Florida

It's hard to believe that our trip has come and gone already! Actually, it's easy to believe when I look outside and see snow after enjoying four days of absolutely no snow in sight. No snow, no clouds, no cold. It was glorious.

We stayed in Punta Gorda, which is on the Gulf Coast about 45 minutes from Fort Myers. We got there late Sunday morning, rented a car, then spent some time in Port Charlotte. We ate some crazy delicious gelato (which I've always used interchangeably with ice cream but discovered that gelato is much creamier because it's churned slower. Fun fact). For the first few hours we probably seemed like we were from Mars since we kept exclaiming things like "wow, trees!" and "look at all this green grass!" and "woah, flowers!!". It's been a long winter.

The next day was spent mostly in Fort Myers Beach where we walked around the town and hung out on the beach and relaxed. The place is full of seagulls and pelicans who must be used to being around so many people because they were anything but shy. One pelican flew right over to us and decided it was time to put on a talent show, so he flapped his wings and then proudly stood on one leg for a few seconds before looking at me like "did you see that?". He posed for awhile for photos:

On Tuesday, our last full day, we went to Sanibel Island. We rented bikes and rode around the whole island all day long, finally stopping at a beach for awhile. We ate breakfast and dinner outside and tried to soak up as much warmth and sunshine as possible. I wish my body had the ability to hoard Vitamin D to get me through until April or May, when we can start going outside again.

I came back ready for warm weather and spring, of course, but it was a nice break. I feel refreshed and hopeful about the weather now instead of completely discouraged and depressed! Just a few more weeks...

~Stacy