Our Tales of Two Cities: May 2010

I know, I know. It is inexcusable that we have not written in so long. In our defense, Leslie has a wedding in two weeks and I have my last days of school (7 days and counting…) So much has happened over the last month and I am going to try to catch you up over the next few days.

First, and most important, was Leslie’s bachelorette party in Key West. In one word…AMAZING!

It was a blast. I had never been to Key West and once I got there I did not want to leave. In fact, I volunteered (with Shannon, Leslie’s sister-in-law) to be bumped from my return flight if they were overbooked. I held out hope until the flight attendant gave her safety spiel.

I left early (and when I say early – I mean 4:00 a.m.) on Friday morning from Houston. I had stayed at my Aunt Bobbie’s house in the Woodlands because flights out of Corpus are ridiculously expensive. I landed in Miami and went to greet Leslie off of her New York flight. Two Bloody Mary’s later and we were ready for Key West.

***I won’t even get into the travel ordeal, but let’s just say that eight out of ten girls were able to board the flight. On the way home, every single flight was delayed out of Key West and the majority missed their connecting flights and did not get home until after midnight or in Shannon’s case – the next day (lucky!!!) Take my advice, if you are traveling to Key West, make sure that you have A LOT of time in between your flights because they WILL NOT hold the plane and there are more delays than you can imagine.***

We stayed at the Westin in Key West and it was unbelievable! The location was ridiculous. It is right next to Duval Street (where all of the bars and restaurants are located) and has a beautiful view of the Gulf of Mexico. They were so great and even upgraded our rooms so that we had another bed and an extra bathroom (with 11 showering girls - this is a huuuuuuge deal). We dropped our bags and started the party.

We were able to do so much over the weekend that it would take forever to write it all down for you. Plus what happens on the rocks, stays on the rocks;) Here are a few highlights from our trip.

Restaurants: Mangoes, Grand Café Key West, Blue Heaven (love love love Blue Heaven – most amazing brunch – plus what can beat roosters strolling around your feet)
Bars: Sloppy Joe's – This was our go-to bar. They had an awesome band (yeah – Naked Eskimos) who played all of our special requests and let us get on stage to lead the dancing (or jumping if Enter Sandman was requested). Fat Tuesday - like Natalie’s dad said – can’t leave Key West without drinking a Rum Runner. Rick’s - aka the Tot’s of Key West. Cowboy Bill’s Honky Tonk Saloon – only bar with a mechanical bull and, yes, Leslie did ride it. And I’m sure there were more, but let’s be honest, after Rum Rummers and rounds of BLLs, I don’t remember.
Extras: La Te Da - Cabaret Drag Show. I had never been to a drag show and it was definitely different than I expected. At least I can cross that off the list of things to do in this lifetime. Fort Zachary Taylor beach – We actually made it to the beach on Sunday. If you have feet of steel you would love this beach, the rest of us had to brave crossing over rows of rocks to get to the water. However, the water was so beautiful that it was worth the pain. Rum Barrel – This is the southernmost Philly fan bar. Even though the group didn’t make it there over the weekend – I made a special trip for my Southernmost Phillies Fan Bar t-shirt.

It was such a great weekend to celebrate Leslie and spend time with some of our best friends. I will definitely never forget my first (not the last) trip to Key West. Since Leslie and I have both moved away from our friends, we don’t take weekends like this for granted. The only thing that made it easier to say good-bye was knowing that we would all see each other again in a couple of weeks for Leslie and Nick’s wedding. So until then…here are some G-rated pictures to enjoyJ