almost 6 miles high

I am sitting in 21D en route from Orlando to Seattle approximately 30,000 feet up in the air.   They are offering free wifi through July so I decided to test it out.  Hopefully my aging laptop battery will make it through a few posts before dying.  I am really curious as to how we are connecting the internet so high in the sky.  I understand how it works on land but in the air?  We must be going through a satellite or something.  Oh well, I figure it's like TV, just accept that it works.  Reminds me of when I was a kid, I used to think little people were inside my clock radio singing.  The science behind how things works is really cool and often unimaginable.

I am on the aisle (because I get up to pee frequently) Sarah is in the middle and Jim by the window.  I love that the airplane seats now have adjustable headrests in coach.  First class has had them for years, it's about time us peons in the back get a quality seat!  Nice to be able to sleep without getting a major crick in my neck.  Though with free wi-fi I might be dinking on the internet and not sleeping.  Sarah is engrossed in a book, but I give her 30 minutes and she'll be asleep - she is like a cat, sleeping whenever she has the chance.  We've been calling her kitty or kitty cat of late!

It's nice to be going home, well kind of, I could have stayed on Marco Island for another week.  I want to go back.  I want to go with my sister for a girls getaway.  Yesterday was our 4th day on Marco Island and it was wonderful.  We didn't have anything planned and our beach guy, Ty, saved us 3 chairs/umbrella in the front row close to the beach.  We woke up around 7:30, ate breakfast of yogurt, bananas and ham slices.  I got to have my coffee on the balcony and read the US Today.  We headed to the beach around 9.  The sun was shining and the water warm.  We dozed, we read, we swam until 1:00 when we went up to the room for some lunch.

In the morning Sarah and I did take a long walk down the beach - we were gone for over an hour.  We saw lots of interesting things.  Diving pelicans, dolphins, lots of little fish and oodles of shells.  We also saw a one footed seagull.  It had two legs but one leg was a stump and the other had a foot.  I wonder what happened to his other foot?  But he managed to get around and fly, walk with the other seagulls.  We saw an old couple walking slowly through the sand.  The woman had a walker and her husband was trying to help her push it.  Rather difficult through the sand!   On our walk I was very intrigued by the people I saw.  People of all ages, shapes and ethnicity.  The common factor was that everyone was having fun.  AND it seemed that most everyone was comfortable in their own skin.  Many folks had cute fashionable swimsuits, but many did not.  And it was okay.  People were having fun, enjoying their families, friends, the warm air and warm water.  People exuded more self confidence in a bathing suit at the beach than I would have thought.  It was very refreshing.  I wonder if it's because most people realize they'll never see each other again?  Whatever the reason it was nice.  People had piercings, saggy skin, wrinkles, lots of jiggly fat and it just didn't matter.  What did matter was that everyone I saw was smiling and enjoying themselves.  And what's not to enjoy about one of the most beautiful beaches in the world?  Especially while enjoying it with people I love.  Sarah and Jim.  Just wish Kristin and Jake could have been with us too.  We miss them.

We were expecting an afternoon thunderstorm, as we'd had them every day so far.  But hardly a cloud in the sky and not as humid as previous days so perhaps no rain was coming our way.   I went back down to the beach at 3, in time for the smoothie handout - smoothie of the day was lemon ice - delicious!.  Every day at 3 pm they pass out smoothies to all guests at the pool and beach, we've had coconut, strawberry and now lemon ice.  Lemon ice was my favorite!  We lingered in the water for the remainder of the afternoon.  It was heavenly.  And the rain never came.  We went up and showered at 6:30 and went to dinner at 7:30.  Snook Inn was our dining destination this evening and it was a perfect night for dinner there.  The restaurant is located at a marina.  Dolphins swam near the boat slips, the sun was setting in a brilliant orange glow.  And the temperature was warm.  Jim and I had the all you can eat seafood buffet.  They had king crab, which was succulent and sweet, shrimp, oysters, tuna, grouper, frog legs...oh my it was delicious.  Reminded me of a place called the Seven Seas in Vancouver that we went to on a trip in the late 70's.   Sarah got a delicious steak sandwich so she was happy too!

The sun is very exhausting and we were in bed asleep by 10 pm.  We packed up after dinner last night so that we could enjoy our last morning at the beach today.  We lounged beach side from 8 until 11 then showered and headed out by 11:45.  We stopped at Crazy Flamingo for lunch, we needed our seafood fill.  I got the blackened grouper sandwich on garlic bread and Jim had the fried grouper basket (fish and chips).  We shared some conch fritters.  Sarah had another steak sandwich, which was even better than last nights.  We were well sated for our 4 hour drive to Orlando airport.  We made it the airport at 4:20, returned the rental car, checked in, waited in a long security line and made it to the gate by 5.  Our flight boarded at 5:50 and we took off at 6:30.  It's been a long day so far, but lots of fun.  Now, I'm sipping a glass of chardonnay while typing this post 30,000 feet in the air.  According to the flight status tracker of flight 19, we are somewhere above Arkansas right now.  Still a long ways to go. ;)

sunsets

The past 2 days have been so much fun.  The sun has been shining every day along with a few thunderstorms for added excitement.  The rain comes down hard and fast, but it's warm so no complaints here!  And it only lasts about 30 minutes to an hour.  Today it had 2 different rain spells so we were in and out of the water three times, which meant 3 different changes of suits!  Temps are in the low 90's and the water temp is rising each day.  Monday started at 85 degrees and today it's 88.  I really like that there is little surf here.  It's like walking directly into a lake.  We saw 2 dolphins today about 30 yards from us.  When I saw one fin I was thinking maybe it was a shark, but thankfully another fin came up next to it and they proceeded to arc through the water along the shoreline.  We were told by the hotel staff that there are sharks out there and to be aware.  Once I realized they were dolphins I was very relieved.

