than satisfactory to me.....but it didn't hurt me to miss a meal. However, I did open a can of cashews in the room, and was dismayed to discover they charged $9 for it ( a handful of nuts). I bet they don't sell many..lol!

The next day we had a nice breakfast in their restaurant/lobby, and packed the car to drive back to the mainland.  We enjoyed the drive back, but we soon ran into huge rainstorms....

The skies look threatening, don't they?  Check this out....

This was a video - but too long to post - so I took a screenshot. The storm was much wider than it looks here, and when it hit the roadway, there was lots of water, buckets, you might say. But it didn't last too long and we drove out of it before we got to Miami. 

We went on to Fort. Lauderdale to conclude the trip, with the highlight of it  -  for me at least - I got to see my old friend Mel Day, who retired and moved to Florida last August, and I hadn't seen him since.  

Here we are at lunch - a place called Coconuts - which had a lovely outside space overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway, but due to the rain, we had to eat indoors.  No problem, I was just happy to be with my friend again.  The food was good too!

We first went to his lovely new condo, which, of course is decorated to the nines (as they say), and after catching up, we all went to lunch. Afterward, Aliza and Darren left us to go sightseeing, and Mel and I went to visit his friend Mark, whom I had met about 20-5 years ago in Raleigh.  Mark, who has been living in Boston for a while, just moved to Fort Lauderdale with his spouse, and bought a great condo on the Intracoastal Waterway. You can sit in his living room, on the balcony or lie in bed and see all the boats moving back and forth. What a treat!! It's nice to see how "the other half"  lives....lol.

I don't mind telling you that I was devastated when Mel announced he was moving south. I have worked for/with him for over 20 years, and he and his family have become my family. Now that he is gone, I don't get to see any of them.....but I hope to remedy that soon.  I know they all miss him as much as I do!!

The kids picked me up to go to the airport, which was still having a bit of trouble with water on the runways. Our flight was supposed to leave at 8:30 pm, but was delayed due to bad weather in the east, and we didn't leave Florida until 12:30 am; we landed in Raleigh at 2 am. My granddaughter Jessica had to roll out of bed and pick us up, poor girl!  I was never so glad to see my bed as I was that night. But all in all, I enjoyed our trip and I thank the person who made it possible. She knows who she is....LOL