Jordan, Martha and Lydia

Sunday, February 28th

That morning, we had to decide where we were going to go to church, as the night before we had tossed around the ideas of going to two different churches. We finally decided on Bro Peary Greens former church, now pastored by Brother Jack Bell. As typical on a vacation, we arrived late. We definately knew it was the right church, as they had the pyramid on their church sign out front. I was feeling a little conspicuous as I wasn’t dressed up, but…oh well! We had to ring the doorbell to get in (a deacon let us in), and instead of marching us into a pew, he led us to the overflow room, and we didn’t really disturb anyone.

Afterwards in the Ladies bathroom, some of the sisters were asking me who I was, and as I had never introduced myself as “Martha Peterson” before, it felt like I was introducing myself with a fake name! It definately was strange! Sister Debbie Maxwell took me under her wing and was introducing me around to all the girls and such. Afterwards, the Maxwell family took us out to eat at a Tex-Mex restaurant (I STILL can’t figure out the difference between Tex-Mex and the other varieties of Mexican foods), and afterwards we went to their house. Apparently the Maxwells knew Jordan’s family from years before…even before Jordan was born. Sister Debbie had a sign in her kitchen that amused me. It read “I kiss better than I cook”! Needless to say, I got a big kick out of it! 😀

Shortly after we got there, we ended up going back out again, and viewing the sights of the city, where Bro Peary Green’s old church was, and various places where Brother Branham had been in the city. We got to the see the hotels in the story of the hotels where Brother Branham had asked Brother Green for a new hotel room because someone had committed adultery the night before in the room that they had given him. It was really neat.

After a bit more fellowship, we made our way to San Antonio, which was our halfway point, and were we had decided to spend 2 days instead of 1, for a little extra rest, and because Jordan liked the area. We figured it would be a good area to do a little activities. So…later that evening we pulled into the San Antonio area, booked a hotel room (Via Priceline) and went to our hotel which was right on the Riverwalk!

Now…I’ll admit, I’ve been to some nice hotels, and this one was a 3.5-4 star hotel, so it was pretty nice, and I’ve seen bellhops before, but these bellhops were just making me nervous! Seeing as how we were on a budget (aka being as cheap as possible), we were going to bring our own luggage in, parking in self park to save a few dollars. So, Jordan parks at one of the entrances, and goes to check in, leaving me in the car with the laptop as I was blogging. There were two bellhops stalking the front entrance. Note to self: Don’t make eye contact. One very enterprising one came up to the window (which was rolled up, it was a little chilly), and asked if I needed the luggage brought it, and I had to explain that Jordan was in checking in, and we would be bringing our own luggage in. Talk about making people uncomfortable! Those Superior looks makes you almost want to have them bring your luggage in! I was glad to see Jordan! But we still had to walk past them pulling our luggage in! EEK! :-/

As it was late, we didn’t get to see too much until the next morning. We were quite tired, as Texas is huge!

Saturday, February 27, 2010

                The next morning morning we ended up sleeping in a little, and I think that was partially due to the fact that we had just switched time zones, and we were looking mostly at the clock, and not on what our bodies were telling us. We decided to have a light breakfast of yogurt and fruit in our hotel room. I have a special story to tell about that: We didn’t have much plasticware to eat with on the trip, and though I had SOME…we didn’t have a set of plastic spoons to eat the yogurt with. Jordan went downstairs to look to see what I did have, and came back up carrying a packet of plastic ware…that had 2 spoons in it! It was amazing to us how the Lord decided to see to even our small needs.

