My birthday often (but not always) coincides with the Christmas break. This was one of those unfortunate years where my b-day signifies the first day back from the Christmas break. This year, Ali asked me to take an additional 3 days of vacation so that we could properly celebrate the big day. Given this request, I was guessing that this birthday may bring a gift that required travel. A million thoughts raced through my mind: Where could it be? Local? Overseas? What would be the attraction? Skiing? Beaches? Overseas? It can't be too extravagant…after all, we've got a wedding to pay for!
Ali's not very good at keeping big secrets, but she did a very good job of keeping this one. The real genius of the surprise came with only 48 hours remaining in my twenties. On Saturday, Ali gave me my first gift: a tourists driving guide to New England. What a great piece of deception?! First, I've wanted to spend more time exploring New England and second, it was a relatively inexpensive gift for us. I won't lie, I was just a little disappointed to think that I had taken off 3 days for a drive through Vermont.
Being officially thrown off the trail, I went to bed a little bitter. With only 24 hours left in my twenties, my luck significantly improved. It started with breakfast in bed. The menu consisted of bacon, eggs, and a pancake message that read, "Pack your bags." No, Vermont and its wonderful cheddar cheese was not the destination…we were Captiva bound!
We landed at Fort Meyers in the wake of climate gate. Without a doubt, this winter has dealt a blow to proponents of the global warming debate. Captiva is 26.3 degrees north latitude. The average high/low temperatures in January are 74/54. While we were there, the temperature did not rise above 54 degrees. Let's just say that it wasn't beach weather. BUT, the temp was still twice as high as the temperatures Boston…and we're not afraid of a little chill. I played golf every day; we walked the beach, found a whole sand dollar, and had drinks on the beach at the Mucky Duck.
Harbourside Bar & Grill
By the time we arrived, we were rather tired. We opted to have dinner at the closest restaurant on the resort. I had scallops and Wifey had steak. The scallops were incredible – by far the best scallops that we had during the whole trip.
Perhaps the best BBQ of my life – way better than Smokey Pig. I feel like I've graduated to a new level of BBQ and learned new criteria for judging BBQ. The secret? Ask them to show you their trophies. Barbecued shrimp wrapped in bacon is a local attraction in and of itself. By far, Dave's had the best – yeah, they tasted the best but they don't skimp on the quantity either. Ali had a burger with pulled pork and bacon. I had a sampler with beef brisket, pork ribs, and chicken wings.
We really enjoyed eating and hanging out at the Mucky Duck. We probably had 3 meals there. Our favorite item was a chicken soup that wasn't on the menu. We were at the bar waiting for a table and started talking to the owner. He moved to Captiva (from Boston) a bunch of years ago. He whipped-up a chicken soup for the staff and offered some to us too. It was creamy (but not too creamy) and all around delicious. If you ever find yourself at this restaurant, let it be known that the waitresses like to play jokes on unsuspecting patrons. For example, they squeezed fake ketchup on me and fake-spilled coffee on numerous other suckers. They also have a window on wheels that they put between loud tables. Unfortunately, I don't fully grasp the intention of this prop.
In a weird twist of fate, Momma Dukes was vacationing 10 miles away from us in Sanibel. We weren't able to connect while we were all in FL. It's only now that I realize how dangerous the conversation during Christmas dinner about Mom's FL vacation plans was.