Naples Vacation

Just starting out in our vacation and we are loving every minute of it. We left after church Sunday around 12:30 and drove straight through only stopping for gas and supper. We arrived at the Regatta around 6:00 in the morning when it was still dark out. After all those hours on the road we were so excited to get to our condo so we could fall asleep, unfortunately, we were unable to figure out how to get through the gate. Let me remind you that we had just driven all night and our minds weren't really thinking. I could tell that Mr. G was so tired and disappointed that he looked like he was about to cry when the gate wouldn't open. Since we couldn't figure out how to get in we decided to instead go find a place to eat breakfast. We found an IHOP about 5 miles away and ate while the sun started to rise. It was absolutely beautiful but all we could think about doing was falling asleep. We headed back to the Regatta to see if we would have more luck. Mr. G was so tired even driving those 5 miles back to our condo that he was all over the road. He turned to me sort of giggling and said, "Ha, I'm all over the road honey." We were lucky to get to the condo alive.We pulled up and saw this van easily make its way through the gate so we had faith that we would be able to as well. We had no such luck. We tried to type in many different numbers into the keypad but none of them worked. We were so tired that we both just sat there staring at the gate for quite a while before Mr. G decided to call the guy who had given us his condo for the week. But, of course, he didn't answer. Finally he called us back and we were able to make our way through the gate and up to our amazing condo. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, and a huge kitchen and living room. Plus a screened in porch and a 600 foot deck that looks out over the bay. We are getting spoiled. After we gave ourselves the tour we both fell asleep until about 10:00 and then headed to the beach. If we walk a block we are on the beach. This is the view from the board walk leading to the beach. It is gorgeous.

After sitting out on the beach for an hour or so we headed to the pool. It has a waterfall that you can see in the background and you can tell Mr. G is thoroughly enjoying himself. He is working on his tan.

This is the other side of the pool. When Mr. G and I first got in the pool we played catch with a football that we brought from home. If anybody knows us very well you know that we love to play catch in the pool. Well, it didn't take long and some kids who had been watching us went up to their room to get their football to play catch in the pool. They weren't as accurate on their throws so Mr. G and I decided to hop out of the pool a bit to lay out. We didn't need any injuries on this vacation.

After a day in the sun we headed out looking for a wonderful place to eat. This is the Riverwalk that was recommended to us. The funny thing is we didn't end up eating here because it was a bit too high in price. We instead ate at Pinchy's Crab Shack which ended up being a bad choice. On the way back to the condo, though, we found many other restaurants we want to try out.

This was before the meal. We had a wonderful view of the bay while we ate which was enjoyable.

Before this picture was taken I almost fell through the window because I thought their was a glass in the window. I just assumed they used Windex Glass Cleaner and it made the glass very clean. Luckily I stayed on my feet after the stumble and quickly took a seat for the picture.

Later that night we were able to enjoy this beautiful sunset. This picture was taken on our back deck. Earlier we heard the sounds of dolphins in the bay but never really spotted them. It took me back to the days of the show "Flipper." It was a wonderful first day on vacation. We both agreed that because we hadn't slept much the last 24 hours it felt like we had already been at Naples for a couple days. Luckily we still have 4 more days to go before the long drive back. After a lot of driving and a lot of sun it didn't take us long to fall asleep.