Christmas Florida Vacation

For Christmas this year my husband and I went to Florida. We stayed with friends that have a home there in Fort Myers. We had so much fun and it was so nice to wear shorts in the middle of winter! I could get use to that for sure!

Their home was very nice. We had our own part of the house on one side to ourselves. Our bedroom had a sliding glass window and the water was right outside our window. It was not the ocean, but it was a canal. It was still very pretty. One morning I woke up and after I got ready I went outside to get fresh air like I did every morning and I saw something in the water. I knew right away it was an alligator from the shape of the head. He just stared at me for the longest time. Then a seagull came by and he snapped his head around to get that seagull (he missed,ha). Then he came up on the surface of the water and started swimming. I got to see him up close and his tail was swishing back and forth. It was cool to see. From that morning on I kept looking for our "friend" the alligator, but he never returned to see me. I was safe because there was this wall he would have to get up to get me along the sides of the canal and plus the yard was fenced in.

Bob and Alice had their own dock for their boat right out their backdoor. Their patio was gorgious. They had an awesome pool. It had a hottub that had a waterfall coming down into the swimming pool. It was very nice. We swam a couple of times. We ran around to do things on most days we were there. They actually sold their house when we were there on vacation with them. They wanted to sell it and travel west for awhile before they came back to Ohio.

The first thing we did while we were there was go to the everglades. It was the coolest thing ever! We rode on these air boats around the everglades for an hour. The driver would get in open water and do a spin out in the boat and it was so much fun. We saw an alligator on the shore of the everglades and it sat there for a long time for us to see him. The driver put the boat right up next to the alligator and it was on my side of the boat. We were so close he could have jumped in with me if he wanted to. It was scary for a few minutes, lol. We saw these plants called "air plants" and the driver kept talking about them and I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. They were these plants that grew up high in trees. They looked like real house plants growing in the trees. It was really interesting to see them. We went when they just had some rain the week before, so there was not any dry spots to go across with the air boat. Normally there would be dry spots and the air boat goes right over them and it looks more "swampy" I guess. It was something I would go back and do for sure!

On the way back to the house, we traveled "Alligator Alley" and the road was lined with Alligators for miles. On each side of the road they had these high fences so there was no danger in them coming after you. There were some places that didn't have the fences and some people were out of their cars by the water (which was by the road) and they could have encountered alligators. They were stupid! We stopped at this park on the way home and saw more alligators in the waters when we looked down over a foot bridge. It was close to the water and you could see real well. We saw these pelicans catching fish and swallowing them also. There was this couple who had two little dogs at this park and the park ranger told them right away to get the dogs out of here because if the gators saw them, they would come after them to eat them. We didn't want that. They listened of course and took there dogs away.

On another day we went to this place called Fishermans Wharf. It was a boardwalk on the water of shops and restaurants. We had alligator tail for an appetizer for lunch and I spit it out right away. It was too strong of a taste for me. Yuck! Tom liked it. Ewwww. I had grouper fish and it was a light mild tasting fish (which I prefer). The shrimp was really good also. Eating seafood where it is really fresh makes a huge difference in the taste. The shopping was ok. I am not much of a shopper. Most of these shops just had tacky looking stuff as gifts. You could find some nice things, but you paid for them!

One of my favorite things to do was go to Naples, FL. We went to the pier that went way out in the water. We finally got to see the ocean while we were there. It was gorgious! I love love love the ocean! We saw a dolphin come up right in front of us- it was awesome! I just loved it! Talk about getting excited, you have never seen me by the ocean and seeing the sea life! lol. I could have stayed there all day! The beach was beautiful. You saw all kinds of seashells. This one guy on the pier was cleaning his fish and the pelicans and seagulls were going nuts. We watched them for a long time. Then we went to the very end of the pier and just sat there and relaxed and looked at the water for awhile. I would give anything to live by the ocean! It is just the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life!

One day we went to this place called "Tin City" It had lots more shops to go through then at Fishermans Wharf. It was much better to go through. It was outside by the water more and you felt the breeze and heard the Gulf waters and it was just gorgious. Tom wanted to get some seashells to put in his fish tank. We found some and some coral. Unfortunatley the coral was broke from the crazy airlines and the way they handle the luggage. Oh well.

That night we came back to Tin City and got on a night cruise big boat and they took us by all these houses on the water to see all the Christmas decorations. It was really fun going out at night on the water and seeing all the Christmas lights. A little chilly, but fun. We had hot chocolate on the boat though and that helped warm us up.


Another day was spent at the Barnum and Baileys home, Art Museum, and the collections to see of the circus costumes, railroad cars, etc. It was so neat to see all the different costumes, circus stuff and old railroad cars,etc. I didn't care for the museum of art to well. It was neat to see, but it was not my favorite thing. All the pictures looked the same after awhile. Bob was telling us this art was very old. I forget exactly what he said, so I probably have the details off, but I know it was 16 something. 16th century or 1600 (year). Something like that. It was old! Then I was disappointed! We didn't have enough time to go through the house! We saw the outside of it and it was huge!! It was right on the Gulf and was just breathtaking! It was still a fun trip.

I think that is about all we ended up doing. The rest of the time was spent at the house swimming, relaxing on the patio, and it was Christmas, so I helped with Christmas dinner as well while we were there. It went so fast! I could have just stayed there and moved there. I hated coming back to the snow. It spoiled you for sure!

I missed my family at Christmas this year, but we are going to have Christmas with them in the next week or so. It is a little late, but hey, we will still be together and we will all enjoy opening gifts in the middle of January! No biggie! LOL. I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas this year and hope you all had a Safe New Year!

~Shellie Stephens