When our friends (Mark and Stacey) purchased a home on Marco Island and invited us to leave the snow and freezing February temps in Minnesota and join them for a sunny, GORGEOUS weekend in Florida … we couldn’t say YES fast enough.
I could not wait to put my toes in the sand, see the beautiful Florida sunsets, have time with friends – and not wake up to an alarm, a puppy, or a child.
My amazing in-laws offered to drive up and stay with our boys so that Ted and I could escape to ISLAND LIFE!
When we arrived, the PALM trees immediately put a smile on my face. Palm trees = sunshine.
Our friend Mark told us there are TWO THOUSAND, SIX HUNDRED different types of Palm Trees… but Marco Island probably has the prettiest ones of all….what do you think?
Our first stop was lunch in Naples. I’d never been to Naples and thought it was beautiful. Downtown Naples is a great place to walk, window shop, and eat.
It was hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that in Minnesota, the sky was gray, the ground was covered in snow, and the temperature was barely above zero…and here it was all sunshine and 80 degrees. How was it possible? I didn’t spend much time trying to figure it out – I just wanted to soak so much in that I could bring it back to Minnesota.
After lunch, we drove to our friend’s lovely home on Marco Island. Seventy five percent of the homeowners live on water. If you are a boater or want to be on the water – this place is paradise!
We changed our clothes and jumped on their wave runners.
Did you know Marco Island is the largest of TEN THOUSAND islands in southwest Florida? Most of the islands are unpopulated and covered in mangroves. Some have their own private beaches and are loaded with shells and wildlife. We pulled up to one of the islands, searched for shells, and watched the amazing sunset.
That night I went to bed early since I’d been up since 3 AM to catch a flight.
Friday, we started the day with a bike ride to a bagel shop for breakfast.
We biked home, changed into our swimsuits, and spent the next few hours at the beach. Marco Island beach was huge, with soft, warm sand and loaded with shells.
Marco has one of the WIDEST in Florida!
Walking the beach gave me a flashback:
When I was a child, my parents took a trip to Florida and came back with white shells. We painted them and gave one to each child in my class. The Marco Island beach had the exact same shells all over the beach. I gathered some of my own to carry on this tradition with MY kids!
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After a delightful day on the beach, we went home to shower and change, then came back to watch the sunset.
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After the sun had set, we went to dinner at the historic Snook Inn.
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Saturday we took the wave runners to KeeWaydin Island. KeeWaydin has no roads or bridges to get there. People just pull their boats and wave runners right up to the island and hang out. There are concession ‘boats’ that sell food, drinks, ice cream and even gifts!
After walking around and relaxing on the unique Keewaydin Island, we got back on the wave runners to explore the islands around Marco.
Our plan was to ride the wave runners to see the abandoned Cape Romano house, (pictured below)…but one of the wave runners had engine trouble, so we didn’t get there. Cape Romano was hand built on what USED TO BE an island. A hurricane destroyed the island and most of the home. What is left is now inhabited by wildlife. (Click here to see more pics and read the story!)
Unfortunately, the hurricane in 2022 buried or destroyed what was left of Cape Romano.
We watched another amazing sunset …
…and went to a place called Deep Lagoon for dinner in the beautiful Marco Island Marketplace and Marina.
Sunday we went back to the beach and took a long walk before we had to catch our flight home.
Marco Island has vast amounts of wildlife. We spotted tons of dolphins, a variety of birds, unique fish, turtles and a manatee!
I missed my boys and was excited to see them. As we were landing, we got the text that our boys were going back into ‘distance learning.’ Because of TWO cases of Covid at their school, everyone was sent home for two weeks! I’d get LOTS of time with my boys after being away from them. And we’ve gotten much better at distance learning since last year. (Read how bad it was at the beginning here)
This was the first time I’ve ever escaped the cold to take a trip to Florida in February, and now I may never be able to survive another winter without making this an annual tradition. Getting a break from the frigid temps, having a few days to ourselves, with great friends, was really refreshing and I’m so very grateful!
I came home and realized the warmth I was trying to ‘soak in’ to bring back to Minnesota really worked. It wasn’t much warmer outside, but the warmth stayed with me on the inside! The escape to Florida with friends lifted my spirit.
First of all, just planning our trip to Florida gave me something to look forward to, then getting to be in that Florida sunshine melted that ‘winter gloom’ and boosted my joy, even after coming home.
If you are a person who gets the “winter blues” … consider getting away for a long weekend like we did! If that’s not a possibility, click here for some other suggestions!
Here are more pictures and some video footage of our trip: