Marco Island

These are interesting times in my life. Times of uncertainity. Times of possibilities and just a lot of time to think period. Think about this think about that, you would not be suprised of the things you can think about when you have nothing to do. I am sure one day I will look back on these days and long for them when I am busy with work, or whatever else will occupy my time in the future.

For now I think I will just give a recap of our family trip to Marco Island, Florida last week. For those that don't know Marco Island lies about 20 minutes south of Naples on the Southwest coast of Florida. The island itself is not all that big, but is well developed with many condominiums and nice hotels alongside the beautiful, white sandy beaches. Do not go here expecting big waves because there aren't any, unless you want to come here when there are hurricaines in the area than I am sure you can find some good surf. But what you will find are a lot shells, clear green-blue water, and a quiet, family-like place to relax and enjoy yourself. We went during the "off-season" so there were not many people out and about on the beach compared to a lot of other places than we have gone to in the past. This is not a place like Panama City Beach or even Myrtle Beach to some extent, you won't find many teenagers/college kids down in this area. This is a place for families and really rich, mostly retired people or some kind of combination of the three. The sun down here is intense so if you don't like a lot heat, either get there before noon or wait until after dinner. Two hours out there will get you nice and red for sure and if you don't continously lather up a lot of burn and eventual skin peeling to come. The water was nice and warm, which is where I like to spend most of time when I am at the beach. I like to lay out on the beach as well, but the water is usually where it is at for me. While living on the island for a week, like we did, you can either do a lot of things or a lot of nothing. It is all up to you. Now I said the island was well developed, but that does not mean you cannot find times of solitude and quiet throughout all hours of the day. Many a house on the island is located alongside canals that are separate from the ocean but can you still lead you there if you choose. Our house was located within feet of these little canals and being how this water was so calm and wave less it was an excellent opportunity to go out on the kayak that was provided to us at the house. My first time in kayak was a lot of hard work, but also really cool and it is something that I would like to try again sometime. We went exploring through the different canals located near us on the island. Although we did not see any wildlife or anything out of the ordinary it was still a cool experience. My brother went out with my dad the next day and saw some dolphins, which are always cool to see and especially cool when they are within yards of your kayak.

There were two different beaches we went to, one was Tigertail Beach and the other one was the Public Access beach. Tigertail you had to drive to and you had to pay to park. When we first got to this beach we were a little disappointed because the water was basically like swimming in a shallow stream that had a lot of seaweed, but we quickly noticed a lot of people walking across this sandbar across the channel of water. They were carrying all of their beach things with them, chairs, coolers, strollers, you name it it was being hauled across the channel which was waist high and about 50-60 feet wide. Turns out that was where the really beach was (you could not see it from the other side of the channel). So we went back and took all of our things across and enjoyed a couple of hours on the beach, where I ended up helping my dad and little sister in constructing a sand castle. This was where I got sun burned on the back and was in mild discomfort for a couple of days.

The Public Access beach was the one we went to the most as it was merely a 5 minute bike ride from our house, or a 15 minute walk if you preferred that mode of transportation as there was no place to park your car. So we did that several times during the week, always around the same time (11am-1pm). After that we would go back to the house, eat some lunch and just relax either inside the house, or out by the pool, which was screened in and was about as warm as your standard bath, which for most of us out there means that it was really warm and not really refreshing from the hot sun. Many a day was spent reading and relaxing out by the pool and inside the house. I do not know if there was a day gone by where I did not nap sometime in the mid-afternoon. I got up nearly everyday to get some running in and by the time 3-4 o'clock rolled around I was beat and needed the Zzzz's. Ah, the tough life I was living (sarcasm duly noted).

I actually got some good reading in. Continued to work on reading "The Summer of '49," about a chapter a day. The book chronicles the 1949 baseball season through the stories of the players on the Yankees and Red Sox. One of the best books I have ever read and I haven't even finished it yet.

We also went out one evening down to Naples to play our family traditional activity, putt-putt golf. Unfortunately I was not able to defend my crown from last summer's trip, as I finished a distant 3rd behind both of my parents. I did have two hole-in-ones, but two 6's during the middle part of the round stalled my efforts to take the crown. Afterwards we headed back into town and got some ice cream. I had rainbow sherbet, one of my all-time favorites, and I was the only one to get it in a cone, for whatever that means, just another time to give some props to myself for unique. Hey, I got to take advantage of these opportunities as they do not occur often. Another highlight of the trip was heading about 30 minutes east to the edge of the Everglades to see some Manatees, sea cows if you will. Only they were not located in the seas but in some small rivers, and channels. So maybe river cows is better terminology for these massive creatures. We took a 90 minute guided boat tour, that does not take you in any specific direction, only in the direction where you can spot the manatees. You have to keep a careful watch for "footprints", a.k.a. when their tail comes up out of the water and leaves a mark on the water's surface. We saw several of these guys as there was a "receptive female" in the area and they were all hovering around the same general location. So that was cool. We did not see any gators but seeing the manatees in their natural state was cool enough.

The last thing that I would like to mention in regards to the things we saw and did on this trip was the sunset we got to see on the beach last Wednesday evening. It was absolutely fantastic and was for lack of a better word, cooler than just about anything else we did. It puts things into perspective and allows you time to be at peace with yourself (as long as there are not too many people talking and making disruptions around you, which there really weren't). So I would like to end this by thanking the people who made this trip possible, my parents and my grandmother. Without them this wouldn't have been possible in so many ways.

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