Dea's Visit

January 16 – 23, 2011


Well, Mark and I are returning from taking Dea to the airport to go back to Minnesota. She picked a good week to be here (between cold fronts) and a great week to be away from MN (negative degrees and a little bit of snow every day).

Dea arrived on Sunday, January 16th and we immediately treated her to a Costco excursion – YIPPEE!! We know how to show a girl a good time. We have learned to combine our trips because getting off Estero Island is time consuming and takes a bit of patience. Once home and settled, Dea forced us to play Cutthroat Pinochle – she hadn’t played since her visit last year. Oh, and she also forced us to go to the corner ice cream shop and have a cone. (Mark and I had managed to stay away from there until Dea’s visit – I think we made it there 4 of her 7 nights here).

Monday we woke to a rainy day. We were scheduled for a pedicure at 9:30. Once done with that we went back to the boat to a marvelous breakfast made by Chef Mark – he becomes a chef when he’s not a captain. In fact, I think he had breakfasts ready for us 5 out of 7 days and the other days we went out. Since the day was going to be rainy, we decided to go to the Immokalee Seminole Casino – unfortunately none of us had good luck. Back home after dinner under a brilliant rainbow and more pinochle.

Party on our toes!

Brilliant rainbow

On Tuesday Mary Sue had scheduled all of us to play in the golf scramble. Geff was still back in Michigan so Mark played a round with three women – too bad it was golf….. Anyway, we didn’t win any prizes, but had a terrific time. At one point, sea fog rolled in from the gulf giving the course an eerie feeling. On the last hole, Mary Sue and Mark won the “closest to the hole” contest.

Dea and I joined Mary Sue at yoga class on Wednesday and Mark went to pick up Geff at the airport. After that good workout and squeezing toxins out of our body, we went to the spa and loosened more toxins with massages. Our kids had given me a “spa day” for Christmas and I took full advantage of it. That night Mark took us out on a cocktail cruise searching for dolphin. No luck with the dolphin, but we saw a wonderful sunset and moonrise as well as a cuttlefish.

Yogies - Mary Sue, Dea, Gerri (instructor) and CE

Estero Bay cruise - Mark and Dea

Sunset over the mangroves

Cuttlefish

Moonrise and reflection

On Thursday morning we joined Geff and Mary Sue for an early morning walk on the beach (8:00 am). Because the beach area on south Ft Myers Beach is a bird sanctuary, I had to walk a trail through the mangroves and sea grass with Port for most of the way, but met up with the gang as we got close to the bridge at the south end of the island. Dea found lots of sand dollars and interesting shells, and Porter actually retrieved his Frisbee both on sand and in the water. In fact this beach walk was so much fun that we did it for the rest of the week and Mark even decided to join us a couple of days.

Beautiful day for a beach walk

Egret in flight

Garden oasis seen on back route

Thursday was also the day that we went with Geff, Mary Sue and Mary Sue’s Mom, Jean Ann, on a cruise to Naples. Of course, no cruise is complete without a bartender. Geff took us through the narrow and shallow channels for the first part of the cruise to Wiggins Pass. We almost enticed some dolphins to follow our wake, but we couldn't keep their interest. We saw an eagle with his catch, pelicans, and a couple of low bridges. In Naples we were treated to beautiful homes, condos on stilts and a good lunch. It was a great day for a cruise, but some clouds rolled in and made the trip back to Ft Myers Beach a little chilly.

First Mate, Mary Sue

Captain Geff

Bartender Mark

Dea and margarita

CE and Jean Ann

Narrow and shallow channel

Eagle with fish

Preening pelican

A couple of low bridges

Busy Wiggins Pass to the gulf

Naples harbor

Condos on stilts

Lunch on the terrace in Naples

Jean Ann bundled against the ocean breeze

Friday was supposed to be cloudy and rainy, so we planned a trip to Ft Myers and Cape Coral. We wanted to scope out some high rise condos in Ft Myers and a possible marina for a future stay in Cape Coral. The condos were quite nice and quite reasonable and as we toured models on the 25th floor we sometimes had a clear view of the Caloosahatchee River and other times a view through fog. The marina in question had received some good reviews on the Great Loop network, but we were not too impressed. I think we might be spoiled with our current situation. We also stopped at Manatee Park. Because it had been a warm week the park was not crowded with manatee, but there was also tarpon and more to be seen - like Mark doing an imitation of a Manatee. There was a mother mantee with her infant, but we couldn't get a good picture of them.

Good imitation?

Manatee facts

Manatee

Our last full day Saturday was like Thanksgiving. We had a great day for a walk on the beach – Mark took Port the back way and I was able to join Dea and Mary Sue to search for shells. Then Dea and I went to Victorias to shop. I had been banned from the store by Mark last year, and might be again soon. Dea and I both found something to buy. We came home to fix our Turducken dinner. Judy sent us the turducken after a phone call when we discussed how curious we were about it. What is a turducken, you ask? Ours was a deboned chicken stuffed with Cajun pork dressing that was stuffed inside a deboned duck that was stuffed inside a deboned turkey. We also received cornbread dressing and gravy with our roast – THANK YOU, JUDY! Geff and Mary Sue let us use their kitchen to cook this wonderful dinner. Dea brought desert of cheesecake with Florida strawberries on top, Mary Sue made potatoes and key lime bars, and Jean Ann made spoon bread – a cornbread that you spoon out of the dish. We added al dente green beans with hollandaise sauce. The turducken meal was a hit. We all rolled away from dinner feeling like we usually do at Thanksgiving. While we were eating, the weather outside was chilling down to feel like Thanksgiving in Minnesota.

So on Sunday morning before Dea packed up to go, we walked the beach dressed in winter gear – the temp was 40 and the wind was brisk. Just getting Dea ready for what she was going home to in Minnesota – cold, cold, cold.

Baby, it's cold outside!

Dea just called and she is home to Minnesota safely – what a great visit!