Just recently got back from a much needed vacation to Marco Island. First try at a mass-family vacation (meaning Deborah, Meadow & Heather + my sister-in-law and my parents-in-law). I'd say all in all it was a resounding success. The girls were great on the airplane to and from, and nobody hated anyone at the end of the trip :).
We flew into Miami, got our Caravan (first time with a minivan, not too bad). Proceeded on our first tour down the stretch of US-41 known as the Tamiami Trail. If I never see that stretch of road again, that will be just fine with me. In all, we traversed parts of that 60-70 mile stretch 6 times, and it would have been 4 more if we had stuck to original plans. But Tamiami fatigue set in and plans were changed.
We arrived at our rental house late Saturday night. Nice place! Very roomy - we had been upgraded due to some repairwork that needed to be done on our original selection. We loved the pool, but especially came to lve the large screened in porch. Though I wouldn't really call it a porch, just an extension of the house. Many hours were spent lounging, sleeping and eating in the screen room. Just like being outside without the bugs. Meadow ate pretty much every meal but a couple that I can recall out there, she absolutely loved it.
Some highlights included Deborah and I snorkeling at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. Based in Key Largo, they took us 5 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean to the Coral Reef by boat, where we dived in and saw many colorful fish, a barracuda, a bull shark, a large spiny lobster, a hugh Conch and a moray eel. The shark and barracude were both pretty freak ooh aah moments! Afterwards we had some good carribbean food in Key Largo, and had an exqusite piece of Key Lime Pie (we were in the Keys after all, how could you not try and find a piece?) in Islamorada at the spectacular Cheeca Lodge. If you ever have $500 to spend to stay at a night at a place, I'm sure they don't disappoint here. We had our pie close to one of the more spectacular beach fronts I have seen. I also have to give props to Robert Is Here, a fruit stand in Homestead that serves a mean Key Lime Milkshake, it helped the ride home on that Tamiami Trail. Also have to give it up to Fernandez De Bull, a great little Cuban restsurant we found in Naples.
Deborah & I also had an awesome walk on the Tiger Tail Beach at sunset one night. It takes a good walk to get to the gulf beach thanks to the large lagoon in the middle, but when we got there, great view of the sun setting and a plethora of sea shells to look at - and our first time seeing "live" shells, small scallops, conchs and the like. Very interesting, and smelly! But great fun.
I think Meadow & Heather had fun, though poor Meadow was sick much of the week. They loved the pool (to an extent, as long as they didn't have to stray far from the steps). And as mentioned, Meadow loved the screened-in room. One of the moments I will NEVER forget is where Meadow in one of her not-feeling-good moments wanted to lay her head on my legs and just stay there and fall asleep. One of those wonderful parent feelings!
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