Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail: Day 2 (MM106-MM102)

DAY 2!!! Our first full day in the keys, our vow renewal ceremony, and the first few miles of our hike!! I was so excited I couldn't even sleep late! 

The morning started with a cup of coffee while enjoying the view of the bay from our hotel room balcony! It was a BEAUTIFUL view and we watched the world come to life...the sun was rising, birds were starting to explore, even the iguanas found the morning warm enough to be out and about. Iguanas are everywhere in the keys but we saw the most in Key Largo. The largest we would see, however, were in Key West.

Because the trip was centered around our 25th wedding anniversary, we planned a vow renewal. The vow renewal actually happened by "accident". I originally priced photographers in the area to do a photo shoot on the beach. Wow, were they expensive!! Just as I was about to give up on the idea, I stumbled across Affordable Beach Weddings, LLC and the pricing was perfect for what we needed AND included pictures!! Our experience with them was almost perfect. There was a slight miscommunication about the sand ceremony sand colors, but we took care of that. Everything else was beautiful. The most special part of the ceremony was our personalized vows to each other. We didn't invite any friends or family because we had to immediately leave our ceremony and get some miles done towards our hike. There would be no time to visit and we didn't think that would be fair to anyone that made the trip.

Chavon and her team at Hampton Inn - Key Largo were amazing!! They allowed us to use the beach area at no charge. The bay provided the perfect backdrop for our simple, but special, ceremony. Chavon even took some pictures for me with my cell phone so we'd have some pictures to share before the professional ones were ready AND they gave us a gift certificate to a restaurant close by where we had lunch. The food was AMAZING! I really can't brag on Chavon and the Hampton Inn - Key Largo enough. They really did make our day and entire stay extra special!!

We had a small cake to celebrate. Key Lime with cream cheese icing! It was DELICIOUS! and BEAUTIFUL! We provided the topper and the flowers. Maggie's Bakery in Key Largo made and delivered the cake to the hotel for us.

After the ceremony and pictures, we went back to our room to change into clothes more suitable for the four mile hike we needed to do that afternoon. Our theme for our vow renewal and anniversary this year was "We Still Do!" and I had shirts made for us with the phrase on them.

We packed up all the items from the vow renewal in the box I had brought along so we could get it to the post office before they closed and before we returned the rental car. I needed to ship those items home because we sure didn't want to carry them for the 106 miles we'd be walking over the next week!

With the box packed for shipping, we headed out for lunch. We had several folks recommend The Fish House and thanks to Chavon and her team at Hampton Inn, we had a gift certificate so we drove there to eat lunch. It was the last meal of our trip we would drive to! The food was good. I had grilled lobster and Joseph had broiled yellow tail snapper. Florida Lobster tastes delicious, but it has a different texture than the Maine Lobster we're used to. The texture resembles more like shrimp.

After lunch, we headed to return the rental car. We dropped it off in Islamorada (a few miles south of Key Largo) and got a LYFT to take us back to the Key Largo Visitor's Center at MM106.5 to start our hike. The Hampton Inn was at MM102 so we just had a few miles to do. We didn't take our packs, or water, because it was such short mileage. I definitely wish we had taken water!! The sun in the Florida Keys isn't very forgiving and it doesn't take long to dehydrate.

After taking pictures at the MM106 sign we started officially hiking the Florida Keys Overseas Heritage Trail!!

At MM104 we stopped at Rowell's Waterfront Park. It was opened in 2016 as an official county park but I had been there before and I wanted to visit again.

When I graduated high school, wayyy back in 1993, my parents took me to the keys. I fell in love then and I love them just as much now! When we visited in 1993, we stopped at a roadside area where I stood on a concrete seawall and got my first glimpse of the beautiful water. I remember looking out over the water, just eighteen years old, the wind blowing through my hair, and wondering what my life would be like. Joseph and I were already dating.. Would we get married? Would I have kids? What would I do for a job? Would I ever get to move to Florida? I've always loved Florida. While I know the answers to the other questions now, I often still wonder if I'll ever get to move to Florida.

When Joseph and I stood on the concrete seawall to take some pictures, I couldn't help but think about that trip after highschool. Looking back, I am thankful for the life I've been blessed to live. An amazing family, amazing husband, amazing kids and a job I enjoy. God has certainly blessed me way more than I deserve!

After some pictures, looking into the crystal clear water for fish and critters, and hiding in the shade a bit from the sun, we continued on our way. We stopped a few more times to take in the scenery, watch birds and iguanas, and talk about our upcoming hike. We had planned it for so long that it was surreal that we were actually starting it. We had trained and prepped the best we could. We knew it wouldn't be easy, but we were excited and we finished the last mile quickly. The sun was starting to set as we returned to the hotel so we sat outside on the beach area to take in the sunset. It was crowded and the "no-see-ums" made their first appearance. After a few minutes, I decided I'd rather finish watching the sunset from our balcony so we went back to our room. From the balcony, we still had a beautiful view and the "no-see-ums" were apparently happy with their easily accessible buffet on the beach because they didn't seem interested in us up on our second floor balcony.

After the sun went down we decided to eat dinner. We no longer had a vehicle so we looked around for something close to the hotel. I think this is the first time that the reality of not having a vehicle hit me. Not only would we be walking the ttail, but we'd be walking to everything. It was an equally exciting and scary moment of realization for me and the first feelings of doubt started to cross my mind. Had we taken on too much? Would the pavement walking be too difficult? Would the sun be too hot? Would we want to quit? What if we HAD to quit?

I tried to push any negative thoughts from my mind as we walked to dinner. We found Arthur's Island Kitchen less than a half mile from the hotel. We had seared tuna and conch fritters. The food and service were some of the best we experienced in the keys and we can't wait until we can visit again!

After dinner we returned to the hotel and went to bed. It was a great, but exhausting day, and we officially started our bigger miles the next day. The next morning we would check out of the Hampton Inn and walk approximately 11 miles to Islamorada, FL.

MM106-MM102 was complete.