Perdido Key birthday weekend

Over Memorial Day weekend we went down to Perdido Key, Florida (near Pensacola) to celebrate David's brother-in-law's 40th birthday. We rented a condo on the beach, and Christina stayed with her in-laws about a 5 min drive away at their townhouse. Over the course of the trip we hit up a couple small amusement parks for Paul to get coaster credits, hung out at the beach and generally just relaxed. It was a nice change of pace from our more hectic trips!

Below are some of the highlights in picture form. No more narrative to go with this beach vacation!

Of course Paul found a new coaster to ride!

Solo ride!

It's Memorial Day weekend, and there are a LOT of people enjoying the water on this sandbar.

View from our AirBnB. We saw quite a few dolphins over the few days we were here.

Cute beachy living room.

Across the street from our AirBnB. Pretty decent on both fronts.

Sunrise from the balcony.

We found a little fire truck (?) that said Kalamazoo!

Paul and toddler David on the a carousel.

Getting some good spins on the Tilt a Whirl!

Yes, Paul borrowed our friend's kids to ride this tiny coaster. :)

Cousins!

Right next to Paul's Pizza we had David's Sno-Balls. They were decent, and would put some ice cream in the middle if you wanted.

Matteo's first trip to the beach. He's only almost 5 months old in this pic.

Uncle David and nephew David building a sandcastle.

Christina cuddling with Matteo.

This kid honestly gives zero f*cks about anything. Look how relaxed he looks!

Doritos and the beach.

When he's a teenager, he'll love this pic of his first combover!

And of course Paul found another little coaster credit.

A quick beer at Big Beach Brewing.

Cousins at the pier for some fishing!

Sunset from the pier.

We had fun and caught a few fish.

Even Paul caught a little fish!

Coffee truck near our AirBnB. Decent and popular.

If you squint you can see a dolphin.

Pensacola is apparently the home base for the blue angels. They flew around a lot.

More blue angels shenanigans. 

Heading to the beach at Johnson Beach National Seashore.

I've never seen this anywhere else, but it's very common for people to just leave their shoes/sandals near the pier they walked onto the beach from. Sometimes there were dozens of shoes.

All set up on Johnson Beach.

We saw this guy eat a huge fish and you could see it stuck in it's throat for like 10 minutes.

More sandcastle fun. Little David was afraid of the water the first few days.

Justin caught a fish from the beach.

Little David somehow smiling on command for Paul. He normally doesn't care about photos!

Found some hermit crabs.

Time to go!

Drinks at CoastAL for David E's 40th Birthday.

D'Onofrio's at CoastAL.

Happy Birthday David! You don't look a day over 39. ;)

This cinnamon bun place was all the rave. It was only open the day we were leaving. They open at 8 and she was sold out by 8:30. We got the last bun. =D

We stopped at the cutest little bbq place in rural Alabama on the way home.

Florida Winter Wedding

It's winter outdoor wedding season! Sound like an oxymoron? Well, not in South Florida. Our friend Omair was getting married in Ft. Lauderdale, so we booked an AirBnB with our friends Alexis, Thomas, and Petros, packed our bags, and flew to southern Florida.

We arrived on a Thursday night and picked up some groceries before retiring to our AirBnB. It was a nice house on a lake/canal, with great outdoor spaces and a pool. The canal view was of a Rooms to Go, which was quite hilarious.

Our AirBnB pool at night.

On Friday we visited downtown Ft. Lauderdale. It has a small but nice touristy center, and we walked along the riverside path and through "Old Fort Lauderdale" before having lunch at The Downtowner.

Next we went to a wedding social event for people who had arrived early. It was on the rooftop deck of an Irish pub overlooking the beach. We enjoyed some drinks and snacks and enjoyed hanging out with the grooms. From there we wandered down the beach to get cocktails at the bar in the Four Seasons before heading back to the AirBnB where we ordered some delicious empanadas from Amado Market for pick-up. 

What a view of Rooms to Go from the backyard!

Some iguanas in downtown Ft. Lauderdale. These are an invasive species that are now everywhere in South Florida.

There were a lot of draw bridges around Fort Lauderdale.

We're the beating heart of this city!

Brightline train heading to Miami. New American high speed rail future?

Small historic site along the river in Fort Lauderdale.

Downtown Fort Lauderdale is super bougie.

View out towards the ocean from the Friday welcome venue.

Los of fancy hotels along the beach in Fort Lauderdale.

Hi!

Petros and Alexis say hi too!

Late dinner empanadas.

Saturday was the wedding day. Thomas, as best man, went to rehearsal events, and the rest of us took the rental car down to Miami, about 40 minutes to the south. We, unfortunately, weren't feeling the best today. We both picked up a cold somewhere on the way to Florida. Luckily, it never got too bad and we were able to soldier through with some cold medicine... but it put a slight damper on the weekend.

We started our half day in Miami at Wynwood Walls, an outdoor mural exhibit. From there we drove down to Miami Beach, and spent a few hours walking on Ocean Drive, checking out the beach, and having lunch. While at Miami Beach, we also visited the Art Deco museum to learn a bit more about the history of South Beach's unique architecture.

Oh, did Miami not tell the rest of us enough times that Messi plays on their (very bad) MLS team?

Wynwood Walls statute. Man-child hulk?

We really love the colors in this one!

This mural is from Atlanta native Greg Mike.

Miami has a really pretty setting.

South Beach is an art deco paradise. This few block stretch was closed to traffic.

The Leslie.

We briefly went down to the beach to put our feet in the water.

Very Miami.

Random Polish car club. Everyone was speaking in Polish.

The Art Deco Museum is very small, but tells the history of the architecture's presence and preservation in Miami.

Paul's an art deco flapper!

Leaving Miami Beach we drove back to the AirBnB to get ready for the wedding. The wedding was at the historic Bonnet House Museum & Gardens. This venue was a very beautiful, densely vegetated oasis among the strip malls and hotels that lined Fort Lauderdale's beachfront. The service and reception were both lovely. 

Our AirBnB had a great back patio! Unfortunately, we didn't have too much time to lounge around this trip.

Outdoor wedding in February? Why not! The weather was beautiful.

David, Alexis, and Petros posing by the lake.

Great venue!

 

David and Alexis all dolled up.

Cocktails after the wedding but before the reception.

After the ceremony and reception, we called it a somewhat early night and headed back to the AirBnB with Alexis. Thomas and Petros kept the party rolling with the grooms well into the early hours.

On Sunday morning we grabbed some coffee and pastries for takeaway from the Alchemist Cafe, which was a super cute restaurant/coffee shop with a large patio and a homey vibe. After showering and chatting for a bit, we headed to Bo's Beach for the post-wedding brunch. Shortly after we arrived the sky opened up in a torrential/very Florida storm that lasted 15 minutes before clearing out.

From Bo's the five of us went to a nearby coffee shop to hang out for 30 minutes before parting ways and heading to the airport. All in all a great 3-day weekend and happy event to celebrate with friends in south Florida.