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I tore my achilles tendon about 17 years ago, think I had a cast on for 4-5 weeks and then rehab. You should be alright to hobble around in time for your trip. It took about a year til it really felt back to normal though.

catsway wrote:We have booked a cruise on the Carnival Freedom from Ft. Lauderdale on March 22, 2009. Its a six day cruise that docks in Key West on March 23rd, my birthday! We've been to Key West before and did Sloppy Joe's, Capt. Tony's, Southern Most Point, Duval Street, Mallory Square, The Conch Train, etc.
Since we are there from 8AM-5PM, we were looking to some of our fellow BNer's for some very special things to do. Any suggestions? Thank you!

Sounds like fun!

mrmiata wrote:5 more days!

We like your "Anticipation" link. Enjoy your trip, be safe and have a wonderful birthday!

mrmiata wrote:5 more days!

MrMiata, how was your trip?

We leave a week from tomorrow! We decided to spend two nights at The Hard Rock Hotel in Universal Studios Orlando before we depart on our cruise for my birthday from Fort Lauderdale. The extra nights in Orlando will be spent celebrating our oldest daughters 26th birthday and also meeting our youngest daughter's fiance's family. We are having dinner on the 21st at Pat O'Briens in Universal Orlando. After dinner we are going to watch the Mardi Gras parade, then there is a concert by Collective Soul. It should be a great evening.

My Achilles tendon is healing nicely. I am out of the cast and in a walking boot. I see a physical therapist 3 days a week. I am hoping to be able to put my full weight on my foot by the time we leave, but I am still going to wear the boot and use a cane to stabilize. I certainly don't want to go through this again.

I love Pat O'Briens! And the Hard Rock Hotel is our favorite Orlando hotel.

Our trip was awesome. We spent a lot of time at Schooner Wharf Bar, and I wound up being a part of the Pete and Wayne show on my birthday. The weather was gorgeous and so were the houses we rented. I could have never asked for a better time.

You can see our picture set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/phinz/sets ... 915739302/

Congrats on the healing. Just when you think you're better, take it easy even longer. I've had to learn that as I've started getting back in shape. More Phin Power your way!

mrmiata wrote:I love Pat O'Briens! And the Hard Rock Hotel is our favorite Orlando hotel.

Our trip was awesome. We spent a lot of time at Schooner Wharf Bar, and I wound up being a part of the Pete and Wayne show on my birthday. The weather was gorgeous and so were the houses we rented. I could have never asked for a better time.

You can see our picture set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/phinz/sets ... 915739302/

Congrats on the healing. Just when you think you're better, take it easy even longer. I've had to learn that as I've started getting back in shape. More Phin Power your way!

wow
wow
wow!
GREAT Pics! Thanks for sharing! I'm watching the slideshow, listening to the concert replay on RM
and am counting the hours before I set sail for Key West on Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mrmiata wrote:I love Pat O'Briens! And the Hard Rock Hotel is our favorite Orlando hotel.

Our trip was awesome. We spent a lot of time at Schooner Wharf Bar, and I wound up being a part of the Pete and Wayne show on my birthday. The weather was gorgeous and so were the houses we rented. I could have never asked for a better time.

You can see our picture set here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/phinz/sets ... 915739302/

Congrats on the healing. Just when you think you're better, take it easy even longer. I've had to learn that as I've started getting back in shape. More Phin Power your way!

Thank you for sharing the photos and thank you for the Phin Power. It looks like you guys had a ball! I am a huge conch fritters fan. Did you have some at Alabama Jacks? Making me salivate!
I promise to take it easy on the leg on the trip. Last night I asked my lovely wife if she was up to helping me more than ever while we travel and she said she would wheel me all over KW if needed. Carnival is going to hook us up with a wheelchair accessible cabin if my T/A will get off his butt. Everything is coming together nicely.

Of *course* I had conch fritters at Alabama Jack's. I can never resist their fritters, conch salad or conch chowdah. It was a great beginning to what wound up being a great week.

