Naples - Day 3

First of all, thank you everyone for your kind birthday wishes, comments, emails, and ecards! I had a wonderful 45th birthday and am so thankful for all my friends and family!

We have now made up for sleeping in so late on Saturday and Sunday. Les had to be in the ballroom for his conference at 8:00 a.m. yesterday and today. He decided to take advantage of the fitness center here and got up at 6:15 both mornings! I stayed up yesterday, but did go back to sleep for a while today. We check out at noon and fly out of Ft. Myers at 3:00, arriving back in Los Angeles at 8:30 tonight.

So how did I spend my last full day in Naples? Shopping of course! I don't know if you could really call what I did shopping, more like browsing. I have a hard time parting with money, especially since last week I went to Kohl's and bought 3 jackets (1 casual, 2 for church) for a total of $50. One of them was only $13!! In fact, I was looking for a top to go under that $13 jacket and was not willing to spend $30 for one...

I found quite a few places to shop/browse that included Steinmart, the Waterside Shops, Coastland Center, and Books a Million. I think I spent the most at the book store! I did enjoy going to the pet store in Coastland Center. You don't see pet stores in malls very often and they had so many cute puppies! I wanted to cuddle them all!

Last night we went Roy's Hawaiian Fusion. MMMMMMMM... What an incredible place. When we made reservations there was a place for "special occasion" - so we put it was my birthday. The entire staff seemed to know. They put streamers on our table, I got a free appetizer and a free desert, and every staff member that came to our table wished me a happy birthday! Here's a picture of my desert... (the only picture taken all day!)


We didn't get a sunset last night - it was cloudy and smoky! There are wildfires burning here in Florida, so the sky was like the sky in California in October. It even smelled like home. It seems clearer this morning, so hopefully they're getting the fires under control.

Well, I need to get packing. Next blog will be from California!

Naples - Day 2

We got up a little earlier today - not much! We ate breakfast around noon!! We then headed to the Naples Zoo. If you know me very well, you know I was raised with a wide variety of animals and I love them! Read about all that by clicking on Fultz's Funny Farm and McElhaney's Menagerie!

The Naples Zoo is not extremely large, but they had quite a few things we enjoy. Two of my favorite animal types - big cats and primates!

We got to see a lion being fed. The trainer is the grandson of the founders of the Naples Zoo and has been working with big cats since he was a child. He said there is a picture of him as a toddler with a baby leopard!

We then wandered around the zoo, checking out the tigers, leopards, alligators, porcupines, gazelles, wallabies, and Madagascar's Fosa.

Another highlight was the Primate Expedition Cruise. We road a boat around Primate Islands. The primates are free to roam the islands because they can't swim so there is no danger of them escaping!

We also enjoyed a Predator Show. One of the predators that didn't seem like a predator was the hedgehog which kills cobras!

On our way out, we took one more pass by the lions and he was very active. He then started roaring! If you've never been near a lion when it roars, it is truly a sight and sound!!

This evening we ate overlooking the ocean, watched the sunset on the beach and then walked a while. I don't know if we can get any limper... Unfortunately Les has to get up early tomorrow - it's work time for him! I've been keeping track of stores I want to visit!!

Naples - Day 1

We started our day very slowly. So slowly that we didn't eat breakfast until 11:00 - California time! That's 2:00 here!! We then tried to find a Naples Trolley stop to ride the trolley. We finally found one, and missed the trolley by about 30 seconds. We decided to chase the trolley to the next stop, well the driver was in a hurry and it was the third stop before we finally got on! It was a fun way to acclimate ourselves to Naples - a full two-hour tour.

We spent this evening at the Ritz Carlton Beach Resort (we're staying that the Ritz Golf Resort). We enjoyed dinner looking over the Gulf, then walked down to the beach to view the sunset. Just after the sunset, a bell was rung and everyone applauded. Les said, "we're giving God a hand!" We walked on the beach for about an hour after sunset and are now retired to our room. A very fun day!