On October 26, 2002, Jonathan and I went to Cedar Key to watch the sunset and have dinner at the Island Hotel and Restaurant. Before getting ready to head back to Gainesville after our meal, we went up on the veranda and Jonathan proposed. Ever since that night we talked about how sometime we would have to go back and actually stay at the hotel. Well, we finally did that to celebrate the 10th anniversary of our engagement.
Jonathan’s parents came up for the weekend so that we could sneak away for the night. We had lunch all together before Jonathan and I loaded up our bags (packing just my stuff and not the kids’ made things go so much faster!) and our bikes and set off for the west coast.
Our first stop was Shell Mound, a prehistoric Indian mound. We walked a bit on the trail then went out by the water. It was insanely windy that day, the result of Hurricane Sandy that was barreling through the Atlantic at the time.
The mound is 28 feet tall and compromised primarily of shell and bones. It’s hard to fathom that amount of time that it took to reach that height.
From Shell Mound, we headed into town to check in at the hotel (it’s really more like a B&B).
The hotel was built in 1859 and originally was a general store that was later converted to a hotel.
We stayed in room 34. The large windows opened right onto the veranda. The painted pine wood floors were wonderfully creaky and dangerously sloped. The place was certainly chock-full of character.
The walls had no insulation, so in the guest book they asked that guests keep that in mind while “enjoying the privacy of their rooms.” We could hear the conversations of the people on the veranda quite easily.
We had a private bathroom connected to the room. This is worth noting because some other rooms had private bathrooms, they were just across the hall. We had a claw foot tub, which made for a somewhat interesting shower experience. But the place was just so cool.
After checking in, we walked through the town then came back to change for a run. (We just started the C25K program). From the run we headed down to the water to watch the sunset.
Looking down Dock Street
We headed back to our room to get ready for dinner. It was a beautiful night so we ate out on the porch of the restaurant.
I left our camera in the room so we didn’t take pics of the food, but it was so good. Our meal consisted of:
Appetizer: Hearts of Palm Salad (a twist on a fruit salad with lettuce, strawberries, grapes, star fruit, peaches, and other fruit, topped with hearts of palm and a strangely amazing dressing of crunchy peanut butter, pineapple juice, mayonnaise, and vanilla ice cream, sprinkled with sugared dates)
Salad
Entrée: Jonathan – Herb and Butter Grouper; Julie – Grouper Piccata
Dessert: Pecan Pie with macadamia nuts and chocolate
It was delicious.
After dinner, we got a quick photo in the lobby. We had one taken when we got engaged, although the furniture is different now, we were in about the same spot. :-)
We headed up to the veranda after that. It was pretty full of people that night. The night we got engaged, we were the only ones up there.
The common area on the second floor. None of the rooms have televisions, so this room had lots of books, games, and magazines to grab.
In the morning, we got up and got ready then headed down to breakfast.
We ate in the dining room this time and enjoyed the perfectly crispy French toast.
We decided to go ahead and check out since we didn’t know if we’d be back by later in the day.
We walked down to the museum, but were early, so we walked back to the car then headed over to the Cedar Key Museum State Park.
Happy 10 Year Engagement Anniversary!
Interestingly, Cedar Key was the end of the line for the Florida Railroad which connected the east coast to the west. For our anniversary this year, we stayed at the other end of the line in Fernandina. At the Cedar Key Museum State Park, we learned a little bit about that as well as about the various people and industries that used to call Cedar Key home.
A huge salt kettle used to extract the salt from sea water to be used by the confederates to preserve meat.
Across the way from the museum building was the St. Clair Whitman house.
We were never far from the water while on the island.
From the museum, we headed back to the main part of town then rode our bikes pretty much over the entire island. It didn’t take too long.
For lunch, we stopped in at the Seabreeze Restaurant. I love their clams. We always eat here when we go to Cedar Key.
A bit of a gray day, but a very good day. I am thankful that we were able to finally stay at the hotel and enjoy the time away together.
