Six weeks sounds like forever. It is a long time. But, when you are on vacation, it goes fast.
Really fast.
We spent the last of our vacation in Fort Myers Beach. We did not see a single tourist attraction. Burnt out on restaurants, we only went out to eat once. But, when the beach is outside your back door and you have sunshine and flocks of friends, wellllll…life is good.
DH is Mr. Popularity. The doughnuts might have added to his appeal.
Time for a nap.
These Seagulls are still on doughnut alert.
We saw coconut husks on the ground and coconuts on trees. DH was hoping to find a ripe one. But, it didn’t happen.
Palm trees and pink clouds..
A canvas of color…a sunset artist could paint here forever.
They trimmed the trees every day it didn’t rain while we were in Fort Lauderdale. The hood of the poor little silver car under the tree took a battering.
We are staying in a five-star resort.
That is a good thing, right?
Well…
Our room is gorgeous. It’s beautifully decorated. The layout is cute and trendy. There is a whirlpool bathtub I love. However, the widescreen television has a grainy picture. And worse yet…
We don’t have internet in our rooms.
Everyone has internet! Everyone! The resort management assured us we WILL be able to go online. They tell us how to get to the internet room for guests which is conveniently located blocks away in the resort office.
DH and I check it out.
The room is not large. Jam-packed, with 6 computers on desks pushed end-to-end and people waiting, it is a little crowded. We are told to be considerate of other guests and not to take up more than 15 minutes of time. YIKES!
The resort does offer classes. I can learn to make a vacation scrapbook. I can do morning stretches in the pool at 6 a.m. I can play bingo or take the shuttle bus to tourist attractions.
But, I want to read books outside…preferably on a beach with warm breezes. Unfortunately, the company that booked our vacation didn’t book a resort on the beach for our time in Fort Lauderdale. We are in a building six stories high that is one of over a hundred. People are everywhere. There is a pool. But you have to get up early to snag a lounge chair. You also have to be able to ignore the tree trimming going on by the pool. (See the youtube video at the top of this post.)
It didn’t help that we had days of rain in Fort Lauderdale accompanied by tornado watches and warnings.
We also had some excitement when an ambulance was called to our building in the early hours of the morning. Just like with Britney Spears there were cops and a young woman that was eventually strapped down to a stretcher and taken away.
An ambulance was called to the room below ours.
But, the worst trouble in our Fort Lauderdale paradise happened at a convenience store/gas station.
My husband got gas, ordered a “drive-through” carwash and paid for both at the gas pump.
Only there was no carwash code on his receipt. My husband tried to go in the store to get either a code or refund. The door was locked.
It was noon.
My husband and another customer (who’d also ordered a carwash) could see a cashier at the register inside the store. They knocked on the window. The cashier ignored them.
My husband called the cashier on his cell phone.
”We’re closed.” said the cashier.
“We need either a carwash code or our money back,” said my husband.
The door stayed shut.
I know a good story for my blog when I see one. I started taking pictures of the gas station. And…the cashier opened the door and gave my husband and the other customer carwash codes.
We’d won.
Sort of…
The other customer who’d ordered a carwash was a lady. So my husband let her go first.
Which was lucky for us.
Halfway through washing the lady’s SUV, the ”drive-through” carwash broke down. The lady’s SUV was covered with soap and green chemicals. And, while the clerk had left the door to the store unlocked, she refused to do more. She didn’t offer the lady with the SUV a hose or bucket of water to rinse her vehicle. I didn’t see her give the lady a refund.
This poor SUV is covered with soap and green chemicals.
We left. We didn’t get our Jeep washed that day. I don’t know what happened to the lady with soap all over her SUV.
This is “the” gas station.
But, in my opinion, this gas station earned its place on my blog.
Fortunately, rainbows often follow rain. After Fort Lauderdale we headed for Ft. Myers Beach
DH took the best pictures of Ospreys! It is one of my favorite pictures ever.
Marco Island is beautiful.
It is pristeen. Every yard is manicured, lush and tastefully landscaped. There are flowers everywhere. Palm trees rise as high in the sky as can been seen. The traffic is minimal. Learn the 4 main roads and you can get around as well as a native.
Perfect weather on a perfect day.
After weeks of snow and rain and flooding, we are appreciative.
What we left behind.
Buster and Abby enthusiastically wade in the flooded woods despite ice on the trees.
We take pictures of houses. We take pictures of flowers. We even take pictures of mailboxes.
A house for sale.
A Marco island mailbox.
But most of all we take pictures of birds.
A beautiful begger waits for fishermen to return…hopefully after a successful day and with some extra fish.
.
This pelican was by our pier every morning.
The white and yellow head identifies this pelican as a three year-old. Younger brown pelicans (like the one pictured swimming) have dark heads.
When the fishermen come back from a day of fishing pelicans and egrets eagerly crowd in and fight over the spoils.
I love winters in Florida! This picture is from last year. The Sandhill Crane pecked on our sliding glass door every morning to get his breakfast.
2-year old Trenton Duckett was reported missing from his home on August 27, 2006 at approximately 9:00 PM. His whereabouts are still unknown. Please, if you have ANYTHING that you think might be even slightly important or if you THINK you saw Trenton, call 1-877-TRENT65 and report it.