The Phin Power is working its magic. Today I left physical therapy on a cane and I am ready to toss the crutches. This means I can carry my own plate from the buffet on the ship!
But seriously, I am still taking it easy but I am so happy not to have to use the crutches full time.

We are out of here Friday AM. Thanks to all for the advice and good wishes.

We have always had a tradition of making a sign for our stateroom door with a name for our cruises. This one will be named "2009 Carnival Freedom A Lot to Drink About Cruise". We printed up the sign this morning and it will be on our cabin door for the duration.

We hope Sunlover will be able to post the Honolulu replay before we leave our daughter's house in Orlando Saturday morning. We sure would like to get a live copy of "Surfing in a Hurricane" on the IPod before we sail. That would be the second best birthday present. Good health, love and laughter would be the first choice.

See yall when we get back!

catsway wrote:We are out of here Friday AM. Thanks to all for the advice and good wishes.

We have always had a tradition of making a sign for our stateroom door with a name for our cruises. This one will be named "2009 Carnival Freedom A Lot to Drink About Cruise". We printed up the sign this morning and it will be on our cabin door for the duration.

We hope Sunlover will be able to post the Honolulu replay before we leave our daughter's house in Orlando Saturday morning. We sure would like to get a live copy of "Surfing in a Hurricane" on the IPod before we sail. That would be the second best birthday present. Good health, love and laughter would be the first choice.

See yall when we get back!

Walk carefully, drink sorta responsibly and enjoy!!! Let us know how it all turns out.

I spent my 4? birthday with my wife last month in KW. We had breakfast on the beach at the Duval Beach club, lunch at El Sibony cuban restaurant, drinks by the pool at the Southernmost Hotel, saw a great sunset and dinner outdoors at Kelly's Carribean Grill. After that it was off to the Hogs Breath for an evening with Scott Kirby and a good cigar.

It doesn't get any better than that!!!

I hope you bday in KW is as good as mine was. Can't wait to get back next year. (Or for MOTM in Nov. )

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Wayne and Cathi,

HAVE A WONDERFUL AND SAFE TRIP!

Say Hello to Key West, Margaritaville, etc. for us and raise a drink for us and more for you!

Hope you are strong and healthy for your trip!

We look forward to pics and a story (a novel is fine with us! HA!) when you return. You've got my email address.

Your adventure awaits! HAVE FUN!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY WAYNE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wherever you are today, I hope you and Cathi are HAPPY and Full of Boat Drinks!

For all of you wondering... Wanye and Cathi had a wonderful time in Key West. A great story is to follow. Along with some pics I am sure. --- Wayne, remember, your promise to keep our pics from the Garden of Eden off of here My day with them started with my 10AM wake up call Then met up at Margaritaville... to Capt Tonys.. to Hogs Breath to me getting them back to the ship on time since I am not looking for roomies.

But I am sure Wayne will recount a wonderful tale for you upon his return. I just wanted to let you all know they had a great time and it was a very successful Bday.

Take care~
Ted

Glad that they had a great time. One week from tonight hubby and I will be drinking rum on Ft. Myers Beach, staying just sober enough to catch the boat to Key West at 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning. THEN 8 DAYS IN KEY WEST!!! AND NOT A MOMENT TOO SOON!!!! It's been a tough few months. Rum, friends, Schooner Wharf and Pepe's may just help soothe the savage beast.

Quint wrote:For all of you wondering... Wanye and Cathi had a wonderful time in Key West. A great story is to follow. Along with some pics I am sure. --- Wayne, remember, your promise to keep our pics from the Garden of Eden off of here My day with them started with my 10AM wake up call Then met up at Margaritaville... to Capt Tonys.. to Hogs Breath to me getting them back to the ship on time since I am not looking for roomies.

But I am sure Wayne will recount a wonderful tale for you upon his return. I just wanted to let you all know they had a great time and it was a very successful Bday.

Take care~
Ted

Thanks for the update!

Looking forward to hearing the whole story and then some from Wayne upon their return!

