Prepping for Paradise

OK! Its time to blow the dust off this blog and get ready to share our next adventures in Paradise.  In my book Paradise is Captiva/Sanibel Florida.
A place where we call our home every one-two years for a week away from the daily grind.

I'm drawn to Captiva so that is where we set up our home base for the week.  We also seem to zero in on Laika  Lane.  We have stayed at several of the houses on Laika lane over the years and this one will be no different.  This one is a Cutie!

Our group this year will be the usual suspects.  My granddaughters, the beach angels.  My daughter, wife and a new rookie to Sanibel/Captiva my daughter's boyfriend.

So the truck is washed, waxed and ready to load.  Its become somewhat of a ritual to put a coat of wax on before the trip.  Some say its because I want to have a nice looking vehicle to start off on the trip.  In reality it makes it easier to clean all the love bugs and other unfortunate insects that meet their demise somewhere along the 1200 mile journey we are about to take.

We are busy packing and trying to figure out how to stuff half the house into the back of my truck.  To top it off my daughter who is driving in another vehicle wants to pack some of their stuff in the truck too!  I should have told her "This ain't Southwest Airlines bags don't fly for free".(hehe)  We'll be leaving in the wee hours Friday morning.

We'll share the week with you if you care to come along.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the Blink of an Eye

Image
It's been a rough week this week.  While I generally keep my blog on the lighter side.  My words come from my head, but my desire to write comes from my heart.  My heart this week has felt both pain and Joy some of which I'll share with you today. On Monday Nov. 20th I'm on the mends from a rough couple of days on what looks like could be a precursory strike from a future Kidney Stone.  Spent a couple of days on pain meds, telling myself I'm not going to the ER.  Carol's been battling the crud and been coughing a lot for the past week.  We get a visit from Kristine, our daughter (technically Daughter-in law) but we adopted here years ago when she moved down here from Oregon to carve out a life with our son Ryan.  In her selfless manner, she's here to deliver a spare nebulizer to her Missouri mom, who's been fighting the crud.  Why? Because that's just who she is. She didn't visit for long, and we shared a few passing comments about her not wanting to
Read more

Some Beach

Image
Posting a little later today sitting out on the lania listening to the thunder roll and having a glass of Liquid Lubrication. Strawberry/Plum wine 2008.  (It was a very good year).   As you regulars on the forum know I enjoy making homemade wine.  This one was actually made by a friend of mine.  His name is Gil.  He's the one that introduced me to the art of winemaking.  Strawberry Plum 2008   Gil is best described as one of those country boys that can survive. He's does it all from making his own deer sausage to turning various fruits into liquid lubrication he makes some good stuff!  The first time I saw him making deer sausage I was a bit perplexed he was using the camper on the back of his old Ford pickup as a smoker.  I thought the darn truck was on fire when I first saw it.  Some of the best deer sausage I ever ate. Before I get to todays agenda I should back up a bit to dinner last night.  The wife and I headed out to Thistle Lodge.  It has become a regular dinn
Read more

Mission: Florida Georgia Line Codename: Zero Dark Thirty

Image
Waking up before alarm goes off at zero dark thirty a.k.a. 2:00 a. m.: check Hot shower and a shave:  check Cooler iced and ready for action: check Last minute items loaded in truck: check iPod loaded with tunes and podcast for the trip:  check Tall Tall cup of coffee which I will regret later:  check Carry the sleeping beach angels to the truck try not to wake them or they'll turn into devils:  check,check Say goodbye to the dogs, cats and other family members not fortunate enough to deploy on this mission: check, check, check Load the wife in the truck:  no need to check she wouldn't miss it for the world even if it meant sleeping overnight in the truck! So we deploy this mission on time  actually 1 hour earlier than we would mormally leave.  Everything  is going great until! We live in a rural area it's about a 40-50 mile drive over back roads to get to the interstate we need to get on. No problem, accept our intel for this mis
Read more

Time Out Tuesday

Image
S0 I have been up around 6 all week.  This morning was no different except I needed to be extra quiet because sometime during the night I got room visitors.  There were two Beach Angels sleeping on my floor!  Why they would give up their bed for the floor beats me.       Looks Comfy doesn't It So with camera in hand I headed down to the dock to capture some shots of the Sunrise.  I would normally have my photographer in tow but due to her bum ankle I'm on this mission alone.  I wanted to also head over to the Beach and walk down to Blind Pass. Another First this year capturing more Sunrises than Sunsets For some reason when it comes to the ocean I'm like that kid you tell to stay out of the water puddle.  If I'm near it I'm gonna get in in it.  What usually starts out as ankle deep ends up being knee deep in no time.  Just me and the relaxing sound of the waves to serenade me as I put on my best "Shell Whisperer" impression and begin scouring the surf
Read more

