Naples

"The best laid plans . . ."
I was going to keep up with this blog the whole time we were gone, especially since I was going to have my laptop on the cruise and wifi.  Now we've been back from the cruise for 5 days and I haven't done anything so let me start with our visit to Lila and Keith in Naples. (I'm dating this back to the day I should have posted this). I probably won't remember that much anymore but I do have pictures.  At least while we were there I posted some of the pictures on Facebook but I haven't done anything with FB since then.

We did have a great visit with Lila and Keith Wednesday through Saturday.  The first night we were there we were supposed to go to a spaghetti dinner in their neighborhood but since we had outdoor seating and rain was expected we had steaks indoors at their house and just chilled after walking around the community.

The next day we did the tourists tour of Naples and a little shopping too.  We went to Clam Pass park

and to the Naples Pier

At night we went to a dinner and a tribute show at their club that featured Rod Stewart and Elton John.

The food was delicious but it was held outdoors and it felt like winter.  In fact, we saw someone with a fur coat on.  Obviously someone who is a year round resident because what tourist goes to Florida with a fur?  But in the future, if you go in the early months of the year, it might be advisable.

Jacksonville

On Sunday, after leaving the brunch at Kay and Gerry's we drove for 4 hours to Jacksonville and checked into the Residence Inn.  We have a large room with a full kitchen but it is pretty outdated, doesn't even have a safe.

However, it does have delicious breakfasts and tonight it had a wine and cheese get together with all chips and salsa, spinach artichoke dip, brie, crackers, veggies, dip and wine, beer, soda and water.

In the afternoon we drove over to Jacksonville Beach and did a walk on the beach.

From there we went to Publix to buy food for dinner which we didn't need since we ate at the wine and cheese but we did have the ice cream we bought after we were back in the room.

Gerry and Kay's Wedding Weekend

We arrived at the Andell Inn around 1:30 but our room wasn't ready but we met Gerry and Alan across the street at the King Street Grill where we were going for dinner that night. Greta, Laura and Nadine got there about 2:30 and the room still wasn't ready so we hung out in the lobby until it was at 3:00.
We went to our room and left our stuff and changed for a walk (run for Greta).  Laura got the best picture with the horse using her selfie stick.

 The horse didn't want to put his head over the fence for us.

 I liked this shot of those guys walking ahead of me.

At 5:30 we met  in the bar

 before going across the street for dinner

Saturday morning, after breakfast (with mimosas) at the hotel

we caravaned out to Kay and Gerry's new house, that they won't be in until the end of March, for a tour.  First we stopped to check out this famous tree

Then it was off to the beach for a walk before getting ready for the wedding.

Nadine had hair and make-up done by Greta and she also finished my hair which turned out looking great.  We all looked so GOOD!!
The wedding was at the 300 year old Johns Island Presbyterian Church.  It felt like I should be back in colonial times sitting in the pews that had doors with locks on them.  The history of the church is interesting to read.

It was a beautiful wedding and a fun receptionist where we met Gerry's coworkers and neighbors who were all so warm and friendly.

We did the requisite picture of Nadine, Gerry and I.  This has been a traditon since the early 1990s.  See this post.

On Sunday we went to brunch at their current house before everyone headed home or off to other places.

Our Winter Vacation - Myrtle Beach

Our second day of driving took us to Myrtle Beach.  We got here early, at 3:00 PM and our room was ready.  I love using the Marriott app and doing Mobile check in. We're staying at the Fairfield Inn Myrtle Beach North but we just have a single room here.  The first thing we did was get the car washed and it looks brand new.  Then we went to one of those million beach stuff stores that have signs that say nothing more than $5.99.  I wanted to get some beach chairs for Florida and I found just what I wanted.  Surprise, surprise, lots of stuff is more than $5.99.

Then we stopped at the Bi-Lo store and got some food for dinner.

 Since my teeth are really bothering me and I'm trying to stay pain free until at least Port St Lucie (till home would be best) I'm trying not to chew anything.  We had the ice cream and that was it.  Mainly because we ate all 7 portions since we didn't have a freezer.  It was delicious.

Our Winter Vacation - 1

I've been really bad about updating this blog lately so I'm going to try to at least see how far I get on this winter vacation we just embarked on today, Wednesday, February 17th.

Yesterday we had a winter storm with 18"-25" of snow.  Fortunately by morning all the roads had been plowed and there was only a light snow when we left at 9:00.

We drove down 390 and ran into a bit of a snow squall for a mile around Geneseo but the rest of the trip was great, especially once we got past the wet roads where road mess would get splattered all over our car when other cars would pass.  For a while I thought we would run out of windshield wiper fluid.  

I couldn't believe it when we made it all the way down to Fredericksburg with only 2 stops.  The first one was for the bathroom and then one for gas and the bathroom.  I could have used another one about 2 hours before we got here but we didn't pass any place and the feeling subsided.

We got to TownePlace Suites which was the place I booked but not the place I thought I booked.  I thought I booked the place across from Spotsylvania Towne Center where we've stayed a bunch of times before but then we drove right by it and wound up here.  After we were in the room I checked to see why I booked this place and what the other place was called.  I have to say right now that we were upgraded to a 2 bedroom suite with a separate living room, full kitchen (although they didn't have any wine glasses so we had our wine in coffee mugs) and 3 TVs.  Unfortunatley there's not much we watch on Wednesday so it wasn't that big of a deal.  And tomorrow when all my favorite shows are on - and they're not Larry's, we only have one TV.

Anyway, the hotel I thought I booked was the Residence Inn on Towne Center Rd.  When I went to the Marriott website to see if I could figure out why I booked this place it was totally obvious.  My criteria for booking is that they have to have a free breakfast and hardly cost any points and if it's some kind of suite so much the better.  Both places had the breakfast but TownPlace Suites was 10,000 points and the Residence Inn was 20,000.  Something must have changed since the last time we were here but we're very happy here and it's a good thing I wasn't planning on going shopping at the mall.

I brought a container of Black Bean Soup that we could warm up here as well as some bread and snacks.  We brought up a bottle of wine and finished the whole thing - Hey, it's day one of our vacation.