After our breakfast, we headed downstairs to check out of the hotel.  When he had checked in, Jordan had told me that there was a plaque on the wall to that particular hotel from the Secret Service team of Laura Bush, thanking them. When we checked out, I was able to get a picture of it, knowing full well that Mom would LOVE to see that! 😀  After checking out, we went to the nearby Target to get a small cooler for our anniversary cake that we picked up from Mom and Dad Tamblingson while stopping through Ocala. Very shortly after that, we headed to a gas station and filled up on gas, and got ice for the ice chest for the cake. Also while we were there, Jordan got me an Alabama Keychain to add to my collection. I was really tickled because I didn’t recall an Alabama keychain in my collection. I ALMOST got a Mosquito Trap, so that I could make my own Mosquito fur coat, but decided that I didn’t want a mosquito fur coat, so I passed that up.  :p

                We were very close to the state line, so it wasn’t long until we were riding along merrily in Mississippi. (An amusing note here is after we got into Alabama, Jordan kept calling it “Mississippi”, and when we got to Mississippi, he was making comments about Alabama, to the point to where even I was getting confused! :p) Fortunately, both Alabama and Mississippi are very easy states to travel through, especially if it is just the tip that you are traveling through. After having traveled through Georgia (North and South) it made the Alabama/Mississippi trip seem very short.

                During our ride through Mississippi, we stopped at the Gulf of Mexico, just off I-10. It  was really neat to see the Gulf from another perspective!

                On the drive to the Gulf, we passed some fairly desolate places, including buildings that looked completely abandoned. Jordan was amazed at them, until I reminded him that they were probably from the hurricanes.

                We drove along a residential street along the Gulf, and there were some beautiful homes, and in striking contrast, there were some very desolate homes. It was very interesting, because on the way, we passed what appeared to be an abandoned safe, with the huge, steel, rusty door hanging open. After we had stopped at the gulf and walked up to the beach and back, we drove slowly by the object again so that Jordan could see it. He confirmed that yes… it was an old safe. We both marveled over the seemingly unusual, lone object, and why it was there, and unused.

                One of the locations that we stopped at in Mississippi was the John C. Stennis Space Center in Hancock County, Mississippi, near the Mississippi/Louisiana border. It was a very random stop, and it was neat to go and see. They do a lot of Engine testing there at the Stennis Space Center, and to see their facilities. The reason that they chose the Mississippi/Louisiana property was because it was so sparsely populated, and they needed a lot of spread out land to test their engines without a lot of people knowing. We spent about an hour and a half there. One of the neat things was, while we were there waiting for the shuttle to take us around the base, we met another couple who had just gotten married…only She was from Tucson, AZ and he was from Orlando, Florida, and they were on their way back from Arizona, moving her to Florida! We just found that very amusing, as I was from Ocala, Florida moving to Tucson Arizona with MY sweetheart who was from Tucson.

I’ve learned that Jordan is very off the beaten path when he wants to be. To travel on a whim is something that I wasn’t very familiar with. After getting into Louisiana, we saw the signs heading towards New Orleans, and saw signs for the Superdome. Jordan decided to take a side trip to go see the Superdome (or rather, to show me the Superdome), and on the way, we were going to look for a Subway, one of our favorite places to eat.

We got off of the interstate, and followed the signs. We ALMOST stopped at a little Subway that we saw along the way, but my southern ways of “If it looks unfriendly, don’t go there” kicked in, and I decided I didn’t want to eat at that particular Subway in that particular neighborhood. So we kept going, and eventually ended up passing right by the Superdome, right in front of it. It was really fascinating to see such a huge place, and what was even more bizarre is my fascination in things that I really don’t have much interest in, except for the appreciation value that I have in knowing that even if the people I know would love to be there can’t be, I can be there for them, and tell them about it.

So we decided to get back on the interstate, but ended up traveling through downtown New Orleans, because of traffic flow and following the road signs. It was really neat to see the various buildings, and traffic, and the people walking around in the city. I will have to admit, I am more of a country girl!

As we were traveling through New Orleans, all of the sudden, we hit heavy traffic, and we couldn’t understand why. It was a Saturday, and we just couldn’t figure out what was going on, until we figured that there was probably a car accident along the way. As we kept going, we realized that we were correct…sort of. As we passed by, it looked like there was a little city mini travel vehicle that had just barely hit what looked to be something like a Hyundai Sonata, or a similar car. There were police vehicles, an ambulance, and all sorts of people standing about. When I looked, there didn’t seem to be any sort of damage to either vehicle. I was puzzled, but okay. It’s New Orleans, I’m not going to question what they do.