We made it home!
Wow, what a great time we had on this trip. There are so many stories to tell from the Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando, the dinner we had with the future in-laws at Pat O'Brien's, the day we spent with the 'keets at Universal Studios, the fantastic service we received on the Carnival Freedom and our days in Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios, but we are going to stick to the Key West portion of the trip.

First we have to say that people everywhere are wonderful. We started my birthday in Key West by leaving the Carnival Freedom in my wheelchair in a light drizzle. We had an outline of how we wanted to spend our day from a fellow BN'er, Quint. He suggested we start at Damn Good Food to Go. We followed his directions down Front Street to the Wharf where we found DGFtG and it was as the name says! We decided to park the wheelchair just outside DGFtG and walk the rest of the way down the Wharf to Shrimp Boat Sound. All was quiet there, but we were on a mission to leave our "calling card" next to the side door. We met three ladies and their pup from the Seabago Catamaran docked just outside the studio. They took several wonderful pics of us posed outside the studio. We never got their names but they we very sweet and we appreciate them taking a few moments out of their day. Then it it was on to The Schooner Wharf Bar. Keep in mind, this is at 8am so we started with Bloody Marys before switching to beer. The atmosphere at this time of the morning was mellow, with mostly locals sharing fun and USA Today's. We waited until 10am to wake up our friend Quint. We told him our plans and invited him to call us when he was out and about so we could meet.

We walked back to DGFtG and to my surprise my wheel chair was gone! A local who was painting a boat nearby, overheard my comment and said that they had moved the chair inside DGFtG to keep it safe. Whew! Thanks to their staff for watching out over us tourists.

We followed Quint's directions back down to Ann Street where we found Jimmy's first home on the Kdubs. A quaint little KW home that is now Captain's Corner Dive Center. We were really enjoying living vicariously through JB's early years.

We headed down to Duval where we popped in Sloppy Joe's. Not much happening there at that hour so we kept moving down Duval. Now this was is where the most endearing moment happened on any trip we have been on. The sidewalks are very rough and the rubber on the front tire of my wheelchair came off the wheel. I tried as hard as I could to put the rubber back on the wheel, but I needed some tools to get the job done. I asked Cat to try to find a shopkeeper with some tools nearby. As Cat headed up the street, a man in a white van saw me distressed there on the corner of Duval with my wheelchair upside down. He pulled over, hopped out and retrieved a screwdriver and a small pry bar from the back of his van. In a flash he had the wheel repaired. Cat and I stood there amazed that this fellow took those few moments to save our day. We thanked him but before we could get his name, he turned to us and said, "My wife's in a wheelchair also". He jumped back into his van and went on his way. Cat and I both burst into tears from his kindness. We hugged and proceeded on our way thinking we must have just met an Angel. BTW, St. Paul's Cathedral was on the next corner.

Our next stop was Margaritaville. We were able to find a couple of seats at the bar. Mike and Lyle were our bartenders. The place was already packed, but the mood was still a bit mellow. We started with a couple of beers. I asked Lyle for a couple of shots for my birthday. That's all it took to kick things up a notch. We met two nice ladies from St. Louis, Teresa and her daughter Rachel who were drinking loaded Landsharks. On our other side, we met Sandy and her two friends from the cruise ship also. Next thing we know, we are partying hard. Quint called about this time, and offered to meet us at M'ville. He showed up a few minutes later and the party went to the next level. Quint became our escort for the rest of the day. We can't thank him enough. Being a local, he knew all the bartenders where ever we went. Teresa and Rachel followed us along in out mini parade around Old Town KW. We stopped at Capt. Tony's for a few and then off to Hog's Breath. Unfortunately, being on a cruise ship requires that you be back on board by 430pm. With much regret that we had so much more we wanted to do, Quint escorted us back to the pier right on time. Quint, Key West won't be the same without you!

The sights and sounds of Old Town are fantastic. We loved the laid back attitudes. But the most impressive thing was the friendliness of the people we met along the way. We thank everyone we met for making my birthday so memorable.

YEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So happy you made it on your trip injury and all!!! Glad you had a great time and thanks for sharing your pictures!!!