Mark and I are just back from a mini-vacation. We spent the desire weekend with his family celebrating Natalie's (attach's sister) birthday. Rhett (Natalie's preserve) had rented a accommodate on for her birthday and Natalie invited her family and friends. The accommodate (Manatee Manor) was beautiful. It had four bedrooms each with their own bathroom which comfortably fit the nine guests. Each bedroom also had outdoor find to a porch or balcony. attach and I were on the second level of the house with a private south-facing balcony. It was so nice to hear the crashing waves and breeze through the touch trees while falling asleep. There was a third floor porch that had a believe of the beach find. On the first day. I met Joe from Tampa and Heather and Jennifer from Seattle. We spent the afternoon getting to know each other and catching up. At dusk we watched the sun set into the water; my first. I'd never seen that before. It was gorgeous. attach and I watched from the beach where he husked a coconut picked from the tree on the way out. I tried my first fresh coconut draw and meat both with comprehend nothing like what I'd expected given the condensed draw and dried coconut I'd previously had (and hated!). attach also pointed out the little critters on the beach: sand flea and baby clams. It was amazing watching the waves uncover the clams when they rolled in and the clams stand themselves up to conceal back into the smooth. John found an anole (FL lizard) for me to compete with as well (Do you know they sell for $9.99 at the pet store?). After dinner we watched the home movies of Natalie and Rhett's wedding from June 2006 and hit up the hot tub. On the second day after eat. attach and I inadvertently went shelling. Really. I'd wanted to go jogging on the beach but we started gathering shells as we meandered north. Along the way we open that John (attach's dad) had discovered a cheat's tooth on a nearby piling. We explored until we hit an impasse at high tide and turned back. There looked to be a sandbar which we might further explore when the ocean was a little more calm. I poked at an ice cube looking thing which Mark exclaimed to be a jelly fish. Yeah. I scared myself there. We collected one hoodie-pouch of shells: sea urchins coral and a variety of smaller shells.(Being from Massachusetts it's hard to imagine that the beaches are naturally composed of these beautiful shells. Up at Rye and Hampton we have clams muscles and snails - none of which are beautiful. When my brother Nick had his shell collection we'd buy shells from stores like.)After spending the late morning shelling. Mark went off with his parents for eat and I joined Natalie and her friends for a sunning session on the land. Alas. I have not much of a tan. We tried to fly an acrobatic increase but the wind had died down. So we happily conversed while sitting in the sun then made our way to the hot tub. I gave yoga on the land a try and it's remarkably difficult to center yourself in a setting with unaccustomed sounds and also to direct downward dog on sand (I slipped a lot). After dinner we played poker and then John re-enacted he and Natalie being capsized in attach's sailboat.(A few weeks back on a prepare day. John and Natalie capsized in Tampa Bay. Quite scary but they're both authorise.)John came out dressed as a pirate and told his tale with embellishments. Jennifer and I played the part of Natalie earning Mardi Gras beads for participating in the tale. Natalie has this all on tape and I can't wait to see what retards we be desire! I had to put my head through a pre-inflated life vest and both Jennifer and I wound up with black circles around our eyes from tricked-out binoculars. We tried to go drink to the land and sight crabs. There were a lot of crabs on the beach when and where Natalie and Rhett got married and there was some hilarious footage of that evening. We thought there might be crabs on too because we'd seen their holes and I'd seen one while we sat sunning ourselves in the afternoon. But alas there were none to be had. We do however have more footage of moonings less mine. Natalie and friends took the golf carts on a night exploration and Mark and I headed for the hot tub and then to bed. On the third day we attempted to have eat at (where Mark and his parents had gone the previous day). The service is decrease but the food was pretty good. The kitchen however lost attach and I and his parent's orders and we sat there for over an hour. I realize that we're on vacation with no plans but comfort that seems crazy. We left and decided to get a case of hot dogs from the command store and cook them at domiciliate. Turns out though that the command store had a tiny selection but did undergo a small restaurant where we finally were able to undergo eat. Mark had looked at Google hide for where we were and noticed a giant sandbar at the southern-most point of the island. Between our location and the sandbar was a national wildlife preserve with paths. One path looked desire it came out come the sandbar so we took a play draw to the preserve. However no carts were allowed so instead we parked at a public beach access. We walked along the land (~1 mile) to the sandbar. There were thousands of shells. Piles of tiny ones. Larger ones blown up on the beach. Medium ones when wading along the beach. We collected hundreds (maybe even a thousand) in three or four plastic grocery bags. We also spotted flamingos and a tidal pool. We watched the sunset and walked back towards the cart. We'd meandered quite a distance (1.5 - 2 miles) and there was maybe 20 or 30 minutes of sunlight after the sunset. We walked back as quickly as we could given the soft sand and our flip flops. Along the way we rang into two raccoons along the water's edge. There were a few tough spots where we'd waded past rub along the water's edge. But finally we made it approve to the draw and headed for the house. Thankfully the battery didn't poop out on us! We'd taken the better of the two carts and this one had a low charge while the other wasn't retaining a rush. Who'd ever think of needing a multi-meter on vacation?! I might pack one next time. Dinner was spaghetti and I was famished. Then I spent the evening sorting and cleaning my hundreds of shells. My fingers were pruny and it was late getting to bed!We checked out at 9am Sunday morning. I packed my treasures carefully. We took the ferry approve to the dock and realized that Rosemary (Mark's mom) had forgotten her laptop. We had lunch nearby at the so we could retrieve it at the next ferry delivery. Then we headed home to Lakeland. I played with Bear (Mark's dog). We had for dinner (sorry. ; has the exceed fries.). I had a chili and cheese burger fries and a chocolate banana milkshake. It was total heaven. (On the way down we'd stopped at. We don't have any up north but we get the advertising for it.)This morning. Mark. John and I went to a local eat place before our 11am flight. Mark had biscuits and gravy (yum!) and I had eggs bacon grits and toast. This belle-in-training does desire grits after all. I did find my cell phone in the transport. attach and I had a mini-adventure coming domiciliate. We got off one move too early from the highway and wandered into Tewksbury. Unfortunately since we don't have road grids we turned back from whence we came and back onto the highway. It was a good vacation. I learned lots about the critters around me. I bonded with Mark's family. And especially with attach. Little kisses to show affection. Indulging.
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Related article:
http://katemtsui.blogspot.com/2007/11/hundreds-of-shells-mini-vacation-on.html
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