After passing by that “Accident”, the traffic seemed to flow a bit better, but it was still heavy. As we were following the flow, we ended up going by this busy looking building…and then I realized WHY it was busy looking: It was Harrah’s, a casino. (The name sounded familiar, but I think that is because I’ve looked through travel magazines, and I’ve probably seen the name before.) I was glad to get passed that though! But just when I thought that we were done, and getting out, we hit our worst snarl…as we discovered that we were passing through The French Quarters.

I have never seen people so unconcerned about traffic before! They just walk around, expecting these huge city busses to know what they are doing, and apparently they do, as they travel in normal speed around the crowds standing on the edges of the street! There were quite a few horse and carriage rides offered there in the French Quarters, and though the lights would change to red, the tour guides would just let the horses keep walking or trotting right in the middle of traffic, right through stop lights! Often, we’d watch the tour guides just talking to the people, barely even holding the reigns and not even watching as the horse guided itself through the busy traffic.

We crept through the French Quarters, stop and go traffic, and we saw this crowd of probably 200-300 people standing on the side of the street, at a mini-amphitheatre spot in the city where it seemed that this person was doing tricks and such of the sort. Jordan and I were both worried that someone would misstep backwards onto the street and fall into one of the oncoming busses!

Just when we thought that it couldn’t get worse, suddenly there was a policeman on a motorcycle that appeared and stopped traffic (which didn’t make TOO much of a difference, the only speed slower than what we were going was stopped.) As we sat there and tried to figure out what was going on, we heard this mini band, and as we looked, out of a side street came this 5-6 piece band…and right behind them came this bride and groom, their bridal party, and the guests! We watched as they marched across the street, and up the bridge where the crowd of people had just dispersed from only minutes before. After they crossed, the police opened up the street, and within minutes we were out of the French Quarters, and finally went on our way! We were on the interstate for a few minutes, and decided that we should get something to eat before going too much further. After spending just a few minutes looking for a Subway, we decided to not push our luck, and stopped at the best Taco Bell that I’ve ever been to! Jordan and I were both thoroughly impressed with the friendliness and promptness of the staff, as well as the cleanliness of the place. If I had to go eat at a Taco Bell…anywhere in the world again, I’d love to go back to that one!

We stopped in Lafayette for the night. Once again, we were relieved to stop for the night. We had had a very full day of traveling, and seeing sights (whether it was our plan or not) and it was good just to get some rest!

Friday, February 26th

                We met Mom and Dad at Cracker Barrel that morning for breakfast.  I was excited to see that Dad had a copy of Uncle Floyd’s photos of our wedding. Uncle Floyd had mailed them to Dad after the wedding, and they had just arrived on Thursday, so Dad said that he would copy them for us so that we would have them to take back with us.

                After an unusually large breakfast, Jordan and I went to the office to say “bye” to everyone. I was very surprised at how changed around my old office was, but I was very pleased to know that the office that I had left was in better, more capable hands. After many hugs and goodbye’s, and see-you-in-July’s. Jordan and I finally got on the interstate heading North. I don’t recall much of the trip that day, probably because not much happened and I was tired, but we passed familiar territory, such as Gainesville, and then later got into heavier cities, and I saw names of ones that I recognized, especially Tallahassee. (I’d hope that I’d recognize Tallahassee…it is the state capitol!)  We did pull over in Tallahassee and get gas. I was a little concerned that we’d get stuck in traffic and not be able to get back on the interstate, but that was always an old childhood fear, before I understood how to read highway signs. As much as I’m able to read road signs now, I’m still in awe of my Dad and Jordan for being able to read the road signs and just know where to go.

                We did push to see how far that we could go, and we ended up in Mobile, Alabama. We had pulled over in Mobile, and had traveled through the streets, paroling for available internet, and as soon as we found it, we booked our hotel, pulled our directions to the place, and we were on our way. I remember marveling through the darkness at the beauty of the barely visible houses along the streets where we were traveling.

