May 31
Thursday evening Larry and I attended Alhambra Dinner Theater’s
production of the Buddy Holly Story and enjoyed a delicious dinner of prime
rib, roasted potatoes and green beans.
It was wonderful and so much fun.
Afterward, we stopped by Mama’s house to pick up a delicious banana
pudding she had made for me. This was the beginning of my Birthday Vacation.
June 1
I was awakened on Friday morning by a call from my sweet Mama [at
7:52am] to wish me a happy birthday and tell me to go back to sleep. I wanted to so bad, but I needed to get up
because Larry and I had planned to leave the house at 9am. When I finished my shower, I was greeted in
the bathroom with a slow dance to “Happy Happy Birthday Baby” by Ronnie
Milsap.
When I went to the kitchen for my morning coffee I found my sweet LB
had left me a birthday bag on the counter.
In it was a jar of feta-cheese-stuffed-Greek olives and a jewelry travel
case that I had admired in a sky mall magazine on a recent trip to DC.
We got dress, packed, and left the house at 11:00am.
About 2 hours into the trip, Larry looked at his Google maps to get an
idea of where to go. Google maps
indicated that we were in Tallahassee. Considering
that we were attempting to reach Sanibel Island, seeing Tallahassee on the map
was a bad thing. When I looked at my Google
maps, I saw the same results… Tallahassee.
It turned out that Google maps was hosed and we were actually headed in
the right direction.
Since it has a sentimental meaning to us, we stopped at Waffle House
in San Antonio, FL for pecan waffles.
Delicious.
It was a long drive and very rainy, but we finally arrived at the
Residence Inn in Fort Myers and checked into our room. After we were settled, Larry announced that
we would be going to a store to pick up my birthday gift. As it turned out, Larry had planned to buy a
Coach bag for my birthday surprise. So
we went to Dillard’s to look at their selection. It seemed that the bag that Larry had in mind
was no longer in production, and after discussion with the sales lady, we
headed for the Coach store. We decided
on the most beautiful $300, leather, coral colored handbag that I have ever
seen.
Don’t be jealous.
After the extremely-fun-shopping-at-Coach experience, we drove all
over creation trying to find a suitable place to have dinner. 3 hours later we settled on Iguana Mia where
we were catered to for having a June 1st birthday in our
“group”. Two fajita dinners, weird
margaritas, fried ice-cream with a candle on top, and one sombrero pic later…
we were full and ready for bed.
BOY was
I ready for bed!
From a lovely book in the hotel:
“Accessible by bridge or boat, Sanibel Island sits off Fort Myers,
catching fresh ocean breezes before they blow inland. But the barrier island’s best catch may be
the seashells that wash up on its pristine beaches, drawing thousands of visitors
who enjoy shelling.”
June 2
While shelling at Sanibel Island I was approached by a man who asked
if he could use my chair. Larry pointed
out to me that this was a good “line” and one that I had never heard
before. It turned out that the man, Felipe,
who was out fishing, had walked into an anchored hook which had penetrated his
water boot and was embedded into his leg.
He was limping and probably only asking to use my chair (which was
several yards away from me at the time) because he was in desperate need of
help and nauseatingly delirious. I
motioned to Larry to come “help” because, at that point, I wasn’t sure what the
man was asking of me. Larry and I watched
in disbelief as Felipe sat in our chair and showed us the 3 inch hook that was
lodged in his boot. Larry assisted by
cutting the boot away from the hook and helping to remove Felipe’s boot. Larry tried to get him to allow us to call
for help, but Felipe insisted that it needed to be removed at once… while his “adrenaline
was flowing”. Felipe then proceeded to
cut some fishing line from a spool in his tackle box and thread the hook. He then counted… one… two… three… and ripped
the hook from his leg, flinging it backward.
After the hook was removed, Larry and I gave Felipe one of our bottles
of water while we cut a bandanna for Felipe to wrap around his bleeding wound. It is amazing how a less than ½ hour event
can add so much of a story to your day.
Because we had to pay for parking, we were supposed to leave at
7:08pm. We got into the car to leave at
7:07. We wanted to see the sun set over
the ocean, but were not in a position to do so, so we drove on to Captiva
Island to find another beach sit on and watch the sun set. We found the perfect spot.
The sunset over the ocean was beautiful.
My life is wonderful…
I couldn’t ask for more.
