Day6

Eureka! Last night, I was able to get my pictures of the house uploaded to a shared photo album for the BOSC folks to enjoy (bestofsanibelcaptiva.com).

This morning was lazy, as I didn't have to meet Debbie and her daughter Lexie until 11:30 am. We met at the Lighthouse Cafe. They were running a little late due to traffic coming over the bridge. I put my name in to be seated, and they pulled into the parking lot just as my name was being called. Talk about fortuitous timing!

After lunch, Debbie spied a framed Jolly Roger in front of one of the stores, so we needed to get a picture of that. In addition to being a "moose", Debbie is also a "pirate", so we thought our internet friends would get a kick out of it.

Then we took off for the Lighthouse Beach, to plunder the shores for shells. The nanny was out in force - I guess she's slowly being pushed into the bay - and I taught Debbie and Lexie the Random Scoop Method. Debbie decided she liked jingles, while Lexie liked the kitten's paws, so I kind of concentrated on finding those types for them (while adding to my growing collection of cockles). While it wasn't quite a bust, at some point I suggested moving on to a different beach, so we cut through one of those openings in the brush, down the boardwalks, and to the foot wash, where we de-sanded ourselves and our shells. Then we proceeded to the car and made our way via backroads (Periwinkle Avoidance) to Gulfside City Park.

The Nanny wasn't quite so bad there in the rolling waves of the Gulf proper, and we were able to find more variety, albeit of the tiny sort. We still had a great time. Debbie and I are fast friends, and her daughter is delightful.

Finally, we headed to the foot wash to de-sand, and then I drove them back to their car, which we'd left in the parking lot by the Cafe (no sense both of us paying for public parking). On the way back, a pileated woodpecker flew across our path, right in front of the car. Glad to see they are still on the island!

So, I went back to the room and showered off the day, then got into the car, armed with directions from Alan. I was going to see their new villa and have dinner and hang out with them for the evening. Todd had billed this as a "pinot grigio tasting party", and true to his word, had several different varieties chilling in the refrigerator. Alan had slow-cooked some pork on the barbeque, which Todd then "pulled" to make sandwiches. There was cole slaw, home-made cucumber salad, sauces for the sandwiches, and plenty of chatter, laughter, and camaraderie all evening long. I'm really fortunate to have such good friends (not to mention, accomplished "spies" LOL ) mere miles from my new home.

I was coming back to the island Saturday night - actually, it was almost 2:00 am Sunday. There was nobody, and I mean NOBODY on the road during the entire Summerlin approach to the toll plaza.

As I approached, I didn't see anyone in the booths. There are three booths - the left one is for super pass people, and the other two are pay. There was a light on in the left one, and no lights on in the others. I hesitated, because this was unexpected. After thinking a bit, I thought, well maybe after a certain time of night, there is no toll, and you just go through. So I drove through the super pass one, and a loud buzzer went off, so I stopped.

A light went on in one of the other booths. Apparently, the booth person had been sleeping! So I drove around to give her the cash I had in my hand and she YELLED at me! She said, "you're going into oncoming traffic!".

I looked around at the desertedness of it all, shook my head, gave her the cash, and said, "sorry, I didn't see you in there". Then I turned around and went through again, and the buzzer went off AGAIN. But I'd given her the cash, so I just kept going over the bridge and back to the hotel.

Well she probably could have called the sheriff or something and gotten me arrested or ticketed for "going into oncoming traffic", but then again, she would have had to explain why she was sleeping on the job with the lights off in the booth.