Travel Adventures: June Edition

Back in March, my boss decided that we had all worked really hard this year, so she decided to gift us with an extra week of paid vacation time. Now I know a good deal when I see one, so I took her gift and didn't think twice about it. I told my best friend, Heather, that I had a week I was required to take in June, and that we should plan a little trip somewhere. One of the benefits of my job is the insane amount of hotel points I accrue throughout the year, pretty much enough to take me almost anywhere in the world I want to go for at least a week. Again...off I run with my free hotel points.

So we were throwing ideas back and forth. Bar Harbor, ME, North Conway, NH...then it started to get real adult. Heather suggested Sanibel Island, FL, I suggested Germany and Yellowstone...and so on and so forth. I figured we were just kidding around, when one Sunday night at her house (we get together almost every Sunday night for dinner/HBO, it's pretty awesome) and she suggested Marco Island, FL. I had never heard of it so I looked it up and found it to be breathtaking. Well wouldn't you know it...I looked up ticket prices on Trip Advisor and round trip tickets were just about $250 bucks...HELLO! The next morning we had 2 round-trip tickets and 5 days/4 nights booked at the Marco Island Marriott Resport, Spa, and Golf Course. It has been 5 years since Heather and I had gone on a trip together, and we felt we were long overdue.

The trip was exactly what I/we needed. And while we missed our loved ones at home, it was nice to experience something new. On the morning of June 5, we woke up at 5am and made my mom cart us to the airport in Boston. I am pretty sure I slept about 45 seconds that night because I was so excited to go lay on a beach for five days and work on browning my skin. We had a 30 min. layover in Newark, and then we were on our way to Ft. Meyers! Heather's Auntie Sandy was gracious enough to come pick us up at the airport and bring us to our hotel.

Cabin Fever on the plane...get it??

 When we pulled up to the hotel, I literally had no words. It was gorgeous! The hotel staff was super friendly and gave us an awesome room with an even more awesome view. Heather's aunt took us to this restaurant right on the beach, appropriately named Quinn's on the Beach, where we enjoyed lunch and cocktails before she took us to the grocery store so we could buy stuff to eat breakfast and lunch. She left shortly after and from there Heather and I decided we wanted to explore the hotel and beach area for a little while.

View from our balcony. Thank you Marriott.

We decided to go to the beach right away, as it was literally right out the back door of the hotel. They had a little hut set up where you could get towels and beach chairs and once again, the service was excellent. While we didn't use it at that time, on other trips to the beach the staff really went above and beyond. And nothing could describe the feeling I felt when I stepped into the 80 degree water and was able to enjoy relaxing time with one of my very best friends. The water was an absolutely gorgeous blue color and I literally could have swam for hours. We spent about an hour looking for the "perfect" shells and then headed off to go to dinner. We decided to go back to Quinn's and listen to live music while eating dinner.

Hello, Gulf Coast :)

In addition to the gorgeous view, the whole facility was awesome. They had outdoof fire pits, two pools with waterfalls, palm trees, and sand sculptures in the hotel! I honestly couldnt believe that we were able to stay there for almost a week. There were 5 restaurants, shops, a cafe, and a shopping plaza right down the road where we had the most amazing mexican food on Wednesday night.

I dont know who the heck is in my picture.

Firepit

Yep. That's sand.

The next day was an unexpected and welcome surprise by Heather's Aunt and Uncle. We were all prepared to spend the day by the pool when Heather's Aunt called and said we were being picked up at 2:00 to go sightseeing around Marco Island and Naples. Her uncle took us all around the mansions and showed us how the locals live. It was awesome! He also took us to the Naples pier and to the downtown Naples area where all of the expensive and completley out of my budget shopping was. It's nice pretend though, right? :)

Naples Pier

 We headed to Tin City for dinner and shopping. We ate at this amazing restaurant called Riverwalk, where I had an incredible tilapia dish. So. good. I highly recommend it if you are in the area! Our waiter was okay, but the food was excellent and made up for him being kind of a tool. After dinner, Sandy and Dave took us on a sunset cruise...it was breathtaking. We cruised around Naples Bay, so more ridiculous homes that I will never own in a million years, and enjoyed the gorgeous weather. The best part of the tour was not only did we go out pretty far on the ocean to see the sunset, but we also saw tons of dolphins on the cruise! Heather got an awesome video of them jumping out of the water :) All in all, it was an absoluely amazing day!

Flipper



Beautiful end to a perfect day



The next two days went by quickly, but were filled with lounging by the pool, catching up on some much needed pleasure reading, and just spending time with my woman. I wont argue with going from the pool, to the beach, back to the pool, and maybe back to the beach one more time. We headed to FL with two objectives: to relax and to spend time together. I think it was a successful trip for sure.

Beautiful

 I would love to go back there again some day and truly recommend it to anyone who just wants to get away with no agenda. There were plenty of little shops in the area, but I don't know if I would recommend it as being too kid friendly. Our hotel absolutely was, with activities and children's pools that made kids and adutsl alike scream like they were being murdered, but the surrounding area as a whole is more of a lazy retirement town. We were sad to go home on Thursday, but happy to have had such a great experience. I can't wait until our next adventure. Love you, Heather Marie, thanks for making that trip on of the best I've ever had. Happy 15.5 years of friendship, here is to at least 84.5 more! (You're on your own at 100, I cant be bothered at that age.)

Est. 1995

Until next time.

Sunshine and smiles,

Cassie