Thurs, Jan 14, 2010 - Ft Myers Beach, FL

This is more like the Florida we came for! It was supposed to warm up into the 70's today. We agreed early in the morning that at 2 pm we would quit whatever we were doing, grab Lucy and the lawn chairs and head for the beach. During the morning hours, Gale worked on clearing out a space for the generator in a cockpit locker that would work great for both storage and running the generator without having to carry it around the deck. Maureen did some work on the 2010 budget and some initial prep work for the 2009 income tax return.

True to our agreement, we left the boat shortly after 2 pm for the beach. We found a sunny spot to set our lawn chairs and watch the world go by. It was fun to see so much activity. We ordered a couple of Coronas (w/lime), sat back with our books and
our dog, and felt like the couple in the beer commercial where all your cares just fade away as you relax in the moment, right here, right now. Of course, we are blessed not to have any great worries these days. While relaxing on the beach, a couple of ladies under the umbrella a few feet over, Barbara and Camille, wanted to meet Lucy. Barbara was missing her dog, Charlie, who had to be left at home for this trip. The ladies were from Wisconsin (is everyone in Florida from the Midwest?) and they adopted Lucy for awhile keeping her in the shade of their umbrella and giving her ice water to drink.

Back at the boat just before 5 pm, we set the lawn chairs on the forward deck and grabbed two glasses of wine. We visited with a few couples passing by in their dinghies – it seemed everyone had been out and about enjoying the warm day!