The Texas Adams fun visit

 The time is growing shorter before we head back to Star Mt. We've enjoyed these months and all the fun that is to be had in Florida. As always happens an enormous amount gets squished into the last weeks. We had lovely company last week (Paul, Sherry, and Katie) and we all made the most of their short trip with golf, fishing, beach, swamp tour.

Beach action. We drove up to Captiva Island north of us to see the sights. Perfect weather, good shelling, and of course lots of people out enjoying too. It's end of season here so crowds were not too bad.

While in Captiva we stopped at a restaurant I had been at 2 years before. The Bubble room - yup, it's still the same. 40 years running, a place hard to describe with every spare inch covered in memorabilia and antique/junk things, waiters dressed in boy scout uniforms, model trains zooming around ceiling trim, Xmas bubble lights on everywhere, and crazy assortment of food. My shrimp and mango salad in a pineapple named Carmen Miranda for example. 

The day before we had headed out to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary deep inland east of us. It's a protected wetlands area that is part of the everglades ecosystem with the largest Bald Cypress forest in North America. It's home to some rare ghost orchids as well, but they were not in bloom yet (June -Sept). Did see more than one alligator, obligingly close to the boardwalk walking trail.

In the meantime, the boys were out fishing with a guide deep in the mangroves. Definitely a different kind of fishing than mountain streams...

We ended with a lovely brunch at Bay House. A special place on the river with great food (loved the beignets) Great visit come anytime....

Charleston family visit

 

Fabulous visit with Tiffany, Chris, and the girls. So much was crammed in a week and it went way too fast. Gorgeous weather, pool time, beach, kayaking, and a birthday celebration for Juliet. She's now a big whopping 7.

Lots of pool time, and I mean lots!

 

xoxo

Beach was spectacular. Clear beautiful water and white sand. Lots of people joined us all carefully distanced. This is Florida at it's best.

Tried a new activity - kayaking. Down a pretty river with three doubles. I would definitely do it again.

Jules birthday was a success and really it's because it was done just the way she wanted. She wanted to bake the cake, wanted pooltime, remote control car, barbie from her sister and spaghetti with meatballs for dinner. Hey, what else could you possibly need?

Greetings from the land of sun, sand, and swaying palm trees

Checking in and how nice it's March. There have been a bit of technical difficulties with the blog - I think all is ok now. Things are definitely feeling a bit more optimistic around here. Maybe because so many people we know have gotten vaccine shots, us included (shot number 2 happening in 10 days). There are an awful lot of people 65 and older in Naples, Florida in general, and most of us have been very anxious to get the shots. It feels like there is a light at the end of this COVID tunnel.

We went to Hilton Head as part of a golfing group from our old club in Maryland. Nice to see old neighbors and friends. Beautiful resort area with lots of wildlife, as in alligators galore. This large boy was right by my golf ball. I did not go hit that one....

 
Having driven to Hilton Head we chose to break up the drive on the way back by stopping in St. Augustine. Such a picturesque old city and we stayed in the same hotel as last year and added a dinner at the darling B&B next door. Marvelous food.

Season is marching along and as it is everywhere, things are not quite what they were pre-covid.. The town is busy but not nearly what is normal as we're missing our international visitors (UK, Canada, Germany). We are enjoying the great weather and feel blessed to be here. Tiffany, Chris, and the girls are coming to visit soon which we look forward to in a big way. Feel so lucky we can see them.

The joys of Florida winter

 And this post finds us marching to the end of January. Momentous things have gone on since I last posted. I am very much hoping 2021 is a year of peaceful solutions. We can all use a break... Our biggest challenge at the moment is getting a COVID vaccine. 8 tries online so far. The appts fill up in just minutes and we've been stuck endlessly in the queues even using 6 devices at the same time. We'll keep at it.

The beach is deserted. At least when we went which was a few weeks ago. Sadly we've had a red tide situation which is quite nasty so we won't go back until it's gone away. It's a toxic organism that "blooms" in the Gulf waters that result in mass fish kills which end up on the beach along with a foul smell and irritants in the air. It is a phenomenon that happens sometimes in the summer but releases of highly polluted water from Lake Okeechobee (near the Everglades) have caused red tide to appear far more often and for longer periods of time. The highly polluted water is from sugar factories and fertilizer runoff. It's government run (U.S. Corps of Engineers) - not sure how well that's going...

River otters are out and about and I see them most mornings busy busy hunting fish. They are amazing in their graceful moves and play in the water.

We enjoyed the oysters at Tiffany's house at Christmas so much Mark decided to replicate with east coast oysters this time in Naples. He's getting good at this shucking thing - a newly purchased tool helped. Yummy stuff.

This is the head of a 7 foot long alligator currently living around the 17th island green of our golf course. Yikes. He's been in and out of the water, resting right where the ladies drop area is (or was) they moved it temporarily for safety. There's definitely extra incentive to make sure your drive gets over the water.

We are enjoying the lovely weather that is Florida in the winter. Lots of people have come down to enjoy along with us. Season is alive and well - I don't think the numbers are up to what is normal but it's certainly enough to clog up roads and make reservations for restaurants hard to come by. We are only doing outside seating so there's less to go around. Not complaining I hasten to say, we are so very lucky to be here regardless. First year we will not be going to Star Mt. for any part of winter. Too cold and too many restrictions - next year.