Joe's Retirement Travels

It's a good start to the day when you're invited over to the Fiess's for breakfast. Matt cooks pancakes, eggs, sausages, and hash browns.   Everyone was invited.   Good eats, visiting, and fellowship! The morning sky was glorious!   Not only did we have a sunset last night, but a moon  set this morning. After breakfast, Cameron and Maggie and I went to a poolside table to start chipping and brushing  away rock dust from a second dinosaur block we dug up in the sand yesterday. After a couple of hours of hard work, we uncovered bones that make up a triceratops!    Exciting! It was then time for some ocean beach time.    Several couples went for bike rides.    Cameron was searching for shells with Marty in the waves close to shore and Jeanette helped Maggie discover her confidence in floating with her life jacket on! picture  by  Jessie   Jessie and Marty .. stylin' Lunch fo...

Adventure day!   Jessie arranged for us to go on a biologist-guided kayak tour of the mangrove wildlife preserve in Tarpon Bay.    Ruth Ann is still recovering from her virus, so she and David did not go.  It was Jessie & Marty, Jeanette & Matt & Cameron, and I.  Barbara & Barry stayed behind to watch Maggie and be here when Sue & Scott visited for the day. There were about 11 kayaks of families, some from Nottingham, England!    We all selected life jackets and assembled in a pavilion to get pre-trip instructions and guidance. Jumped into kayaks and headed out on the 'trail'. Jessie & Marty .. ready for fun and wildlife                           picture : Jeanette The biologist threw down her anchor at several spots and asked us to 'group together' for her talks. Marty and Jessie paying close attention! This was a typica...

My Tuesday started with a request by Ruth Ann to take her to a Sanibel medical clinic.   She's been battling a virus that has given her laryngitis and coughing spells.    I called and made an appointment for her.    David joined us as we drove about 15-miles to Island Medical Clinic on Sanibel Island. After the visit we went to a CVS and picked up a couple of prescriptions and came back to the condos. I changed into swim trunks and went out to the beach to play with everyone. After last night's early evening rain, the day turned out to be another beautiful Captiva beach day! You can see the mounds of shells in the water just in front of Jeanette and Maggie. After lunch Jessie and Marty rode their bikes up to the north end of the island to rent stand-up paddle boards (SUP).    While paddling around they encountered three manatees!    Here's some pic's : manatee with a reflection of a yacht in the background  ...

Spending time with family in paradise is special.   The wonders of relationships and surroundings! The many visits Barb & Barry blessed Mary and I with built so many memories.   I wanted our kids and Ruth Ann and David to experience these wonderful days.   In the future I hope Jon and Salli and Jim and Carol can do so also.   A Captiva Island vacation offers so many new experiences to us midwesterners or nothwesterners.     Let me tell you about today. Cameron and I have been sharing archaeological dig stories for quite a while.   I thought we could have some actual dig experiences here.   Matt came up with the idea of burying some dinosaur bones in the sand at the beach.   My sister Sue found some kits at Joann's.   The first of two kits I buried today : Here we are digging up this solid block of clay and sand : Cameron found the block.   We took it to a table next ...

Another beautiful early morning on the veranda.  Cameron and Maggie came over during coffee and breakfast and we were entertained by several pileated woodpeckers hammering away on the palm trees. Here's a picture of Maggie holding the stuffed toy that Salli sent with me for her : David and I got on our bikes and made a pre-trip ride to the marina to check for manatees.  And, we were lucky, we saw three.  Marty and Jessie had gone for a run and also saw the manatees. The Fiess's were going to stay at the unit and enjoy the beach with the kids.   Ruth Ann was not feeling up for the long ride.   She had lost her voice.     David and I and Barbara and Barry and Marty and Jessie then prepared our bikes for the ride.   We each took a water bottle that had been frozen. We headed south into the village of Captiva and stopped at the library and cemetery for a water break. It was still very hot today.    We co...

Saturday in Captiva.   Beautiful morning here in paradise.   Coffee and breakfast on the porch overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. After breakfast Barbara and Barry and I went on a bike ride up to the marina and around the north end of the property.   We also biked down to the main part of Captiva to The Mucky Duck. When we returned to our building we visited with the Fiess's in the pool.    Barbara prepared a lunch for me to take for my drive to pick up Jessie & Marty at the airport in Ft. Myers. Picked up Jessie and Marty and stopped at a Publix for more groceries.   Returned to our building on the resort and jumped into swimsuits and into the gulf.   Water was about 84-deg.!!   Felt great. Barbara prepared salad and fruit bowls and cooked some baked beans.   Barry and Matt cooked chicken and hamburgers and sausages and hot dogs on the barbecue grill out at the pool. Here are a few pics...