Hey Everybody!!!
Ok, we haven’t updated in 3 months…..I know, I know….but I told you life in Naples, FL moves a bit slower. Quick update before I backtrack 13 weeks of Southwest Florida life in the winter. Today is April 30, 2009, and we are in Kankakee, IL at Amy’s friend, Jen’s parent’s house. We are currently looking at places to live in downtown, Chicago and hopefully will be able to move in tomorrow, and start work on Monday! Anyway, more details will follow, I just want this blog to be somewhat chronological.
We are going do this month by month, and Amy is going to help me out with writing some of 
these, because, it’s a lot to recap. Anyway, we arrived in Naples, in late January and we both started working. Even though we have returned to Naples the last 3 and 5 years respectively, I still enjoy it. We have good friends that live there, and it is just a gorgeous place to go in the winter. My first day of work, I drove, windows down, 70 degrees, across the bridge that connects Naples and Marco Island, FL and watched the sunrise over the island, with the beautiful palm trees swaying in the breeze. It truly is a tropical paradise, and it is a lot easier to see that in retrospect, rather than taking it for granted on a daily basis. Anyway, nostalgia aside, we started taking advantage of the local festivities and fairs that go on during “season” time in southwest Florida. On Saturday, we decided to do some much anticipated Kayaking. Amy, had found a place to rent Kayaks at Naples Conservancy, so we went there for some possible hiking and kayaking. We got there, and were surprised that it was more of a zoo than a park. We walked around the small trails, saw some animals that they were nursing back to health, and then rented a kayak for the day. We took a divorce boat (tandem Kayak) out into the mangroves. We paddled through the back water trails, seeing a lot of different wildlife. Turtles, fish, and birds of all different species were scattered throughout the backwater. Amy was afraid of Alligators, but unfortunately we didn’t see any. We paddled for a couple hours, embracing the quiet, with only the sound of our paddles hitting the water breaking the silence. It was a nice paddle, but it was a bit restricted, meaning we couldn’t go far, and the 
area was very confined. Nevertheless, it was good to get back onto the water again. Eventually, I would love to buy a few kayaks. The next day, we went to attend the Seafood Fest in Everglades City. Everglades City is about 45 miles east of naples, basically placing you between the coast and the everglade swamps. We drove out there early Sunday morning, trying to avoid the massive crowds that attend this festival that travel on a small 2 lane highway to and from Everglades City. We got there, found a suitable parking spot, and walked into acres of carnival rides, booths, and tons of Seafood!! We tried on some cowboy hats, waved some confederate flags, and frequented the craft booths that lined the perimeter of the fest. It was a beautiful day, and at first, the crowds were tolerable. After a short while, the crowds were huge!! People drove in rather consistently for 6-8 hours to come to the seafoodfest. We did laps around the booths and finally followed a heavenly aroma to the actual purpose of the fest….SEAFOOD!! We walked past a numerous amount of booths, where in front, lay enormous piles of Shrimp, stone crab, snapper, redfish….etc. Virtual mounds of Paella, and heaping portions of steaming seafood. The prices were Outlandish!! I figured being this far out in the middle of nowhere, the prices would be far from the exorbitant Naples, FL prices, but I was wrong. The fest was a success though, and beer flowed while the smell of shrimp and old bay seasoning filled the air under a cloudless 75 degree Florida winter day. We shared a plate of stone crab claws that were delicious!! We walked around and visited the rest of the booths, and after a few hours, we decided to head back. Everglades City is a cool little town, more known for airboat rides and fishing charters, but a very authentic taste of old Florida.
