Our family had the opportunity to take some time off from our daily responsibilities here on the farm and soak up some Florida sunshine! It was the perfect combination of sun, sand and surprises. (Don’t worry though, our Maine Coons and our other farm animals received the best care while we were gone, thanks Mom and Dad!)
As you can imagine, traveling for us is… shall we say, a little difficult. We love our farm and our Maine Coons but choosing this lifestyle of ours doesn’t really afford for much time to get away. Short of some weekend trips here and there, this was our families first REAL vacation, and we made the most of it!
Did you know that Disney is celebrating their 5oth anniversary? We had no idea when we booked everything back in the Spring. We were a little nervous about how the crowds might be but on average we were pleasantly surprised and didn’t have to wait longer than 30 minutes for most of the attractions, which was awesome! The magic of Disney did not disappoint either. My personal favorite was a Broadway-esc musical rendition of Beauty and the Beast. Matthew’s was the Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance and the kids will forever be talking about the Slinky Dog Dash.
We also had perfect weather while we were in Florida. Sun, sun and more sun! It didn’t feel too different from what we left back home in Missouri, but we soaked it all up nonetheless. After a day full of sun, miles of walking and exciting adventures, it was so nice to come back to our hotel in the evenings and cool off in the pool!
After Disney, we tackled the almost 7-hour drive AND the 7 MILE BRIDGE (what!?!) and found ourselves at the southernmost point in Key West, Florida. Matthew and I still can’t believe how many miles from the mainland it really is. Reading up on the history of Key West and the overseas highway is very fascinating. Did you know that in 1912, Henry Flagler connected Key West to the Florida mainland via the Overseas Railway? Mind. Blown.
The Keys certainly have a magical atmosphere all their own. Endless stretches of beautiful blue ocean, palm trees, coconuts, wild chickens and cockroaches the size of a small child. We were definitely caught off guard when we returned back to our townhome one night, flicked on the light switch and watched very large insects quickly scurry away. Or when in the wee hours of the morning, while sipping on a cup of coffee one appears out of nowhere and you swear it is going to eat YOU for breakfast! Yeah, the roaches weren’t a favorite, but the beaches, coconuts and chickens certainly were!
On our first night out, we ate dinner at the Moondog Café and Bakery. Its location is in the Old Town District which made parking a little bit of a struggle, so we had to walk some before reaching our culinary destination. As we were approaching the final corner before the café, we noticed a crowd of people, stopped at a fenced house, taking pictures. To our surprise it was the home of Ernest Hemingway and his polydactyl cats!! I may have been freaking out on the inside just a little but tried to keep my cool. We love our MITTEN KITTENS!!!
After a quick refresher, I recalled reading about the Hemingway house but for some reason it had never clicked when we were planning our vacation. Unfortunately, our schedule did not allow us to tour his home, but I was able to take a few pictures from the outside. Can anyone spot the Hemingway cat?
Speaking of polydactyl cats, did you know that some Maine Coons have inherited this genetic anomaly? The word polydactyl means having more than the normal number of toes. For the feline species that number is normally 18 toes, however the world record holder has 28 TOES!!
It is commonly believed that Hemingway’s polydactyl cat Snowball, may have been a Maine Coon. It is said that one of his friends, a ship captain, brought him a cat with six toes on its paw. Because cats were not altered during this time, more and more Hemingway cats began to appear. On average, if one parent carries the polydactyl gene, 50% of the kittens will too! And as he put it so correctly: “One cat leads to another” in more ways than one. If you add a Maine Coon kitten to your family, chances are you’ll want another one to go with it! As if the Maine Coons could get any more exceptional, we think ones with extra toes are extra special, especially when they give mitten hugs!
Our final days were spent on the beach, playing in the sand, hunting for shells and sea glass and splashing in the warm ocean waves. If you get the chance to, we highly recommend visiting the Florida Keys!
While we enjoyed our time away and there is something wonderful about stepping out of the ordinary and seeing and experiencing new things, at the end of the day, there still is no place like home.