Friday was another slow starter - the wind was strong all morning and it was spitting rain on and off: Perfect time for me to take a run, right? I did my 3 miles, up and down the beach, with a powerful headwind one way, and tailwind the other. By the time I hit home, I was thoroughly soaked in a mix of sweat, ocean spray, and rain. Time for a shower.
A lot of the day was spent packing up, but the kids did a lot of swimming and some bike riding as well. Some friends from Scott Terrace were in a resort just up the road, and we had them over to help me finish up some beers and hang by our pool: Their daughter Lauren is 13 and is a synchronized swimmer too, so she and Bella were showing off in the pool: I spied a little girl watching them trying out their moves in secret. Fortunately, our friends were planning to stay until Monday, so we unloaded a fair number of supplies onto them, including my 1/3 bottle of scotch and our 1/2 bottle of tequila (we didn't make much of a dent in our hooch - we like it more for the taste than the effect, right?). I got a very happy text from Jason later in the evening thanking me for the Balvenie scotch...
The cumulative effect of Bella swimming for 3 hours a day in the bright sun had taken a toll on Bella, and she suffered from blurry vision, red eyes, and needed sunglasses for a few hours. Nothing permanent, but we decided it was time to be done with swimming for the trip. I think she was in water at least 24 hours across the 8 days. After dinner out at the Blue Giraffe (deliciously adequate), we stopped at Pinocchio's for ice cream and sorbet. It is THE place for dessert on the island, and we patiently waited in a line that coiled through the store, and were grateful that the line went past a second counter for espresso, so Papa and I could get a little something to keep us awake. The ice cream was delicious - two "local flavors" were Sanibel Crunch (with nuts and coconut) and Dirty SandDollar (with malted milk balls and caramel). My Mango sorbet was delicious, but it turned my mouth bright orange.
Friday night was another beach walk, with some great pictures - the moon was HUGE and bright orange on the horizon (more orange than my mouth even). It looked like it was watching us... We took a lot of pictures, but I just don't know if we were able to really capture the depth of field... still, these full moons were something else - lit up the beach as though it was mid-day.
Saturday it was move-out day - all good things come to an end, and we needed to be out of the condo by 10. Bella had sorted her shells into keep and return piles, and we made a big show of tossing the "return" shells back into the surf together, hopeful that another girl would find them and regard them as treasures.
We piled everything into the car (but not before Isaac and I had a few more rounds or riding the bikes up and down the driveway) and were out a full 5 minutes early. We headed to the end of Periwinkle Way to the Over Easy Cafe - a small, well reviewed breakfast joint... of course on move-out day it's a pretty popular place, so it was over an hour to wait. What a terrible start to the day, sitting on benches under a clear blue sky, surrounded by tchochke shops... actually it was just fine. The breakfast was well worth the wait - simply fantastic. A great start to the day (which I guess we'll say started at noon, then?)
We stopped in She Sells Sea Shells for some little souvenirs we weren't able to find on the beach, and marveled at their terrible terrible collection of "shell people" figures. Pipe cleaners, shells, and googly eyes, in dioramas having these shell people using computers, dancing, playing piano, golfing.... Nothing short of terrifying. Then it was back to the Ding Darling nature refuge, this time for a guided tram tour of the mangrove estuary. We had a great tour by a Brooklynite with fun stories and a love for the area. Of course we loved the mangrove crabs and all of the beautiful birds, but truth be told Isaac was a little bored with the whole thing, especially considering there were no alligators on offer. We were given a tip, however - the guide had recently seen a few alligators in a nearby nature preserve area...
After the tour, we zoomed to the other end of the island for a quick photo shoot of Pamela and the kids by the Lighthouse, and we got out of there - the public beach was packed and hot, and we were just not feeling it - especially after our quiet, sparsely populated beach by our condo. We felt a bit elitist, but also, hey, it was day 8, we were tired. But not TOO tired
We had an hour to kill before dinner, so we went to that other nature preserve, followed the instructions the guide gave us, and JACKPOT. Heres what we saw on our one mile nature hike: Black Snake! Several large aquatic turtles! A big Gopher Tortoise clomping through the brush! A zillion little lizards (which we called "doo-di-doos"), a flock of snowy egrets, and yes, an ALLIGATOR! A little guy, not more than two feet long, but an alligator nonetheless. It was wonderful.
We ended our time on Sanibel the way we started it - with a meal at Trader's (where I had that amazing blackened grouper po-boy on Saturday previous). Bam had renamed the place "Groupers" in her mind, so that's what we called it. And the meal was amazing - we all had something we loved - bella got toretllini, isaac had his burger, Bam had a pork chop, and the rest of us had fresh, delicious fish. I ended with a dessert of smoky Laphroaig scotch, a full belly, and a huge smile.
Given our early departures, we headed OFF the island to a Homewood Suites near the airport - better to have that 30 minute drive out of the way the night before, we figured. Big clean rooms, quiet location. We were all asleep by 9pm, having given our hugs to Papabam, who would be taking a later airport shuttle (no point in dragging them to the airport with us at 5am when their flight wasn't until 11!!!).
And now it's Sunday - we woke up at 4:30am and caught a direct flight home at 6:50. The kids were zombies and watched movies on the iPads (of course they wouldn't NAP), while I caught a few ZZzzzs and Pamela facebooked using the Gogo inflight internet (a luxury for work that is really worth it now). We got home around 10:15, I went and picked up the dogs from the kennel and we're all chilling out together - the kids are watching Rango and enjoying frozen pizza... we forgot about the fact that we'd be returning to a mostly empty house on a holiday, so groceries are scarce.
In all, it was an amazing week (in case you haven't been able to tell from my updates). So what were some highlights? For me, it was floating in the ocean - just a wonderful experience. I liked my late night scotches out on the veranda with the kids asleep, listening to the roar of the surf. I liked NOT checking in for work for a whole 9 days (I did a few little things, stayed WELL off the radar). I loved my panama hat and my white italian loafers that I wore every single day (my Teva Man-dals were on my feet for just 2 hours total - they were nowhere near as nice as my loafers, which I had bought as a joke in Fort Lauderdale last year). I loved watching Pamela help Bella ride a bike. I loved riding up and down the driveway with Isaac on his BMX. I loved running on the beach. I loved walking the labyrinth. I loved spending 9 days with my family, especially after so much travel recently.
In short, it was a perfect vacation, and I'm looking forward to returning next year. Oh, we are GOING!
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