Holiday Inn Naples, Fl

... with Claire at Olive Garden; took Agnes and Cliff for a ride to Captiva Island so they could see the Bubble Room Restaurant; swam in the Gulf and beautiful swimming pools at our RV Park and at their Condo, had a great dinner of barbecued ribs prepared by Claire on our last night here; and were lucky enough to see dolphins playing in the Gulf and a most amazing sunset over the water! Whew! packed a lot into a week, didn't we?

Så er vi ankommet til Florida. Vi ankom igår og fandt et billigt motel med pool. Så efter en lang køretur, var det perfekt at kunne tage en svømmetur i poolen. I dag har det været ca. 35 grader, så jeg har sat pris på aircon idag. Vi var dog ude på stranden og fiske og bade lidt. Lau fangede en babyhaj, men ellers har der ikke været noget held. Det er helt rart at have en lidt mindre proppet tidsplan nu, så er der mere tid til at komme helt ned i gear. I morgen står den på køretur til Miami

... yes baby, 10 star luxury. Off season and cheap we had ourselves a divine luxury of a palace, checking in we found our room to be of giant proportions with a king size bed, a bath the size of France, a balcony (with chairs and a table darhling), a shower of equal size and best of all a Samsung flat screen HD telly. I immediately donned the bikini and we headed out to check out the rest of the hotel, once I found the pool I hit the ...

We got up early today and drove to Sanibel Island. For those who haven't been there, Sanibel & Captiva Islands on the Gulf of Mexico have some of the nicest beaches around, and Sanibel is known for fantastic shelling.

While walking over the inland waterway to get to Bowman Beach, the girls spotted a manatee and watched it amble under the foot bridge we were on and swim off into the distance. The tide was ...

We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant, Courtney's, then checked out. We drove to one of the public beach access areas and headed out to do some more shelling. We found more treasures! The girls went out at first in just shorts, but that didn't last long. There were signs on the roads to watch out for gopher tortoises...but we didn't see any!

We then drove on to Lake City to stay at the same Comfor Suites...still very nice!

... I had a half-dozen oysters on the half shell and a grilled grouper sandwich. It was tasty.

Katie and I went back out to the beach at low tide and found some real treasures. Sarah was still not feeling great, so she watched cartoon network.

We had planned on going back out early for the next low tide (it was at 5:30a.m.), but it was storming. Which was actually a great thing because it meant the shelling even at high tide was going to be good.

it wiped out everything i wrote. we are here safe and sound. it` 13 hours ahead of you, so it`s saturday nite here. all is well. we loved your email!!!!! tim read it in sedona`s captain voice!!!
i`ll try tomorrow. can`t get connected to internet in my room.
love you both. give girly butt a hug and kiss from us. yourself too.
love mom

The hotest day yet! Temperature 91+. Visited the Everglades again this time at Shark Valley. Travelled by tram to an observation point. Alligators aplenty and different birds including blue herons, turkey vultures, willow blue herons, northern cardinals, roseate spoonbills, iibis, two rare sandhill cranes amongst others. Also saw a turtle laying eggs. Not as many animals as usual as it ...

... watching day trip 16th Mar: Fly from Christchurch to Rotarua where we spend one night 17th Mar: Beach day in Coromandel 18th Mar: Paihia for four days (to get ready for the big shop!) 22nd Mar: Auckland for two nights and then 24th Mar: Aukland back to Sydney and then on to Hong Kong for three nights 27th Mar: Leave Hong Kong and fly home - arrive UK 5am (sorry Roger?). I'll be in touch. Max

... the car rental place at 0930 and they eventually pick us up at 1200 !!! Tactfully appraising them of their, somewhat, lack of service ( I'm good at this, its a skill I inherited from my Father - now that should raise a few chuckles from the family !!!!!!), we get an apology and an upgrade. Thus we now have a Volvo S40 to play with and set off at 1300. Maps - we have bought several maps from gas stations and they are basic in the extreme. Book shops don't seem ...