Seeing Friends is Why We Are Here

The whole idea of traveling to Ft.Myers was purely about seeing friends and family. Yesterday and today were perfect days to do just that.

First off we had the opportunity to see an old boss of Keith's from the Coast Guard. He and his wife, plus 3 friends met with us for dinner. We met right outside Sanibel Island at a bar called Bimini Bait Shack, which was super cool! They had live music on an elevated stage, the bar was an actual fish tank with live fish and the seats were swings. 

Today, my best friend of 25+ years and her family joined us at the condo for a day of beach time, grilling and swimming. The kids played ping pong and pool before we grilled burgers for lunch. Then we all walked over to the beach to watch the guys and kids wrestle and bury Hector in the sand. Keith forgot how old he was and chased the kids all over the beach - pretty sure he is going to be sore tomorrow! ;)

We all walked away sun burnt and happy and I can't wait till they come back next weekend for THE WHOLE WEEKEND. It's going to be so much fun!!

Our Roadtrip Across the US

Our roadtrip started September 9th from Seattle to FL last 32 days and was over 6500 miles. We visited 25 States.  Weleft Seattle on September 9th with all we could fit in our Hyundai Santa Fe along with our two dogs, Lionel and Chance.

I won't bore you with details of each stop but I will lay out where we went:

Seattle, WA - (drove through Idaho) - Montana - Wyoming - South Dakota (we drove by Mt. Rushmore) - (drove through Minnesota and Wisconsin (we stopped for cheese and a pink elephant!)) - Illinois (we went to see our friend Jessie and to see a Cubs game) - (drove through Indiana and stopped at our favorite candy company) - Ohio (we stayed here for 10 days with my folks - we went to a Reds game, drove to KY for a day, went to a beer festival and spent lots of time with the fam) - Pennsylvania (Stayed in Hershey and then stopped to see the Flight 93 Memorial) - Connecticut (Lunch with Keith's Coast Guard buddy, Bill, and then dinner at Mystic Pizza) - New Hampshire (stayed in Salem by accident, apparently there is more than one Salem in that area. Either way we still visited Salem, MA. We also made a day trip to Portland, Maine where we had the BEST lobster roll and oysters. On our way back to the hotel we spent a few hours in Kennebunkport. We spent one day in Boston as well where we went to a Red Sox game. One the way to RI, we drove through Cape Cod so I could see it.) - Rhode Island (We went to the Coast Guard base to look for the Willow, but it wasn't there... We had dinner at one of Keith's old hangouts when he lived there.) - New Jersey (We had breakfast with our friend Bonnie and lunch with Keith's Uncle, we drove through NY and saw Manhattan from a distance) - Pennsylvania (We stayed in Philly but had dinner with one of Keith's friends) - (drove through Maryland and Delaware)  - Virginia (We stayed in an airbnb in a cute house on the water and we visited with friends in the area) - Tennessee (we stayed here several days so I could show Keith where I grew up, my college, high school and my friends threw a BBQ for us) -  (drove through Gerogia, planned to stop in Savannah for a night but hurricane Irma was happening so we skipped it and went through) - Florida (our final stop in Ocala at my Mom's)

Cubs game with Jessie!

Red's game with my dad!

BBQ in Nashville with friends!

BB