The next weekend we wanted to visit my parents on the east coast of Florida. My Mom’s birthday was coming up, and we couldn’t make it across the state for her birthday, so we decided to come up and celebrate it a week early. We drove across the state on Friday night, and made it there late. The next AM we hung out with the family. My sister was in town from Boston, but she was doing her own thing with her friends, so we hung out with Mom and Greg. My mom is not a big fan of going out to eat, so we decided to cook in. Amy and I went out, and bought oysters, lobster tail, and some steaks for the grill for a nice surf and turf dinner at home. Greg brought over my two stepbrothers Nate and Kevin, and we shucked oysters and got dinner ready. The dinner turned out awesome and everyone was there: Amy and I, Mom, Grandma(por por in Chinese), Greg, Nate, Kevin, and Vanessa. The next day we prepared for our drive back to Naples, but heard that they had a garlic fest going on in Delray Beach. It was on our way, so we left around noon, and drove to Delray. We found parking, and walked the beautiful streets of downtown Delray. We entered the grounds of “Garlic Fest” and you could smell it right away. Garlic Fest was started to promote all things garlic, food, utensils, oil, art….if you can fuse it with garlic, it was there. We walked around all the booths, seeing all the innovative things that can be done with garlic, and all the innovative tools that have been invented to prepare garlic. We met Mr. Garlic, a man dressed up as a lifesize bulb of garlic, and his son, baby garlic, who was an exploited 12 year old dressed up as a bulb of garlic. We walked by “Garlic Row” which featured stands of garlic pizza, garlic chicken, garlic sandwiches, garlic salsa and chips!!! You could smell this fest from a mile away!! We said goodbye to garlic fest and continued our trip back to Naples, to begin another work week.
The next weekend we are unsure of what we did on Saturday. We probably caught up on a 
million things that needed to be done. Friday, we went out to happy hour with our friends Sarah, Tricia, and Janet. On Sunday, we decided to do some more kayaking. We went out on Goodland, which is a small fishing village off Marco Island. We passed the infamous “Stan’s” on Goodland, and found the kayak rental place behind a great little restaurant called the Little Bar. We got into another divorce boat (tandem kayak) and paddled out towards Coon Key. We talked to the guy, and he said it was a pretty easy paddle that we could do in a couple hours. We were prepared with water and some snacks/towels, and off we went. We avoided boat traffic as much as we could, stayed close to the mangrove tree islands, and desperately tried to follow the map that was provided to us. The only problem is, all the islands look the same!! Mangrove island 1, looks like Mangrove island 3,4,5, and 6, especially from the perspective of a kayak. After a few wrong turns, we made it into the open water towards the Gulf of Mexico. We spotted tons of 
wildlife! Fish jumping, birds all around, and in the distance a 
dolphin swimming towards us. We followed the dolphin for a while, trying in vain to get a good picture, but he swims a lot faster than I can paddle. We paddled out to a very small key called Coon Key. This 50 yard stretch of island/beach lies right in the middle of the channel that goes into the Gulf, so it was a great place to stretch out and relax a bit. We had a snack, enjoyed the beach for a bit, and took some great pictures of the surrounding islands. The water was a bit cold (75 degrees) so I stayed on the beach the majority of the time. The cool water was definitely a great contrast to the sunny 80 degree weather we were having though. After a little rest, we got back into the kayak and paddled our way back home. We did not take into account, however, the tide. The tide was going out on our way in……making paddling pretty difficult. We muscled our way back in 2+ hours, leaving us pretty tired. On our drive back home, we hit a little farmers market/flea market, picked up some fresh vegetables, and headed back home…..another beautiful weekend in Naples…..
