rosie
 4257 Posts
Joined: 14 May 2004
Status: offline |  Posted - 20 Jul 2005 : 13:43:38  
| Day 2 – 4
After retiring to bed at a reasonable time I found myself bolt awake at 3am and being in a “strange” house I lay there trying to drop off to sleep again… No chance… so trailing a book and a blanket I went out to the family room and settled down on the sofa to read and see if that sent me off again.
After about 30 minutes I thought I heard movement from upstairs (we were in the downstairs suite) then nothing again. I thought I would go outside and have a cigarette, maybe that would help…. Errr OK how does the alarm work, is it even alarmed what if I wake the whole house up…..
I wandered over to the alarm panel to see if I could work it out. Isn’t it strange that in your own house you will fiddle with things till you work it out but daren’t do that in someone else’s house? Stranger still that I remembered we weren’t in our own home and put something on before going wandering…. As I was standing in front of the alarm panel Mr CDV wanders down the stairs in the same amount of clothes as me, just as well both our memories had been working at that unearthly hour or it could have been a bit too much for poor Mr CDV
Anyway he turned the alarm off for me, got a drink and retired to bed again. I went out to the deck for a ciggie. The noises coming from the conservation land behind the house were so loud I was amazed anyone could sleep. It’s a very eerie feeling being surrounded by total blackness and only hearing the noises of crickets and other critters. Back indoors and I settled down on the sofa to try and get some more sleep.
Waking up again at 7 to glorious blue skies made all memories of a restless night vanish. I went to get my cossie (we had gone round to our house last night to pick up some clothes from our owners closet with permission from our guests) I got changed and straight into the pool…. Ahhhh bliss, this is what life was made for, a leisurely swim under an azure sky with the sun beating down, it doesn’t get much better than this does it?
The rest of the party wandered out one at a time, got changed and took to the pool. Any plans we had for shopping or anything in the least strenuous were evaporating as quickly as any splashes on the deck….. It didn’t take long to decide that today would be an “admin” day… basically sit around and discuss plans for the rest of the holiday.
After a quick trip to McDonalds to grab a muffin the rest of the day flowed at the pace of a lazy river, with much talking, and sunning ourselves and swimming.
The plan was to leave early tomorrow for Naples on the Gulf Coast for a couple of days. Mr & Mrs CDV have done the trip many times, but we have never managed to leave Orlando yet so were really looking forward to it.
After a Chinese takeaway and some detailed route planning by the boys (I’m sure this must be a man thing, as I would just get in the car and start heading in the right direction, hoping to find signposts to guide us), we retired to bed exhausted by all the “admin” we had achieved today.
Day 3 – Tuesday June 28th
Up with the larks again, we packed and showered and were on the road just after 9am; trust me this is quite a feat for Al, stopping for breakfast at Denny’s on the 27. Fed and watered we were back in the car and headed West by 10.30.
We have never got further than the turn off for Auburndale so it was great to see some more of the countryside, even if it was only in passing. The journey was fairly uneventful, and when it started to rain in the early afternoon, we just slowed down until it passed. By this time we were approaching Fort Myers so pulled into Subway for a drink and a sarnie.
By the time we had finished, so had the rain and the trip down to Naples was lovely. We arrived at our pre-booked hotel around 2.30. We checked in and this is when I realised more than ever how much I loved staying in a home rather than a hotel. Although it was clean and tidy, it was exactly as I remembered hotels: small, cramped and impersonal.
Had this been anything other than a bonus trip I would have booked a home to stay in, but as we were only staying 2 nights, it was bearable…..just.
Straight into our cossies and out to the pool to sample the water…. It was like bathwater. No sooner had we got in than it started to rain again and whilst other bathers dashed for cover??? We stayed put. Mrs CDV brought her book and got settled in the spa while we swam and chatted in the main pool.
Dinner time was approaching so we went to get showered and ready to sample a local Mexican restaurant that Mr &Mrs CDV had recommended. It was walking distance from the hotel so we headed off for what turned out to be a superb meal. The service was excellent and the food delicious and guess what, I haven’t got a clue of the name of it…. You will have to wait for CDV to supply that bit. After several Margarita’s, Daiquiri’s and Sangria’s later we meandered back to the hotel.
Day 4 - Weds June 29th
Again woke to blue, unclouded skies. Went to reception to check email, another bonus of staying in a home rather than a hotel, is the ease of use of the internet. Waited in turn to use the PC, checked mail and headed back to the pool area for breakfast.
After a swim and chat we showered and got ready to get some lunch and do a tour round Naples. Having sampled the waters of the Gulf from Cancun a couple of years ago I wanted to make sure I at least got to paddle in it from this side.
We lunched at Mel’s Diner, very nice food. We set off in the car to have a look around. Very beautiful homes in and around the area. Lots of rich retired folk here it seems. Lots of expensive shops. All in all a very beautiful city and certainly worth a more in-depth look at another time. By now I was craving to get to the beach.
We parked up, fed the meter and kicked off our shoes and, like kids ran onto the beach, to feel the sand between our toes.
This is a breathtaking beach, and best of all it was almost deserted. I ran straight into the water, wishing we had brought towels and costumes, but never mind, if we got a bit damp, we could dry out quick enough. The water was so warm and inviting, it was heaven.
We were all wading in and splashing about, picking up exotic looking shells and generally behaving like big kids. Now this is a real holiday…
No sooner, it seemed, than we had got to the beach, the meter was ticking away and we had to leave, vowing to return.
Next on the agenda was a trip to the mall… OK I know we can do this anywhere, but you never know… they might have just the bargain you have been looking for. With heavy heart and in fear of their credit cards Al and Mr CDV took us shopping.
Well I found some real bargain skirts and even Al managed to get a couple of shirts. Also some new pool toys for the villa…. Yes I know we could easily have got them in Orlando but what if they had run out….. Buy them now and we know we have them is my excuse… so we did.
With the trunk of the SUV now pretty full of bags (we hadn’t considered we still had to get our cases in) we headed back to the hotel.
We got sidetracked when CDV said she would like to get a manicure and pedicure. Handy then, that the place she picked was right by a MALL.
Al & I went off to Starbucks for a coffee and then a look round the shops before saying we would meet up later at the hotel. Well as it happens we never got as far as the hotel and met up with CDV again when she was finished. I can’t for the life of me remember if we ate out at all, and if we did, then where it was.
Back at the hotel we made plans to be on the road to Key West by 9am the next morning, as we were looking at a fairly long drive and wanted to do it the pretty route through the Big Cypress Swamp and Everglades.
More to come……
Link to chapter 3 http://www.orlando-guide.info/forums/topic_22577.asp
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Rosie
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Edited by - rosie on 21 Sep 2005 21:15:27 | | Report this post to a moderator |
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Topic 
Windies head West Part 2
I forgot all about that 
