Marco Island One

We met daughter Jenny and her family at the airport in Minneapolis, they having flown in from Minot, North Dakota, for a family vacation on Marco Island, Florida.  There was quite a bit of snow in Minneapolis when we took off the morning of Wednesday, March 20th, the first day of spring. 

Addie, 10, and Gunnar, 8, had electronic games along to help make the 3.5 hour flight go faster.

There was no snow in Florida.  I found it interesting to see rock formations and undersea mountain peaks from the air.  When mountain tops come to the surface, we have islands, of course.

I also found it interesting to see how developers had dredged and transformed coastal land to give housing developments more lakeshore access than they would otherwise have.

The “housing slump” in the USA was very evident from the air.  Hundreds and thousands of subdivisions had roads and waterway infrastructure constructed, but no homes or few homes.

In Victoria, Minnesota, we hardly have any vacant lots and little land laid out for development.

We landed at the airport in Fort Myers, piled into our rented Ford Explorer, and headed south.  It was fun to see palm trees, blue sky, and ocean water

We arrived at Robin’s condo at Cape Marco about an hour later.  Robin is Christopher’s aunt whose primary residence is in Minnesota.

This is the drive in and out of the Cozumel tower, which is where Robin’s condo is located.  That’s a long-stepped water fountain along the right side that is more interesting from our 18th floor.

This is the bottom of that stepped-water fountain, looking upwards.  You can see the steps, of course, going up from this angle.

This is a small scale replica of the Arch de Triumph in Paris.  It’s the centerpiece of a turnaround area between the two towers of Belize and Cozumel at Cape Marco.

This lionized marble sculpture in located in front of Cozumel.

This the center fountain between the gatehouse and the Cape Marco complex.

This is a view of the Cozumel.  Robin’s condo is in the left tier on the 18th floor.  You can tell what a gorgeous blue-sky day we had every day.

Another view of the landscaped entrance fountain.  One morning it was so foggy we couldn’t see the ocean or any of these buildings across the way, but it burned off and turned into another good Florida day.

This is one of our first views when we walked into the condo.  It was large and gorgeous at every turn.

Then we went down to check the beach.  Nobody on Marco dressed like Allan Orsen and Christopher Norgaard.  One might think they were the only Vikings on the entire island.

Gunnar kept looking for coconuts in the palm trees and finally he found some.  See the clump of green coconuts above his head, just to the right.

Jenny joined her kids wading in the waves, but not too deep.

Allan and Chris on the balcony outside the living room, 18 floors above the ocean.

They watched pelicans standing on two little reefs several yards out from the sandy beach.  See the shadows of the buildings in the water?  The sun is going down on our first day.

When we looked down from the balcony, we saw the swimming pool and hot tub.

We actually spent a lot of time in the warm pool every evening.  It was wonderful in the setting sun.

The breakfast balcony faces toward the east and so we also saw the sunrise every morning.  Well, actually, only Allan and I saw the sunrise every morning because we’re the earliest risers.

Addie and Gunnar join Grandma Sue on the breakfast balcony.

Jenny and I made eggs and bacon or eggs and sausage every morning, and this is where we all ate.

When we finally got there, we treated ourselves to strawberry slushes . . .

The pool beckoned us every single day.  It was like having a private pool because, although other people used it, it was usually not when we happened to be there.

Sometimes Chris had phone business.

We always used sunscreen or we’d have been burnt to a crisp.

Addie and Gunnar swim like fish and play like dolphins.

Chris and Allan made good margaritas for us in the evening.

But we did watch a movie together one evening.

This is where I set up my laptop and worked for a couple hours every morning, responding to emails and doing ads and “news” for the Gazette before everybody else got up. 

This is a close-up of the pelican reefs the next day from the beach.

After breakfast we walked and walked, all the way to the Marriott Hotel.

. . . and margaritas.

We spent most of our time on the balconies, looking for the dolphins and enjoying the views.

This couch in Robin’s office turns into a queen-size bed, which is where Addie and Gunnar slept every night.  The adults had the two spacious bedrooms, each with our own private bathrooms.

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