As you may have surmised from yesterday’s post, I spent the past few days in Florida. Dale and I made a quick trip down to visit his son Brant, daughter-in-law Heather and granddaughter, Ambrynn last weekend. Like any good vacation, we crammed a lot into a short amount of time.

We visited shopping areas like Fisherman’s Wharf in Punta Gorda. I found some cool Jimmy Buffett themed Tervis glasses but I didn’t buy them and opted to try and find them online instead. It was fun to walk around in summer clothes, sightseeing and shopping.

Of course we went to the beach. Ambrynn played in the sand while Heather and I chatted.

And Dale and Brant hunted for shark’s teeth. Dale and I found 11 between the two of us. Brant found 50. I think he spends too much time doing this!

We went to Sanibel and visited the Ding Darling Wildlife Refuge. We saw lots and lots of birds, including this Roseate Spoonbill. I saw some telephotos lenses that I truly envied and I wish I had thought to rent one before we went on this trip. Next time I will, that’s a certainty.

While on Sanibel we had lunch at the famous Bubble Room and then went to the beach and searched for shells. The tide wasn’t cooperating so we only found 1 unbroken shell but it was beautiful and warm and a good excuse to walk the beach. I studied a few of Brant’s books on Florida shells when we went back to the house and I’ve got some ideas on how to do this better next time, too.

Naturally, I took lots of photos. Photos of palm trees and sunsets. Photos of birds and fish.

And photos of my family. As beautiful as the photos of the flora and fauna, this one is my favorite. All of us together in the warm sunshine. I miss them already.

I have written this post about my trip to Vegas in my head a bunch of times since I got home. It’s hard to sum up 4 days in a single post with  handful of pictures but that time has come and I’ve got to get it out there. In a word, it was FUN. Sure, it’s expensive (although airfare and hotel rates are cheap right now), and it’s overwhelming and exhausting, but it’s just a great place to visit. I think my stepdaughter Jessica and I managed to find the right balance between sightseeing and relaxing, though.

We got there Sunday and we were exhausted. We’d been up since 4:30 am to catch our plane and traveling is exhausting even without a time change. We basically checked out our hotel, The Mirage, had something to eat, walked around for 30 minutes, and crashed.

Monday morning, though, we hit the strip with determination to see as much as we could. We covered MGM Grand, Excalibur, The Luxor, Mandalay Bay and the Shark Reef, New York New York, Planet Hollywood and the Miracle Mile Shops and Paris. The hotels are beautiful and each has it’s own theme to entice you to pick that one. In the afternoon we hung out at an outdoor bar at our hotel and we spent the evening at Margaritaville.

After all that walking Tuesday was a great day to spend at the pool at The Mirage. It’s a gorgeous spot and the weather was warm and sunny. The outside cafe was closed but the bar was open and we enjoyed several hours relaxing there. It was the perfect way to prepare for a wonderful dinner – Kahunaville – and show – Cirque du Soleil’s Mystere. The show was worth every penny and I’m so glad we picked that one.

Wednesday was our last full day and we tried to fit in everything we hadn’t seen yet. We went to the breakfast buffet in our hotel and then visited The Venetian and Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum, Caesar’s Palace and the Flamingo, we saw the fountain show at The Bellagio, and we visited Fremont Street for the evening light show. My only complaint is that the public transportation isn’t very good. The monorail is fast but hard to get to and it doesn’t stop in many places. The Deuce is convenient but crowded and it takes forever to get anywhere because of all the stops. We learned a few things about all of this that will make it much easier next time.

All too soon it was Thursday morning and time to head home. It was a whirlwind trip, that’s for sure, but I wouldn’t change a thing about it!

Just for the record, while I’ve included a few photos in this post, you can see the whole set over on my flickr page. Hope you take a look.

As we pulled out of the driveway last week to head to Cape Cod I queued up the iPod and played the Go Go’s song “Vacation.”  Hannah teased me about it but it set just the right mood and I didn’t let her discourage me.  It really was a great week and totally lived up to the mood of the song.

We had 6 days of hot sunny weather, one day of cloudy weather, and one day of rain.  You can’t ask for more than that on Cape Cod and we made the most of it.

There was the beach.  Lots and lots of the beach.

And there was mini-golf and fried clams and steamers and lobster rolls and martinis and beer.  There were games of Apples to Apples and Catch Phrase.  And there was knitting. I finished a pair of socks and a shawl and started a new sweater and a new pair of socks.

A vacation doesn’t get any better than that.

Yesterday was a hot day and that made it a good day to hang around at home.  I did some knitting and some spinning and some relaxing.

