Schmidt Adventures

On a rooftop in Miami drinking leftover alcohol from Chloe and Ryan’s wedding.  Not too shabby.  Thanks for the parting gifts, guys!

Inserted 01/23/18:

After Boston, it was time to head down to Key Largo for Chloe and Ryan’s wedding weekend!  We flew into Fort Lauderdale on Friday, 10/06/17, where we met up with Rachael and drove the couple hours down to Key Largo for the first night of wedding festivities.  Once dressed for the welcome cocktail party, we proceeded to walk the mile from our airbnb to the party venue and all wondered why we’d even attempted to look presentable.  Oh humidity, how you are not my friend.  Regardless, we had a great time drinking beer and margaritas and catching up with old high school friends.

Saturday, 10/07/17, was the day of the wedding, but since it wasn’t until the evening we had some time to explore.  Our initial goal was to find a beach, but due to Hurricane Irma striking about a month prior, all the nearby beaches were closed.  The secondary plan was to stop somewhere for a cocktail and the place we turned into is now my favorite place ever.  At Marker 88, you could sit outside in a booth on a rocking platform right next to the water on a little private beach.  Not only could I get a super delicious frozen cocktail, but I could jump in the water for a swim right next to the table!  Frozen drinks and swimming are two of my favorite things so this place was amazing.  On the drive back towards our airbnb, we stopped at a little bird sanctuary then on to lunch and to visit Chloe, the lovely bride, before heading back to our apartment to get ready for the wedding.

Chloe and Ryan’s wedding was absolutely gorgeous!  Although it felt like it was a million degrees outside, it was outside on a private beach with a tent set up for the reception and a palapa for the bar so you really couldn’t go wrong.

Sunday, 10/08/17, was the third and final day of wedding festivities with a pool party for those guests that were still around.  We had a blast all day drinking beer and margaritas in the pool, going on boat rides, using the stand up paddle boards, and enjoying the company of our wonderful friends and their other wonderful friends.  Honestly, these activities pretty much sum up a perfect day for me so I was loving life.

On Monday, 10/09/17, Rachy had to head back home (apparently because she has a job or something) and it was just Carl and I for the first time this entire trip.  We scheduled a snorkel tour and get tossed around by some waves as the water was a bit choppy.  We learned that Hurricane Irma had brought moon jellies to the Key Largo waters so there were those to dodge which we were able to do successfully.  Snorkeling was followed by drinks at Skipper’s and a low key night.

Tuesday, 10/10/17, was our last day in Key Largo before heading northward to Miami and we enjoyed it by getting lunch at Islamorada Fish Company and enjoying flights of beer at Islamorada Beer Company.

We’re way behind on posting about our adventures because we’ve been having too much fun!  We’re currently in Key Largo, Florida coming off an amazing weekend celebrating our awesome friends Ryan and Chloe!

This is what’s happening right now…

 

Inserted 01/23/18:

After two fun weeks in Europe, it was time to hit some U.S. locations for a little while.  After flying from Iceland to Boston, Dad continued on to Chicago while Carl and I spent a few days in Boston staying with Chris.  We kept our time in Boston low key since we’d been on the go a lot in Europe and were looking forward to some down time.  We flirted with the idea of renting a car and driving to Maine, but reconsidered  once we realized how nice it would be to sit still for a little bit.  Instead we went to the gym, cooked meals, finally drank the Mumm champagne we’d carried with us through several countries, and watched movies at Chris’s house.  We did decide to go whale watching one day for the first time ever and it was awesome!!  We had a beautiful day for a boat ride and saw several minke and humpback whales.  Our guide was very fun and started geeking out because we saw a whale that she had a part in naming and because we saw a whale come to the surface with it’s mouth open which apparently is really rare to see.  Her enthusiasm definitely made for an even better tour.

Inserted 12/08/17: 

Today was a day just to wander around Reykjavik.  We walked to the water and learned about the history of Reykjavik as a port and observed a lot of swans in a lake.

 After days of eating at gas stations and convenience stores, we had lunch at a true Icelandic restaurant called Sæta Svinid Gastropub.  The food here was amazing!!  You could get whale, horse, and puffin (all things people eat in Iceland) and although we like to try foods of different lands, the horse and whale sounded a little scary so we tried some smoked puffin.  Since it was smoked, it just kind of tasted like jerky.  Besides that, Carl had a lamb sandwich (his first real meal in several days!) and I had seafood soup which were both super tasty.

 To cap off the day we walked through an outdoor art gallery (lots of weird sculptures) and checked out the Hallgrimskirkja ( a church).

Our final day in Iceland also marked our final day in Europe so it was time to head to the airport and fly back to Boston.

Inserted 12/08/17:

Touring Iceland typically involves driving everywhere and getting in and out of the car to see cool stuff.  Probably not ideal if you’re nauseous, but Carl was a warrior and agreed to get in the car to attempt our plans for the day.

