- A trip to see my dear friends' new home, enjoy their delightful daughters, and lend a hand with some wall decor. Pure joy with lovely "family by choice".
- A "Girls' Weekend" with my college gal pals/sorority sisters. Much silliness and laughter with women that have only become more treasured in my life over the years.
Connecticut. Twice.
- Family business.
- Family party. Visit from Midwest extended family. Attending a fundraiser for an old friend in a deep and bitter battle with metastatic liver cancer...
Florida. Nine blissful days.
(Activities not listed in order or by day or importance... And actually not even inclusive of ALL activities!)
- My husband and me bonding with two of my four siblings for nine days in a gorgeous house on the shores of Sugarloaf Key.
- Riding ~12 miles on a one-speed granny bike into the jungle following my sister to some unknown yet highly recommended destination while constantly scanning the ground and trees that were whacking us in the head for snakes since we had just seen a verrrrrrrry long racer snake in our yard. And marveling at being miles into the jungle when we met one man from our hometown in CT and another woman that had previously lived in our village on Cape Cod.
- Snorkeling in fabulous locations like Sandy Key and Looe Key.
- Parasailing with my love 300+ feet over the blue/green waters of Key West.
- Enjoying the sunset snorkeling "Rum & Reggae" trip with the rugby team from Portsmouth, NH also now known as "The Drunkby Team" as they had been "drunk since Wednesday" before boarding our catamaran.
- Jet skiing on choppy water.
- Walking Duval Street multiple times and soaking in the rich visual textures of tropical paint colors, vivid store front displays, and incredibly colorful people watching... While avoiding the vast amounts of "Spring Break" kids wandering drunk, stupid and loud from one bar to the next often dragging someone so drunk he was, as my husband says, "leg-less". All while being grateful that NONE of my spring breaks were spent this way!
- Drinking superb coffee from "Babies of Key West" (which is actually in Sugarloaf Key).
- Tapping our toes to the sound of "The Doerfels" - an entertaining and VERY talented family of 10 kids ~1-25 years old (including the adorably teeny kids of the oldest Doerfel) that play an incredible range of musical styles and instruments (including their infamous hockey stick guitars). They played the Marathon Seafood Festival and were absolutely the highlight of the festival for me!
- Perusing local art (and buying some to bring home).
- Embarking on a series of sunglass searches/purchases/returns etc - one sister broke hers in the airport on the way down and the other lost hers on the first day out in town.
- Eating delicious food including the famous "Key Lime Pie", Cuban steak, mahi mahi tacos, and plenty of local seafood - I'm not proud but hey, it was vacation!
- Visiting Bahia Honda State Park and walking on part of "Flagler's Folly" old railroad bridge that washed out in a hurricane in 1935.
- Spending some time with some very cool fellow Capies I'd heard about for years but had never met.
- Sprawling on the dock of our house in the sun reading while the plumber and septic truck driver (a Boston boy) tried to fix the issue of water (and gunk) backing up into our shower. (Roots growing into the pipes... Short-term fix achieved - PHEW!)
- Peeling as a result of poorly timed sunscreen application in relation to 12 mile unplanned bike ride, sweat, and mid-day sun.
- Enjoying Jimmy the bartender's famous Mojito (we had been told NOT to miss it by friends from home) and his own invention of "The Green Thing" as featured on the Today Show. (He's behind the Westin in an old Ford truck gutted to make a bar. Use caution when consuming his drinks... He's NOT stingy with the booze!)
- Participating in the time-honored "Sunset Celebration" at Mallory Square which includes ~2,000 people crowding onto the west-facing pier to bid farewell to the sun while being entertained by street performers and perusing even more local art (and engaging in deep bouts of rather enlightening people watching).
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