Yesterday started off with 3 1/2 hours at the beach.  We swam, sat, walked, read, napped and relaxed beach side.  We had purchased cheese, crackers, yogurt, cereal, granola and milk at the store on Monday night, so we noshed on these items for breakfast and lunch.  At 1:30 we left for Port of Islands Resort where we met up with Captain George for a Manatee eco-tour.  He was very knowledgeable of the Ten Thousand Islands that make up this area, the manatee & their habitat, birds, alligators, the history of the area.  The boat could take 6 but we were the only ones, so we had our own private tour!  We saw numerous manatees, which are basically giant sea cows that eat vegetation - grass, seaweed etc - natures vacuum of the sea!  They weigh up to 2000 lbs.  They are very docile and slow - a top speed of 5 mph.  Their biggest threat is man and their boat motors.   We spent 90 minutes going through the mangrove areas and canals of Marco Island viewing manatee and even found an alligator.  It is mating season for alligators and so the females are busy building their nests and out of view.  Apparently they are very noisy and aggressive at night during mating season.  During the day, they mainly sun themselves and stay out of the way.

We stopped at Snook Inn in hops of seeing the numerous dolphins that hang out off their pier.  But the weather had other plans.  It rained so hard that we opted to sit with many other folks at the covered outside bar of Snook Inn.  Turns out it was happy hour, so we had some beer and Sarah had free bread with butter.  We were all happy!  Funny that it was still so very warm and everyone was in shorts and tank tops enjoying cold beer while just a few feet away the rain came down in sheets.  It was raining so hard we weren't able to walk to the end of the pier to see the dolphins.  Perhaps we will get back there tomorrow!

When we got back to the hotel, the weather cleared and we went swimming for a bit and went to The Little Bar Restaurant a few miles away in Goodland.  This place looked so sketchy from the outside and was in a really bizarre remote area, and if it hadn't been for the great reviews on Tripadvisor and Urban spoon we NEVER would have set foot in there.  We are so glad we went.  The food was top notch.  We started with steamed muscles, conch chowder and grouper balls.  For entrees I had sauteed soft shell crab, Jim had sauteed butterflied shrimp with panko topping and Sarah had prime rib (of course! 2nd night in a row, 3rd night of prime rib on the trip!).   By the time we left, the place was quite crowded.  Definitely a popular spot.

When we got back to the hotel Jim washed his shirts in the bathtub.  Thankfully I had some tide packets.  Somehow he didn't bring enough shirts, and with this heat and humidity they were getting stinky.  So, he soaked, scrubbed and rinsed the shirts.  They hung to dry nicely on our balcony overnight!

We woke up early to get to Everglade City this morning for an everglade jet boat tour.  Captain Tony of Speedy's Jet Boat Tours gave us an hour ride and wow what an amazing experience.  We went through almost 2 miles of mangrove canals to a grassy swamp area that was so vast.  The jet boats are flat bottomed and loud, so we wore earcovers (look like big headphones) and saw many birds and beautiful scenery.  The boat went 30 mph, but felt much faster.  Captain Tony stopped periodically to point out things, educate us and answer questions.  We even saw an alligator!  Despite the loud noise of the jet boats, the swampy area in the everglades is peaceful and beautiful.  I still marvel at the fact the we didn't get lost.  Tony explained that no two trees look alike...I laughed, because the rest of us had no idea where we were and we thought ALL the trees looked alike.

We stopped at Crazy Flamingo for lunch.  It's a local joint in a goofy location that one would most likely pass by unless told to go there.  I had a blackened fresh grouper sandwich, Jim had fish and chips and Sarah had chicken strips.  It was very good and the folks in there were locals (and that's always a good sign!).  We made it back to the hotel by 1:30.  Beach side, pool side and shell scavenging...we did it all this afternoon admist a few rain showers too.  But when the sun was out - phew look out!  It was HOT.

Dinner tonight was at Sele E Pepe and I had sauted grouper with homemade paparedelle and aspapagus.  Sarah had homemade raviloi stuffed with ricotta and spinach and Jim had risotto with asparagus and shrimp.  It was quite good and this restaurant was in our hotel and the view was 2nd to none.  We snapped quite a few pictures of the sunset and enjoyed a leisurely meal.  Now, I'm finishing this blog post and will read for a bit and then head to bed.

I'm thoroughly enjoying this place.  Of all the warm vacation places I've ever been, this tops them all.  People are kind, it's slow paced and relaxed.  Could be because it's their low season. (pop 8,000)  during high season it swells to 30,000! Seafood is plentiful and excellent, beaches are white soft sand and water is warm.  And this hotel is awesome - can't beat our view!  The staff is friendly, the pool attendants, the free smoothies, the beach attendants,  it's so luxurious without being stuffy.


Only 40 hours left until we have to leave to head to airport for home.  Will be very sad to leave this place.

I leave you with two pictures from dinner tonight.  Check out the others on smugmug.