Tuesday's addition chasing the sunrise

Image
So Tuesday we spent on the beach.  The nice thing about being right on the beach is you seem to spend much more time on it.  We have logged quite a few hours on beach time this week.  Since we only see it once a year the more time soaking up the sun and the surf the better. On Tuesday morning we got out early Carol wanted to see if she could get some pictures of the sunrise.  We are not on the best part of the island for sunrise or sunset pictures we are spoiled from spending so much time on Captiva where sunset especially, is worshiped. One beach Angel (Taylor) was up for the task the other Beach Angel (Lexi) did one of her favorite things SLEEP! When we hit the beach like a kid and a mud puddle I'm drawn to the water and automatically go into treasure hunting mode.  I looked up and Carol and Taylor are gone.  They were on a mission to find that sunrise and it was some where down the beach around the bend. A quick check of my pockets,  no cell phone check, no wa
Read more

Butt Cheek Beach

Image
We are staying on Grassy Key, it's one of 13 islands that make up Marathon.  The house is right on the water on the Gulf side.   The view from our house  The water in this area is relatively shallow, and the pier on the right is part of the property.  Looking forward to some stunning sunsets.  I hope to see plenty of wildlife as the waters here are very clear, and it's easy to see the bottom.                                                                                 The house on Marathon The street we are located on is very quiet and the houses next to us are vacant. It makes it feel like our own little personal paradise. After getting things unloaded, we go out to check out the pier and about halfway down the pier, we get our first glimpse of wildlife. Lobster Anyone? Carol   has always been the chief logistics officer when it comes to taking these trips.  She's responsible for making sure everything gets packed, and over the years she's fine-tuned her list to inc
Read more

Merica Road Trippin Chapter 4 Heaven's Peak

Image
This trip only came about because of a suggestion from my co-pilot.  While Yellowstone was mentioned in our initial conversation, I didn't want to fight July crowds in Yellowstone.  We plotted out this path instead.  I'm so glad that we did, Glacier National Park is an amazing place.  This was technically just a road trip, we were basically just passing through the area while making our way back home from Oregon.  Our path exploring this area would take us along the Going-To-The-Sun Road.  It's a 52-mile route that takes you West to East through the park. I would consider going back sometime.  The raw, undeveloped beauty of this area, leaves one without words to describe the impression it has left in my memory.  Coming from a guy who has spent most of his vacations at the beach, you know I was impressed. The views are jaw dropping.   We were up early and at the West Glacier entrance before 6:00a.m.  We made a reservation and purchased a time entry pass months ahead.  If you
Read more

Superman & Tweety Bird

Image
Thursday morning it was time for more seafood omelet research.  We went to the Island Cow and I got a what?  answer: Seafood Omelet.  Just seeing if you've been paying attention.  The cow's omlete did have a pretty good amount of seafood but the crab meat was only shreds and there was more shrimp than anything.  There was also a watery consistency to the inside of the omelet that was most likely from not suffciently draining the seafood before adding it to the omlete. So ranking order so far IMO is: 1.  Hungry fisherman @  Lighthouse Cafe 2.  Crab & asparagus omelet @ Amy's Over Easy 3.  Loaded Seafood Omelet @ Island Cow On Thursday the high rollers came to Captiva.  I'm not referring to a group from vegas with money to burn, but mother nature rockin the waves in the gulf.  You know it's rough when you look down the beach as far as the eye can see and there is not more than a hand full of people in the water. We went into the water for about 2 minutes an
Read more

Hump Days are "BS"

Image
With all the "BS" going on this week, things really got away from me.  So I'm going to have to lump some things together this year.  I know for most of you, Hump Day is a good thing, but when you're on vacation it's pretty much "BS".  It signifies that point in the week when vacation is on the downhill slide.  It has been a good week, and the fact that it will be over soon is of course total "BS".   B each  S nacks On Wednesday, we ran into an old acquaintance on the beach.  He's a shady character, has a long list of priors, and I believe he's even a jail bird.  This dude can make off with personal items and snacks quicker than you can say  "Nacho Cheese Doritos".  He stalk s you from afar and when the timing is right swoops in to commit his crime.  If you are ever down here, be on the lookout! Did someone say "Snacks!" B racelets from the S ea The shells have not been very plentiful this week.  That's the price
Read more

Hey Mike,Mike,Mike Hump Days are not allowed on vacation!

Image
So I have been a little behind in posting to the blog this year.  The time is flying by way too fast.  Wednesday's plan was a day at the beach.  I started off by getting a few shots of the sunrise from the dock.  Nothing like watching the world wake up in paradise.  I was then off to Baileys for some Doughsants.  This was another first for us.  We never heard of a doughsant before but thought what the heck lets give them a try.  I kind of envisioned the light airy texture of a croissant mixed with the glazed goodness of a doughnut. The folks at Baileys are so polite.  The lady at the Bakery counter told me this batch came out smaller than normal so they gave me double the amount for the same price! The outside was like I expected but there was some sort of filling inside a little like a cream cheese but with some sort of flavoring that was not sweet.  Sorry not a big fan of the doughsant   er Doughsants from Baileys We headed to the beach after breakfast the ocean was rolling in w
Read more