The phlox are still blooming and that makes me happy.

It was hot and humid and sunny here yesterday.

That made it the perfect day to:

splash in the water.

knit on the beach.

and take a sail.

The vacation is going quite well so far.

Last week Dale and I made a trip to the Edward Gorey House Museum in Yarmouthport.  We have wanted to go there for a while and I’m so glad we finally made it – it’s a really cool place.

Are you familiar with Edward Gorey?  He was an illustrator and writer.

(An early poster for the American Library Association)

He did lots of work for literacy projects and in his later years he fiercely supported animal rights.

(The Gorey House cat weighs 23 lbs!)

He never married and he loved his cats.

(A loop of the various openings to Mystery Theater runs on this tv in Gorey’s living room)

(There is a cemetery for the Gashlycrumb Tinies in Gorey’s backyard)

He is probably most famous for his cartoons in the New Yorker, his opening illustrations for the PBS series Mystery Theater, and (my personal favorite) the Gashlycrumb Tinies alphabet book.  His works bordered on the macabre but that’s part of their fascination, I think.

(Dale had fun posing with the Doubtful Guest!)

The museum is small but loaded with lots of Gorey’s illustrations and works and random stuff. A very quirky and rather fascinating place to visit.

As I mentioned on Friday, Dale and I had a little mini getaway to Cape Cod last week. It was school vacation, which meant Dale had the week off. It also meant that Hannah was away on a school trip, which meant we could go away without worrying about what she’d be doing. Ahem.

So I booked us a fancy room at The Daniel Webster Inn. I’ve eaten there many times over the years but I’ve never stayed there. It was beautiful!

Big, romantic bed, strewn with flower petals.

Jacuzzi built for two.

Huge shower with heated tiles.

And a cute little balcony.

There was even a gas fire place. We had complimentary champagne and chocolates as part of their Spring getaway package and we indulged ourselves in room service for both dinner and breakfast. It was heavenly!

Like all vacations, it was over far too soon.  It was sweet while it lasted, though.

Our trip to DC last week was really fabulous. Not only did we get to hang out with Hillary and her family but we also got to see so much. Honestly, I am astounded at how much we crammed into the 3 days we had in the city.

I could show you lots of pictures but I won’t bore you with that. Instead, I’ve selected just a few of my favorites. The highlights, if you will.

There was a visiting dignitary from South Korea at the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The ceremony was much more elaborate and we were fortunate to see it.

Dale was thrilled that we were able to visit Ford’s Theater.

We found the name of Peter Moskos on the wall.  He was from our town and Dale knows his family.  Finding his name really personalized the wall for us.

I call this one “Mr. Dale Goes to Washington.”  There are plenty more like this – Dale at the Washington Monument, Dale at the Lincoln Memorial, etc.  Be glad I only chose a couple.

I was very pleased that we got to see the World War II Memorial this time since I missed it last year.  It’s huge and really impressive and frankly, quite magnificent.

There were loads of things we saw and did that I don’t have pictures of. Like lunch at the Old Ebbitt Grill and dinner at Union Station. (They have happy hour in DC and that makes the Massachusetts visitors very happy.) We also saw the original Star Spangled Banner, Lincoln’s Top hat that he wore the night he was assassinated, the surrender flag from the Civil War, the furniture from Appomattox Court house, the Seinfeld puffy shirt, Kermit the Frog and Oscar the Grouch, Minnie Pearl’s hat and the Ruby Slippers, and the Hope diamond. We saw several of our country’s most important documents like the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The 19th Amendment, the Louisiana Purchase and the homestead papers of Charles Ingalls were also on display at the National Archives.

As much as we saw, I still feel like we’ve only scratched the surface of all that DC has to offer. We’re just going to have to go back!

Let’s face it, the one thing that can truly make or break a Cape Cod vacation is the weather. We have been lucky to have pretty good weather for our vacations and this year was no exception. While the weather people predicted rain and storms a lot, they only actually materialized twice. And when you’re a sky watcher and camera toter like me that can be a good thing.

There we were at the beach on Tuesday afternoon. The water was sparkling, the sun was shining . . .

The clouds began to thicken a bit but the sun was still shining and there were martinis and life was good.

Dale and Patrick went for a walk along the shoreline but as they returned I noticed the sky really beginning to change.

It wasn’t long before the clouds became really dramatic and created quite a site up in the sky.

The temperatures dropped and things got pretty chilly but it was worth it for the photos I got.

And you know what they say about the weather in New England, right? If you don’t like it just wait a few minutes and it will change. By the time we got back to the house the sun was shining again and all was right with the world.