Visiting Heidi in So. Florida

After the busy week I had at work I was more than willing to get up at 4 on a Saturday morning if it meant getting away for a couple of days. Jackson came to Naples from his "business retreat" in Kansas City on Friday night so I was excited to join him in enjoying the warmth. Since Jackson's car was already parked at the airport I decided to take a shuttle to avoid both of us having to drive home late Tuesday night. My shuttle arrived early (of course! I book it far too early to build in time for the driver be flaky and it turns out he's a retired guy who loves being early. Ha!) and I threw my suitcase together and headed for the airport. Note: I loved Carey's shared ride shuttle and certainly recommend using them if you ever have the need.

After a tour of Indy picking up other passengers (which was completely fine because my driver was super friendly and I enjoyed chatting with him) I got the airport with plenty of time to do my makeup and repack my suitcase so it would actually close. Yes, Jackson generally does my folding and final packing so I was a little out of practice. (I know, that's a little embarrassing to admit.)

Anyway, my flight was on time, went smoothly and I got to Florida at about 10 a.m. Jackson and Susie met me at baggage claim and my bag actually arrived! Woooot!

We went straight to Aunt Kathy's house to see our former houseguest puppy, Heidi!

Heidi is such a lucky girl to have retired to this weather.

Heidi was pretty excited to see us and screamed and wiggled all over for a good five minutes when we came in. Aunt Kathy was a little hurt that she's never gotten such a warm greeting from Heidi.

Heidi stayed with Susie for a bit so she got a warm greeting, too!

Reunited and it feels so good!Reunited and it feels so good!

Pets from her former "personal trainer"

My failed selfie of me and Heidi because she just kept kissing me! :)

We took Heidi for a walk and gave her plenty of pets before heading out for lunch. While walking Heidi outside without a coat and wearing flip flops I had this odd sensation: warmth! It was amazing!!

Leaving?! Already?!

Only in Florida: old people "walking" their dog from their golf cart

I was elated to see that Aunt Kathy lived near a Sonny's BBQ. Sonny's is my #1 favorite BBQ place so I was excited for Susie to get to try it. We ate two orders of their corn nuggets (AMAZING) and just ate like kings and queens. So good.

Behold. Corn nuggets!!!

I've never spent much time on this side of the state so I wanted to see Sanibel Island. We walked about 3 miles along the beach and just soaked in the sights and sounds of the beach.

Jackson soaking it in

Gorgeous.

A hammerhead pup

I was surprised to see people fishing right off the beach because that seems kind of dangerous. People kept almost walking or swimming into their lines. Imagine my surprise when they pulled in a hammerhead shark pup! (Note: I knew that a baby shark was called a pup without looking it up and impressed the people around us on the beach. Thank you, Shark Week!) He was bleeding from the hook and it was kind of sad. The fishermen were a little nervous to unhook him as he was less than pleased. They finally got him freed up and threw him back into the water. What did we learn? That all of those years I worried about sharks being near the beach were not in vain. Good luck ever getting me back in the ocean!!! (Another note: I'm now kicking myself for not asking what kind of bait they used to catch a shark!)

We also went to Captiva Island to check out that area. It was nice but a little removed from civilization for my taste. 

I had forgotten the sky could actually be blue with white clouds. Amazing. 

We headed for Naples through Bonita Springs and we were blown away with how enormous the beach homes were in that area. They looked like apartment buildings in San Francisco they were so huge! 

We stopped in at Barefoot Beach to watch the sunset. It was just gorgeous.

A little bird kept us company! 

Love this view...

Ahhhh I woke up in Indiana and watched the sunset in Florida. Life. Is. Good. 

We got to Susie's condo which had just been treated for a mildew issue. The mildew story made think the condo was going to be a gross place. I walked in and proclaimed, "this place is distinctly not a craphole!*" It is gorgeous!!! I took a shower- finally- and feeling like a new woman we headed out to see Naples. (*language changed for blog purposes)

Naples isn't for the poor. 5th Avenue is home to some of the pricest restaurants I've ever seen. After about an hour of trying to find menu with decent, working class food on it we headed for the safety of a Cheesecake Factory down the road a couple of miles. It didn't disappoint and we had a nice dinner together. 

This little energizer bunny finally ran out of battery power and had to go to bed around one in the morning. I don't pull many 21 hour days so I slept like a baby! 

Ready to heckle players

Waking up this morning to a gorgeous view of the golf course with the sun shining was a welcome change. I enjoyed a few minutes of heckling the golfers teeing off near our screened in porch before Susie made me stop saying I was going to get her kicked out of her condo community! ;) Off to the beach...