The next weekend was exciting!!! It marked the beginning of……….Drum roll please…….RED 
SOX BASEBALL!!! Yes, folks, spring training was upon us once 
again, and another perk of avoiding the snowy north in the winter, is to not only enjoy 75 degree sunny weather, but to enjoy said weather sitting, drinking, and watching Red Sox Baseball at a quarter of the price you would pay normally. Every year Northeastern University, my beloved alma mater, plays the Red Sox in scrimmage before spring training starts, albeit they get slaughtered every year, its great to see our boys out there playing. The alumni association have a nice cookout before the game where you can meet old alumni, the president of the school, Wally the Green Monster, and other Red Sox big wigs. We met up with 2 friends from Naples, Katie and Paul, who also are NU PT alumni, and had a great lunch. We walked to our seats at the stadium, and they were all the way up in the stands, so I schmoozed with one of the ushers and he let us slip in and sit behind the dugout…..in the second row. We watched another NU massacre….14-0, but had a great time. We had tickets for that night as well!! (DOUBLE HEADER!!) So we walked around the area, 
found a red sox bar in downtown Ft. Myers called the Hideaway, and drank beer, and made new friends. Game time came so we walked down to the stadium and found our seats. They were playing the Cincinnati Reds, and we had Awesome seats!! We sat behind home plate, 2nd row, right behind Dusty Baker, the manager of the Reds. We got him to sign a ball, and he turned out to be a really nice guy. We met the people next to us, who were also from Boston and we got to witness another Red Sox victory. Afterwards, I drove home a very happy man…..A red sox double header ending in 2 victories…..baseball season was finally here!! The next day, we had a 
tee time scheduled, so we brushed off our golf clubs and played a round of golf with some friends. I played 
decently, and overall it was a great day to be outside to play golf. Golf is a sport I’ve never really gotten into, but I’m starting to get into it now. One of my good friend's boyfriend is a scratch golfer, so he’s giving me some pointers here and there, and I’m really starting to appreciate the game. Plus, the beauty of having a free driving range as an amenity is always nice J
Red Sox vs. Yankees!! We also got tickets from our friend Bender, to go to the Yankees and Red Sox game!! It is still spring training, but overall, when the Yankees play the Red Sox its always exciting. I drove up with Bender, Murph, and Bobby (Tricia's new Fiancee' who is also a Yankees fan) and met Amy at the ballpark. The Red Sox won again!! Always a sweet victory against our arch nemesis, plus I wasn't too hard on Bob, on the car ride home.
The next weekend Mr. and Mrs. Ward came down to visit. They flew in on Thursday afternoon and I met them and Amy at the Snook Inn for some dinner and drinks after work. We then drove down to the Esplanade to catch the sunset, but couldn’t find parking, so we drove further 
to the south beach to find hordes of people walking away 
from the beach. We had just missed sunset, but caught “dusk”. The next day I went to work and the Wards entertained themselves. We all met up for wine tasting at ABC Wine and Spirits where we got to taste wines from Spain and France and meet the wine makers. We all walked away with a few autographed bottles. We stopped at one of Amy's favorites for downhome 
southern cooking, Cracklin' Jacks for dinner. They serve 
their sides family style and call them vittles. Bowls of mashed potatoes, greens, beans, onion casserole and gravies (yes, two gravies - brown and white) complimented our ribs, fried chicken and jambalaya. Full and satisfied we went home to prepare for the a fishing trip the next day. Saturday morning I had booked a fishing charter for backwater and offshore fishing. Our friend Tricia, joined us, and we took off on the boat on a beautiful, sunny day. I don’t have a great track record when it comes to successful fish catching, but the company stated that if we didn’t catch a fish, we wouldn’t have to pay. Overall, we caught a ton of little fish, mangrove snapper, small ladyfish (nicknamed crappers because if you hold them, they…..you know) and Mr. Ward caught a puffer fish. The water was cold, and the captain said the fish were lethargic and not biting as much as the normally do, but I think we all had a pretty good time. Amy caught a 3-4 pound sheepshead, the only keeper of the day. It was a gorgeous day and we saw a Manatee, 
some dolphins, and some beautiful homes off of tigertail beach. Overall, it was a great trip and I hope all had a good time. Afterwards, we went home to rest for a bit as we had plans to attend a work party and then dinner reservations at one of our favorite Naples restaurants USS Nemo. The party was attended by almost the whole staff of my work and was thrown by Blaire, a volunteer at the clinic and one of the nicest women I have ever worked with. We all had a few drinks, shared a few laughs, and hated to leave, but had to make it to our reservations. We made it to USS Nemo, and after a short wait, had a wonderful dinner. We thoroughly enjoyed their “special” of a miso broiled seabass on jasmine rice. The next day, we took it easy. Mr. Ward and I went out to the driving range which was full, so we chipped and putted on the range. We had breakfast at the 
house and relaxed on the lanai for a bit, before heading to Ft. Myers to another Red Sox baseball 
game. We watched the Twins and Red Sox play in another beautiful day. The Red Sox were victorious once again!! That evening we relaxed at home, and had a nice dinner, and Mr. and Mrs. Ward left the next day.
The next week, St. Patty’s day preparations were upon us. Usually, that wouldn’t mean too 
much besides enjoying healthy amounts of green beer and 
Irish food, but when we are in Naples, we get to see our friend Gerry Forde perform. Gerry is a great musician and through the week, we were able to attend a number of his performances around Naples. 
