Feb 17, 2010 - Seminole Campground & Matlacha

Now THAT'S a cup of coffee!

Today started out cloudy and cool, so we got a late start on the day. That was OK though, because after yesterday, between around 4 hours on the road, and an hour and a half on swamp buggies and air boats, we really felt like just staying put. Around noon the sun finally came out, and we headed for the pool again. We spent a good portion of the afternoon camped out right there.

Tomorrow our friends Floyd and Sue are heading back to MI, so as a sendoff for them, we went to Moretti’s Seafood Restaurant on the water in Matlaca for a nice sunset dinner. I will go out on a limb here and say that if you ever go to Matlacha, you should eat here. The food is absolutely top notch. I had a blackened basa (a type of catfish, not native to FL) that was probably the best restaurant prepared seafood I’ve had since we ate on the docks in Camden, ME. And the mango cheesecake, aye chihuahua! The coffee was great, the cup almost as big as my head. Whenever I made a comment to our waiter, Abraham, about how good this or that was, the wise guy took credit every time. It didn’t matter if it was the coffee, the cheesecake, or the entree. He even took credit for the sunset. Quite the character, that Abraham.

The entire trip we’ve been "plagued" with ladybugs. When we were getting the pod ready for the trip, we vacuumed up quite a few that had expired inside after we put her to bed for the fall. But they must have been hiding somewhere, because now that we’re down here in warmer climes, they’ve come back to life, and there hasn’t been a day gone by when we  haven’t ejected several dozen from inside the pod. The other morning one landed on the end of my nose while I was drinking my coffee, then promptly fell down inside my shirt. Beth has gotten pretty creative at catching them by trapping them under a short piece of duct tape. We may have to do some exterminating come springtime.

Two days left here before we move on to St. Augustine via an overnight stop at Lake Okeechobee. Tomorrow we’re going to meet my aunt and uncle in Cape Coral for a visit, and Friday looks like we might be able to actually spend a few hours on "Feet Myers" beach.