so…we’d seen the sun rise, we’d watched the manatees, we’d walked on the beach and picked up many shells…and then it was off to the beach for some serious sitting on the beach time!

have i mentioned that i love the waves?  kevin took some of these pictures.

i brought so many books and magazines, but i didn’t open even one.  it was just good to sit there and watch.

bu then we saw something way out on the water, so i had to jump up and investigate.

a person was way out there, and up high!  it was some kind of jet pack thing!

doesn’t that look fun?  it’s propelled by high-velocity jets of water.

i had to walk down the beach to see the guy; he never got much higher than this.  i watched a demo video online where the person went waaay up there, but i think it’s a little harder than it looked in the ad.

it was a little bit chilly on the beach, and i decided i should take at least a short run – i felt that if i didn’t, i’d really regret it when i got back home and didn’t wanna run because it’s too cold outside.  so i put on my running stuff, and as i headed out to the beach, it stated to rain!  but it was lightning fast, over in a flash, and then, suddenly, it was hot and humid.  it all happened so fast, and as i ran along beach i wished that i’d taken water like kevin had suggested.  i got soooo thirsty.  i didn’t pass many people, but when i did finally sloooowly job by them, i wanted to say CAN I PLEASE HAVE SOME WATER?

but i didn’t.

but now i’m really glad i went.

after that, we went to the BUBBLE ROOM!!

It was fantastic.  it’s a crazy restaurant in captiva, and i read about it, and a friend said you HAVE to go to the bubble room.

it’s this quirky place filled filled FILLED with so many tchotchkes and wonderful toys and all kinds of stuff and if i ever had a restaurant which i’d never do because it’s way too much work, this is what i’d want it to look like!

the hostess told us we were free to wander around the three-story building and take as many pictures as we wanted, so of course i had to do that!

it has lots of litte rooms, and of course bubble lights in every room, and trains that zip all along on tracks up high.  this is the view of the train in back of our table.

i took this on the way to the bathroom – i just kept wanting to stop and look at everything, everywhere.

i showed this picture to somebody and they were all “ew, septic tank,” but i just thought it was so funny!

under glass on our table were all kinds of toys and xmas decorations – besides the fact that we were there during the holiday season, they have christmas all year there at the bubble room!  it’s the kind of place that needs an exclamation point at the end of all descriptions of it!

while we waited for our food, i had to take about 100 pictures to try to get me and kevin AND the train all in the shot.  it was tricky, t get the train as it was going around, plus to get my picture in the mirror plus also the train track.

the view from my chair.

over to the side of kevin.

i remember these kind of finger puppets from my childhood; they weren’t these exact ones, but i’m sure i had some kind of them.  i almost feel that i made them, but that seems unlikely.

this was a GIANT mickey mouse hanging from the rafters.

upstairs, the cool bar, i wish i’d been in the mood to sit and have a cocktail.

these are some kind of plaster figurines, and i know we used to have some of them around our house when i was little.  i don’t know which ones we had, or why we had them, or where they went, but i know we had them.

here’s the view looking down at the entrance.

the “santa room.”  i love the bubble chandeliers and i want some!

one of the many cool things hanging on the walls.

HOW CUTE IS THAT?

we finally left, after a pretty good lunch.  i’d read about their huge and delicious desserts, but they didn’t serve them til dinner, so we went back later to pick one up to have for dessert after we had dinner.  we bought a slice of orange crunch cake, because that was one of their specialties.

i had to take a few more pictures.

we also stopped at their gift shop next door and i got a signed copy of a book about the restaurant, written by the original owner.  i started reading the book that night; she said she’d originally planned for it to have lots of brass and ferns (this was he 70s), but she couldn’t afford it, so she hung up lots of photos of movie stars.  i didn’t get all through the book, but i will…i really bought it because i wanted the recipe for the orange cake.  there are many other recipes, too, many of which i will have to try.

if you’ve been to my house, you know that i have many things on my walls, and sometimes i think maybe too much stuff.  but after seeing the bubble room, i feel that it’s all good, and i can certainly cram a lot more stuff all around!

after picking up our giant piece of cake, we walked to the north end of the island and looked at the shops there, which were nothing special.  we walked on the beach back towards our place, but stopped at the cemetery and chapel on the way.

and that’ll be yet another bunch of photos!

ok then, i hope your monday is going splendidly,

mrs. hughes.