                About 10-15 minutes of driving after booking our room, we pulled in at a Wendy’s for dinner. There are times that food tastes good, and at that point, I wasn’t exceptionally hungry, but it did taste good! I had a new menu item, some buffalo chicken, and I will admit, it did taste good, and I thought it went rather well with my chocolate Frosty. 🙂 I did have a bite of Jordan’s hamburger, and it tasted fairly good too.

                When we got to our hotel (which was just around the corner of the Wendy’s where we had dinner), it was a relief to stop driving, and go to bed!

Thursday, February 25th

                We had to be out by 11am as there were guests that had booked the room behind us, so we spent the morning folding and packing clothes, and packing up the china and silverware, and making sure that all of the dishes that we had used there were cleaned and at least drying in the sink. Then we carted everything downstairs, and Jordan backed up the vehicle, and we spent the little bit just packing everything up into the vehicle, as by the time we had unloaded everything, the vehicle was nearly empty!

                After we had loaded up the vehicle, we decided to take the Ferry over to Palm Island and drive around one more time, because we had the pass that still had a few punches left in it. So, we drove the quarter mile to the ferry, and rode over.

                This time, instead of Jordan taking the route that we normally would have gone on, he took a side road, and went onto one of the other, littler islands that was all private property. It was amusing to him to see all of the houses up on stilts, and we took some pictures. Then after taking our pictures, we headed back to where the main office for the resort was, but didn’t get out of the vehicle this time, but turned around in their parking lot, as we had seen everything that we had wanted to see on the main part of the resort itself. So we drove slowly back through the Island to get back to the ferry, when Jordan asked if we wanted to stop and get out at the “ocean” again. (by that time, I had started calling it the ocean too!  😀 )

                We got out and walked the beach to the water. The wind was blowing, and when we got up closer to the water, we could see the sand being blown across the ground. For those of us who had exposed leg of any kind, it felt like you were being gently sandblasted on your skin. I unrolled my socks up as far as they would go, and that helped, but the stinging sand still made its presence known. It was so windy that it had become rather chilly, and as much as I love the expansive water of the Gulf, I was very glad to get back to the safe confines of the warm car!

                We drove off the island, and started making our way up to Ocala, which was nearly 4 hours away. On our way up, we tried contacting my Uncle Floyd and Aunt Audrey Tamblingson, but Aunt Audrey was out and about, and Uncle Floyd had an appointment within 30-45 minutes of when we called, so we weren’t able to stop by like we would have liked too.

                We got to Ocala in the early evening, but decided to check into our hotel first. But that required a Priceline bid…which required internet access…so we drove around until we found an available network, and booked our hotel. By the way…anyone who has never had the excitement and thrill of an internet search to do a Priceline bid…you haven’t lived until you have. (by the way…there was a little dry humor in there. 😀 I love you Jordan, and I really didn’t mind it at all.)

We then went and unloaded at our hotel, and then went down the Boulevard to have dinner at Zaxby’s. (oh…just saying the name makes my mouth water…”Big Zax Snack” and “Wings and Things” are only fond memories at this point. I wonder what I could do to convince someone to build a Zaxby’s out here!) We then went to Grandma and Granddaddy’s for a visit, and while we were there, we went to Granny Audrey’s to say hello, and to give her a hug.

                Granny Audrey was really tickled that we stopped by, and Jordan and I had a nice conversation with her and Grandma. I will have to admit, one of my favorite parts of the conversation was when Jordan and Grandma were talking, and Granny Audrey (who was sitting next to me on the couch on my right) leaned over and kinda giggled, and said in a low whisper “I don’t have my bottom teeth in. I forgot to put them in.” 😀

                We then walked the moonlit path from Granny Audrey’s house to Grandma and Granddaddy’s, where we sat and talked for another little bit before deciding that we really needed to get to Mom and Dad’s house to load everything of mine up in the vehicle.

