[I kept a bit of a diary of our honeymoon 10 years ago. I think I will share it, sort of "as it happened". There are 11 installments. Enjoy.]
After leaving the Airport Ramada Inn (who are keeping our car for us while we visit sunny Florida), we proceed to the airport proper, where we visit the local McDonald’s for breakfast after checking in for our flight. Sally chooses the ham egg and cheese bagel and a large diet Coke, and I have a bacon egg and cheese biscuit and a diet Coke. The quality is, well, standard McFare.
Sally has a bottle of Asti Spumante in her backpack and I notice that the wrapper and wire have been removed (the bottle otherwise having not been opened). When we reach the gate we ask the nice lady at the desk if this is going to be a problem (I have visions of the cork popping out when we reach altitude). After checking with the flight crew she says "No problem!"
Our flight is American Trans Air 455 from Indy to Fort Myers, where we will pick up our rental car and then proceed to Naples. After a fifteen-minute delay while the flight crew replace a battery in one of the exit signs, we take the interminable drive to the other end of the state and take off. A fairly uneventful two hours and 10 minutes later, we touch down in Fort Myers, only about six minutes late. Totally nice flight crew and one of the best flights I’ve ever been on.
Our baggage collected, we hop the Alamo bus to the rental yard about two miles away. During the trip we see standing water everywhere, and in some places you can tell that small lakes and ponds are over their banks because the shoreline trees are surrounded with water. Tropical Storm Gordon had gone through the night before and dumped about six to eight inches of rain in the Fort Myers area.
When we reach the rental yard, Sally sees a red Blazer sitting in the parking lot and says "You could upgrade to that and I wouldn’t be upset." Being a large rental car person myself, I don’t have a problem with that, and the very friendly and efficient folk in the Alamo office are pleased to upgrade us to a 2001 Blazer (silver, not red) with only about 4500 miles on it. Much as I dislike GM products I have to admit that this is a honey of a vehicle, and Sally likes it too :)
A thirty-mile drive later down I-75 and we are in Naples. Naples is a quaint little Florida town that has only recently been "discovered" by the retirement and tourist set (according to my wifey). There are (I think) three four-lane roads and lots of neighborhoods to drive through before we reach her parents' condo on Gulfshore Drive, near Lowdermilk Park and just up the street from First Watch--
We spend a few hours at the condo and then drive up towards Venetian Way where Sally says there is a great ice cream shoppe. As it turns out, it's a Ben and Jerry's in a fashionable little outdoor mall (the malls here seem to be primarily of the outdoor type, on the San Diego model--the problem is that, unlike in San Diego when I was there twenty years ago and liked the concept, it's HOT and MUGGY even after the sun goes down here in September). We decide to walk around the mall and find that most of the shops are closed (it's not yet 8 PM) because we’re here "out of season". So we go home and watch the Olympics and generally are lazy until bedtime.