Full day 1 in Iceland was driving the Golden Circle route with the first stop being Thingvellir National Park to do some hiking/meandering.  (This was just the start of discovering that everywhere you look in Iceland is beautiful!).  Dad and Chris took a path to a waterfall and Carl and I took a path to the Silfra Fissure.  The fissure is the only place you can snorkel or scuba dive between two continental plates which sounds cool, but if you don’t do a dive the fissure looks like nothing from above and isn’t anything special.

Strokkur Geyser was the next stop which was absolutely awesome!!  You get to walk right up to it and it erupts every 8 to 10 minutes.  I find water fascinating so even just watching the pool of water move and change in between eruptions was neat.

The rest of the day included Gullfoss Waterfall and Kerid Crater Lake.  We hoped to see Northern Lights on our way back to Reykjavik, but no luck.

Inserted 12/03/17:

Since the food wasn’t great and we couldn’t go to the tents one more day, it was time to fly to Iceland.  Once we finally got a taxi (the first Uber that showed up to was the smallest 4 door car I’ve ever seen which wasn’t going to work for the 4 of us and our luggage), we were off to the airport.  Watching the meter tick away, we had a few moments of panic about not having enough Euros on hand to pay our driver (especially since he didn’t ask which airline we were using until after he took us to the wrong terminal), but Dad found an extra bill in his pocket and we had just enough.

Once we located our airline (finally) and went through security, we realized we were hungry there was only one place to get something to eat.  Dad and I got in line at the deli counter while Chris and Carl watched our bags and we got food over 30 minutes later (this is where I learned that my need to not be hungry trumps my lack of patience).  Although the man working the counter was very helpful and friendly, he would chat with every person who ordered not to mention that two people in front of us ordered enough food to feed 10 people and would order each item one at a time.  By the time we were handed our food, it was time to board the plane.

Once on board, we each had a few bites of sandwich and soft pretzel.  By the time we landed in Iceland several hours later, Carl was curled up in his seat saying he didn’t feel well and the food poisoning episode began.  Although Carl was the only one who got sick, it took him down pretty hard and, as a result, if you ask him about Iceland, he’s not a fan (even though the food came from Germany, it wiped out his entire Iceland experience).

We had already purchased tickets for the Blue Lagoon (natural hot springs) that night which were non-refundable so Carl insisted that we go even though he wasn’t going to make it.  I was really torn because I wanted to help him, but he insisted so we took him to the airbnb and I got him settled on the couch with water, blankets, and a garbage can before we headed out.

With Carl all settled in, Dad, Chris, and I headed to the Blue Lagoon.  It is super commercialized now so when you’re standing in line with a thousand other people even though you bought a ticket to be let in at a specific time, it doesn’t seem as exciting, but once you’re in it’s pretty cool.  The spring is big so you don’t feel like there’s people everywhere.  Once in the water, we got a drink and headed for the silica mud mask area where you have free access to put mud all over your face that’s supposed to be good for your skin.  Regardless of the health benefits, it’s worth it for the laughs.

As our time at the lagoon wrapped up, we headed back to Carl who was luckily still alive and were in for the night.

Inserted 11/14/17:

We had one more full day in Munich and decided not to go to the Oktoberfest tents right away so we headed for the Marienplatz (square) downtown.  We meandered slowly and visited the actual Hofbrauhaus and saw the glockenspiel (a big clock tower that has dancing figurines).

To complete our night we decided to go the festival grounds one more time to actually walk around since there is so much going on besides the beer tents.  (Germany clearly doesn’t have as many safety regulations as the U.S. based on the insane rides you can go on there.  I’ve never seen so much spinning and that is exactly why we did not go on any rides.)

Inserted 11/12/17:

Today was originally supposed to be our first true Oktoberfest tent experience, but last night surprised us all, haha.  No worries, we were going to do it again anyway.

First item on the docket: dirndl and lederhosen purchasing.  The employees in the shop we went to were very helpful and Chris was able to find an outfit that looked awesome pretty quickly.  I had been looking forward to getting a dirndl for a while leading up to this trip and was overwhelmed at the options.  The frustration built as I tried on several different sizes of shirts and dresses and found the options this store had did not fit me well.  I didn’t want to buy something that wasn’t right since they weren’t cheap so I had to pass.  I didn’t feel like trying to find another store so I didn’t end up with a dirndl (sad).  Carl decided not to get anything before he even tried one on and we couldn’t sell Dad on the idea so Chris was the lone member of the group to look like a native.  (I can’t find a picture of him in them right now, unfortunately.)

Regardless of our lack of special attire, it was on to the tents!  Carl and I weren’t feeling as jolly and social as the night before, but it was still quite the experience.

Inserted 11/12/17:

“We’ll just check out the tents” they said…

We took a train from Mainz to Munich and after drinking some wine on the balcony of our Airbnb,

we thought we might as well scope out the Oktoberfest tent situation so we knew what to expect the next couple of days.  Pretty much immediately upon entering the Hofbrauhaus tent a waitress asked if we wanted beer and the obvious answer was yes!  Four steins appeared quickly and we were immediately wrapped up in the excitement.

Singing was done, temporary friends were made, and benches were tipped over (not by us) and before we knew it we’d been in four tents and it was time to call it a night.  Prost!