                When we got to the house, it seemed like there was no one there, but as we had the garage door opener and a key (Which we did return :p) we went in, and discovered a very primped up Abigail in the bathroom, playing with her hair. We also discovered that they had brought ALL off the decorations from the wedding and the reception home…which meant we spend the next hour or so separating out Sis Michelle Stemen’s decorations from my own, and getting it all wound up on the bolts and such (during which time, we had a piece of the cake that was leftover from the reception.)

                By the time we nearly had it all wound up and put together, Mom and Dad had arrived home, and we spent some time talking about the wedding, and the Wallaces and Sangers and everyone who had stopped by and who was there. Katie and Isaiah had walked in a few minutes before Mom and Dad, so Abigail wasn’t burdened with entertaining us the entire time.

                Before we left, Dad had made a disc with a copy of all the pictures that he had taken of the wedding, as well as giving us the pictures from John Roach, our photographer. He also showed us his pictures, and I was delighted to see that there was a lot of really nice pictures. Of course, it was a little odd to think that those wedding pictures were of ME!

                Even though it was a little late heading to the hotel (try 11pm) we decided to stop by and see Reuben at the office. He was still down there, working on some printing, and was delighted to open the door and see some friendly, human faces at such an unusual, and lonely work hour. We spent the next hour in cheery conversation, Jordan and Reuben talking about unusual circumstances that had happened, and management things at the office. I had to put on my “sad, tired little girl” face with a pleading look, and a whimper or two, for him to reluctantly break away from the invigorating conversation to take me to go get some sleep!

Wednesday, February 24th

                The next morning, we took our time in getting up, just lazing around, simply because we could. It was nice not to be on any time frames, and just go where we wanted to, when we wanted to. As it was Jordan’s 27th birthday, I was able to give him the birthday card that I had had for several months, just waiting to give to him.

After a little while, we decided to go out on a walk. There was a “private” pool for the residents and guests for Palm Island, but as usual, a “private pool” is open access to all guests, so it really wasn’t entirely private. There was a hot tub there as well, so we decided (After having sat in the sun to take the chill out of the breeze) to go dangle our feet in the hot tub. We were joking about the people in the restaurant, guessing that they must be thinking we were two random kids just walking about, and didn’t even belong to the place.

After a few minutes of the delightfully warm water, and the tingle of the water jets in the hot tub causing our feet to dance in the water, we decided to head back to the condo, and while walking up the steps, I heard this splashing sound. I turned around to see what it was, and saw some water stirring by one of the boats, but it didn’t look like it was caused by one of the giant forklifts setting the boat into the water, but it sounded and looked more like a fish had jumped….only it looked like it was caused by a really REALLY big fish. So I watched, and a few moments later, a dolphin surfaced! I excitedly called to Jordan, and he raced down the steps to see, then raced back into the condo to get the camera, while I raced down the steps to the dock closest to the dolphin to get a better look. Jordan came racing back out with the camera, and even though we weren’t able to get the pictures we wanted, we did get a few to show the dolphin heading back out to the straight between the island and mainland. We were excited, and I figured that anyone that had been in the restaurant across the marina must have been amused to see two young people racing about!

Tuesday, February 23rd

 As we had planned a formal dinner for one of the nights, we had decided that Tuesday was the night that we were going to do it. We lazed around the house, went on a walk around the marina admiring all of the beautiful boats that were moored there, and ended up going back around 4pm.  I started pulling out the dishes that I had brought.

When I had first found out that we were going to be staying 4 days in a place where there was a kitchenette, I had wanted to do a fancy dinner, and use the fine china and crystal that I had been collecting over the past 4 years or so. A few weeks before the wedding, I had packed aside all of the dishes that I had wanted to bring.

