Island Escape

This past weekend, my husband and I did something we’ve never done:  after two and a half years of marriage, we took a vacation without the child.  Really, he even went on our honeymoon with us, so this was all new territory.

So I did what any woman who has never gone away alone with her husband would do, I Googled “best romantic getaways” and, alas, one of the things I ran across was a bed and breakfast within driving distance, on Amelia Island in Florida.  It was a historic mansion built in the 1800’s, grew their own organic herbs and veggies on property that they used in their food, in the historic district of the island, near the beach, offered a romance package, and, well, they had a wine social every evening at 5:00.  In other words, my idea of heaven.  It was perfect.  For me.  Downside, it was a complete non-smoking property and my husband enjoys his cigars in the evening.  I did my duty and found some other places….the beach, Savannah, St. Augustine, and gave my husband all the details, including the non-smoking bit of info, though I knew that could be a deal breaker on my choice.

And so we decided on Lido Key, on the beach, in a large chain hotel.  Luckily that only lasted about 5 minutes, because I have an amazing husband who knew what my heart was set on.  I made the reservations at the Fairbanks House before I even took a shower the following morning, romance package included of course!

Friday, we headed out on our journey, arriving about 4 hours later at our destination.  It was a beautiful day, sunny but not too humid, a perfect beginning to our weekend.  We entered the wonderfully restored home, cheery and clean but with all those Victorian era touches and décor that transport you to a different time.  Teresa came out and greeted us, and went and got the key for our room, which was actually the attic of one of the three cottages adjacent to the main house.  Our cottage was previously the home of the caretaker of the estate.  As she was ready to walk us out, Bill, her husband, reminded her it was 4:00, time to get ready for the 5:00 hors d’oeuvre and cocktails, and so he walked us to our room.  The cottage had a private porch for our use, with a cat sleeping next to one of the chairs.  I felt right at home.

We entered to a beautiful room, with chocolate covered strawberries and a bottle of wine waiting on the counter, a large king bed, and a two-room bathroom which was half the size of our entire suite, containing a huge Jacuzzi tub and Victorian sofa in the first room, and the regular bathroom with shower in the second.

We decided to just hang out in the room for a while, after the long drive, and then attend the 5:00 social hour.  In the meantime, we read the guide to the property, which was written very humorously and was quite entertaining in itself.  I did inform my husband he could smoke his cigar, he would just need to stand on the public sidewalk, and we found that we did have wi-fi, the network was named after the Beatles, and the password was one of their songs….you could guess it or if you gave up you could ask.  My husband insisted on guessing, and, well, we still don’t know the password.  There are a LOT of Beatles songs.

The social hour was well worth our time.  That night only two other couples attended (there are 12 rooms at the B&B), but we had a great conversation.  You had your choice of beers, wines, and  soft drinks, and Teresa had made Florentine toast points, Italian sausage in puff pastry, and cheese and crackers with raspberry chipotle sauce.  I believe I gained 5 pounds in that hour alone.

After dinner, we walked the two blocks to the historic downtown area.  We walked around the shops, one of which I now have memorized after my husband looked at a pair of shoes at least 4 times in our weekend there.  He did not buy them, but upon coming home he immediately looked them up on the internet.  Yeah, I’m not the show person in this house!  We looked for somewhere to eat and found a restaurant a block or so off the beaten path, Cafe Karibo, with an outdoor patio and musicians.  They were busy, full, and had a wait, but for the table directly in front of the band.  We took it, and enjoyed some great food and entertainment.  After dinner, my husband bought me a unique necklace I liked in one of the shops, I believe in his campaign to prove he is the most romantic of the two of us.  (Actually, he is, I’m Miss Practicality, but it’s fun to compete, so don’t tell him I said so.)

Both of us are not anything close to morning people, but we decided to turn in early so we could enjoy breakfast at the house the next morning, served only from 8-9:30.  Coffee, juice, fruit, quiche, scones, sausage were on the menu for the day. We didn’t need lunch later.

After breakfast we walked to the marina downtown, and watched two pods of dolphins swimming very near shore, went in some more shops, including the aforementioned shoe store, ate ice cream and chocolate covered pretzels, and of course in one store I had to buy a book on the hauntings and ghost stories of the area.  I read the entire book while we sat in a cigar lounge (I did my research ahead of time, I take care of my husband!) that afternoon and wrote down all places in walking distance from our accommodations, which was most of them.  It was probably at this point that my husband proved he is the most romantic of the two of us (but, shhh, that is still a secret) because he did not visibly let on that it was a little annoying that the ghost hunting became my obsession for the rest of the day.  Upon returning from the cigar lounge, we did hang out in the room a bit, but then the tour was on and I made him walk with me to all the haunted spots within a few blocks, with plans to visit a few more after dinner as they were near the restaurant we would be eating at that evening. (For my dear friend Rita, that blog is coming next!)

We returned in time for the social hour, um, of course as there was wine, and met some more couples.  In our conversations, we found that two of the women, who had never met, were from the same tiny town in New York and that one of the men was at the Baseball Hall of Fame the same day we were this past summer.  And, believe it or not, that I’m not the only one who found the place by Googling “best romantic getaways!” Such a small world!  I really am not actually usually a small-talk, social type of person, but I really enjoyed the social hours.  It didn’t hurt that we had some wonderful homemade corn and black bean salsa with chips and baked brie with raspberry chipotle sauce to go along with it.

Part of our romance package was a voucher to use for dinner at a one of the local restaurants, and we ate at David’s, a steak house, for which our hosts had made reservations for us and even informed them of my food allergies.  It was a nice atmosphere, great steak, and they finished off by giving us chocolate covered strawberries.  After dinner we looked at the remaining haunted locations on my list, and returned to the room, where there were homemade cookies waiting for us.  Yep, I think I gained another 8-9 pounds that day!

We went out and sat on our porch, and when I posted a few haunted pictures on Facebook, a friend reminded me of my Ghost Radar App.  Yep, I had gone all these places and forgotten to use it, so my poor husband had to watch me play with that for the next few hours!

We slept in the next morning and missed breakfast, though we both wondered what we may have missed out on.  And we both had a wonderful time, and are already thinking about our next adult-only getaway.  Maybe even to the same place, but this time in the main house.

It’s not only a wonderful thing to spend time alone with your spouse, it is necessary.  That’s why they have wine.  And it’s even better served with great food at a great place.