Vacation, Finally! (part 1)

After spending the first half of the summer house/dog-sitting, working at school trying to get organized for next year, babysitting, and working at the Ox and Rabbit, it is FINALLY vacation time! The second half of the summer is vacation time and travel time. I am just now returning from spending a week visiting my dad in Naples, Florida and spending 5 days with friends in Captiva, Florida. I'll be back for a few days and then am taking a weekend trip up to DC. Then a week from now I'll be on my way to Chicago to visit my friendship soulmate and best friend in-law. Then it'll almost be time for school to start, which just seems absolutely crazy!

The week that I spent with my dad in Naples was absolutely marvelous. My dad prepared home cooked meals almost every night, which were delicious! I slept in almost every day until 10:30am or later. I vegged out in front of the TV at night, watching a plethora of NCIS and other criminal investigative shows with dad. We laid by the pool, went bike riding around downtown Naples, walked around the new Botanical Gardens, spent a day on the boat, saw 3 movies in the theater (more than I've seen or probably will see at a theater this year!) and relaxed at home.

I didn't take a ton of pictures the week I spent with my dad, but I did take pictures the day we walked around the Botanical Gardens for 2 hours in 100+ degree heat. My favorite quote from dad that day, as we are walking around sweating profusely: "I guess when you've seen one plant, you've pretty much seen them all." We were going to walk around "Corkscrew swamp" later in the week, but the walk around the Botanical Gardens pretty much solidified our nature quota for the week.

I took some great pictures while we walked around the Botanical Gardens, so I hope you enjoy them--maybe even more than my dad and I did because you won't be pouring sweat while you're looking at them. 


When we left the Botanical Gardens, sweaty and dehydrated, we stopped by this general store to get refreshing, ice cold drinks. Dad wanted to make sure this picture made it onto my camera, as he said: "This will be the best picture of the day!"

Thanks for making it happen Dad! And thanks for a great Naples Vacation!!