I started washing the dishes, plates, serving dishes, the crystal glasses and sorbet glasses, and the sterling silverware that Momma had given to me at my bridal shower. Jordan pulled out the glasses that he had engraved with our names and the wedding date, and the serving dishes from the set of everyday silverware that Grandpa and Grandma Peterson had given us back at Christmas time. I knew it was going to take more time to set up the table than to cook the meal, so I started on the table first! :p

Jordan and I both agreed that we wanted to move the table out to the deck to eat as it was so beautiful outside, so he moved all of the patio furniture inside while I moved most of the chairs to the side, and we both moved the table together. Then I took and cleaned and polished the top of the glass, to make it extra shiny and clean before I started placing out the china.

I had so much fun taking the plates and silverware, and lining them up and making them perfect. After I placed out the silverware, china, and crystal glasses,  I started putting out the candles and candlestick holders. I kept stopping, admiring, and excitedly pointing out to Jordan the various sparkles in the crystal, or the vivid colors of the china.

After setting the table, I could finally prepare the dinner with peace of mind, knowing that the table was all prepared. I joined Jordan in the kitchen, making the garlic bread, cutting bell peppers for salad, putting the spaghetti sauce on the stove to simmer, cutting broccoli for a snack, and putting water on the stove to boil the pasta.

It is such a successful, content feeling, to have a happy, clean kitchen, a nice dinner in process in the kitchen, and a quiet, peaceful CD on, and Jordan helping me in the kitchen.

Jordan went to the room to go get dressed for dinner while I started the corn on the stove and getting the pasta on to cook. Within a short period of time, we were starting to put the food in the dishes, and I went to get dressed while Jordan lit the candles on the table. He and I both put the finishing touches on dinner, and stood back to admire our handiwork.

I can’t remember a prettier table, and the pictures that we took will never record half of the beauty that I’ll remember for the rest of my life, with the clear tabletop, the sparkling crystal goblets, the glow of the candles, the shimmer of the George and Martha Washington silverware, the vivid colors of the reds, burgundies, yellows and whites of the Old Country Roses china, and the beautiful contrast of the red sauce, the yellow corn, the creamy garlic toast, the brown of the whole wheat pasta, the dark healthy green of the broccoli with the contrast of the ranch dip, and the dark red burning candles, against a dark background of the setting sun, the white boats, and the shimmering water.

We very thoroughly enjoyed that dinner! That night for dessert, we brought out the honeymoon cake that Pam Greenwell had made for us, and thoroughly enjoyed the rich, Chocolate chocolate chip cake with the buttercream icing, a miniature version of the bottom layer of cakes at the reception. Overall, the evening was thoroughly enjoyed, very peaceful, and will linger in our memories as the highlight of our honeymoon.

Monday, February 22nd

The next morning, we had a late breakfast of fruit, yogurt, and orange juice out on the screened-in deck, just sitting back, enjoying the morning, and all of the random people coming out and either mowing, blowing the clippings, spraying off the different boats, and just watching the giant forklifts as they carried the various boats to and from the water. I didn’t think that they made forklifts that large!

Later, after cleaning up the dishes and straightening up a bit, (and after I had washed and brushed the curls out of my hair!) we headed over to Palm Island. We took our ferry pass, and drove over, and they had a ferry that was just waiting to go over! Perfect timing! We drove up onto the small ferry (Which holds about 4-6 vehicles) and then watched as it finished loading up, and looked around like little kids as the ferry slowly pulled out of the dock, and turned around to head into the other dock. The total drive was about 7-10 minutes, but it didn’t feel like that long. We had a talkative ferry-master, and he was very nice and told us how to get to Palm Island Resorts main office. After backing off the ferry, we turned around and followed one of the other vehicles to where we were supposed to go.

I’ll have to admit, the only other place that I’ve seen such nice beachside homes were in Amelia Island, the northernmost island in Florida. We were just in awe of the homes, as each one that we passed just seemed to be more beautiful, and more unique than the last!

We parked at the main entrance, (as they don’t allow any motor vehicles other than golf carts in the resort) and proceeded to walk into the main resort. Almost immediately, there was a path off to the beach, which we decided to take. It was only a short walk to the beach, (about 200 feet). The wind was blowing, and you could see the mist from the water blowing onto the island. Jordan was in awe of the ocean, until I reminded him that it was the Gulf of Mexico, in which he stated that because he was from the desert, all large bodies of water are the ocean! 😀

After walking around for a while, admiring the various beautiful homes, we decided that we were going to step inside the little island resort store to warm from the blowing ocean wind. The store was a little cozy store, somewhat dark inside with a small variety of inflatable water toys, and miscellaneous whatnots. The young woman who greeted us seemed a little bored with being there all by herself, and after Jordan asking a few questions, she seemed glad for the company and started chatting. A minute or so later, a young man walked in behind the counter where she was making our hot chocolate, and soon Jordan, I, the young woman and the young man were in a conversation.

After we were warmed, we went back outside, and headed upstairs to the restaurant on the upper level of the building to find out about their sunset tour via boat. It was amusing, because the little cafe sent us upstairs to the restaurant to get more information about the sunset tour. We went upstairs to the restaurant, and they gave us a little more information, but told us that we really needed to go to the main office to get more information. So we went to the main office to get that “more information” only to have the front office people roll their eyes because the restaurant sent another couple them to get information that they really didn’t have. I was amused at how much people didn’t have information.

Of course,  when the lady had asked us if we knew where the front office was, and Jordan told her where it was, I was exceptionally proud of Jordan when she said “You are the first person to tell ME where it is!”

After getting back from the Island, dinner was quickly determined, and taco salad was underway! We sat at the glass-topped dining table, eating our taco salad and enjoying the breeze, the setting sun, and the beautiful boats ever so gently moving in the tide.

Sunday, February 21st

The next day we checked out, and started our trip to Harbortown. On our way through Boca Raton, we stopped to eat Jordan’s favorite cuisine for lunch: All-you-can-eat Buffet! 😀 Afterwards we headed down to Publix where we did some grocery shopping. I have always enjoyed grocery shopping with Jordan, but I thoroughly enjoyed this trip! Our mid-sized cooler filled up fairly quickly with food for the week.

We then moseyed our way to Harbortown. We found Palm Island Resorts, but as it was Sunday, the rental place wasn’t open, so Jordan went and asked at one of the nearby restaurants where he should go, and they told them that they usually left the packets with information and keys available for when people would come in when the office was closed. We went back over and Jordan quickly located the packet.

When we got in, we discovered that the dining area had two sliding doors that opened up onto a screened in porch which overlooked one side of the marina. Very shortly, all of the windows and those doors were opened, and we had a beautiful cool breeze lazing through the house. We very quickly got settled in, but as we had such a large lunch around 2ish, we decided we weren’t very hungry for dinner, so we just enjoyed the evening, and watching the people below us as they moved about their boats.

Saturday, February 20th

The first night we left the reception hall (after many people threatened to kick us out :p) and, made our way to Punta Gorda to Four Points by Sheriton, just outside of Port Charlotte. Jordan checked in and went and got a luggage cart, and loaded it up, and then took me and the luggage cart inside the lobby, which was fairly empty except for the front desk receptionist, and about 3 people at the bar they had inside. I felt fairly self conscious as I was still wearing my wedding gown (though I had already taken off my veil), and I felt  even more self conscious when the  people at the bar started waving. (I guess it was their way of congratulating.)

Our room was beautiful, decorated with a nautical theme, with blues, whites and greens. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more spacious, well decorated bathroom in a hotel. It was very simply done, with an open counter under the sink, with the [typical white hotel] towels rolled up in baskets under the sink.  The door was very interesting, as it was a sliding door, with a round window up near the top. 

There were two window seats on either side of the huge picture window, with several white and blue or white and green pillows. I didn’t get to enjoy the view until the next morning, where I could see out into the port, and see the water from our hotel room. As we didn’t have batteries for the camera just yet, I didn’t get to take a picture of the room.

So, illness here we are, ed a year later. It is amazing how much has happened! So last year I was blogging our honeymoon days, so I am going to post our honeymoon days as they happened. Enjoy! 🙂