With the Sand in My Shoes

Here I present to you: Naples on foot! After breakfast one morning, I decided to go out for a jog and see what I could see. The road that our resort was on runs parallel to the beach with a walkway to the water practically every 10 feet. It was perfect for an out and back with half on the sidewalk and half on the beach!

There were so many cool houses on that strip! I pretty much ran with my head turned to the side the whole time. There was this one house with a gorgeous pond out front with a bridge and lots of little water fountain things. The landscaping around there was so beautiful! I would have taken more of the landscaping, but a lot of them were being worked on and I didn't want to creep on the gardeners.

And here is where the fun begins. I don't know if any of you have run on the sand before, but it ain't easy! It's supposed to be best at low tide, but I had to go while Rhett was in a meeting, which happened to be right after high tide. I was able to run on some mildly packed sand, but it was still pretty shifty. I think my beach running pace was about a 10:30 which is quite a bit slower than my road pace, if that tells you anything. I only ran about a mile of the beach part since it was so tiring! I just kind of fast walked the rest.

This is the pier that Rhett and I tried to walk to the day before. We never made it because it felt like it was never getting closer! Turns out it was about 1.75 miles from where we started. It only looked like about a mile! Isn't that crazy how things look way closer than they really are on the beach? Anyway, I was thrilled to get to run on the beach. Since I'm landlocked in Tennessee, vacation is the only time I'll ever get to do this! It's totally worth waiting for vacations though...it was so much fun. I know it makes no sense because it was actually a hard workout, but I found running on the beach to be very relaxing. I guess it was combination of the breeze, the sound of the water and all the adorable birds.

Have any of you ever run on the beach? How did you like it?

Naples in May

I just realized I haven't posted ANYTHING from my trip to Naples. It was sort of a business trip, so I didn't get to explore a ton, but it was a good trip! On the first day, we just enjoyed a little beach time, and attempted to watch the sunset. Unfortunately the sunset was blocked by clouds every night we were there. That didn't stop us from drinking in the beach air though!

That evening we also went to a meet and greet thing and I got to wear my new dress from Jennifer Lilly Designs on Etsy! Rhett took the picture with my ipod, so the quality is bad, but you can see how cute the dress is, right?

The next day (while Rhett was in meetings) I got to go on a "dolphin" cruise, which was mostly a "look at all these huge houses in Naples" cruise. I took pictures of some of the houses, and they were nuts! Not that I begrudge those people the money that they have, but I don't understand why people indulge in those huge houses that they only spend one week a year in. They also tear houses down to build bigger ones pretty regularly...like a competition or something. I don't want to get into all that, but I just think it's pitiful. They do happen to be pretty though, so here are a few that I saw!

 This is what a 50 million dollar bachelor pad looks like

We did actually see some dolphins! They were fun to watch. We saw several from our little perch on the beach as well, so they must be pretty active around there. The dolphin cruise was fun, and when we finally got back, we had a nice lunch and enjoyed the rest of the day relaxing.

My favorite part of the trip was probably sitting on the balcony and reading every morning. That's my favorite thing to do at the beach. We headed home a few days later, and spend a loooooong day in the car/plane. I was glad to be home, but I really enjoyed the break!

One day while we were there, I went for a run and took some pictures along the way. I'll do a post about that as well. You'll get to see some more houses (smaller, but with cooler details) and some beach running. I hope you all get to go on a vacation sometime this summer. Everyone needs a break now and then!

300th post - hellooo South Carolina!

I'm finally back in my routine after a much needed vacation to the lovely Charleston, South Carolina. My cousin Mallory and I went there to visit my aunt and uncle for the holiday weekend. We left immediately after I got off work Thursday afternoon and drove 11 hours through the night. The first 7 hours went by so quickly! We stopped for some food, snacks, gas, etc., and it seemed to fly. Once we were about 4 hours away, it started to drag. I guess that was when I started to get really sleepy. But we did end up making it!

I discovered something new (to me) on the trip. Perfume machines! I saw it and thought "hey, that's neat. I can get a little perfume sample as a little travel souvenir." So I put my quarter in, selected "Sunflowers" and pulled the lever. Out comes a powerful stream of thick liquid loosely called "perfume." Mallory and I pretty much fell on the floor laughing. She thought about warning me, but decided against it for comedy's sake. If I had read the machine, I'm sure the word SPRAY would have clued me in, but I just don't roll that way. So I spent the rest of the drive smelling like...something. I don't know what it smelled like, but it definitely wasn't sunflowers.

Since we arrived right around 5 AM, we decided to drive straight to the beach to see the sunrise. Getting to the beach was an adventure! We ended up not actually facing east, but it was still a beautiful sight. I wish I could see this every single day. I'm insanely jealous of all the people that live on the coast, especially those that were out running and walking their dogs while the sun rose. WHAT A LIFE!

 

I hope you all enjoyed the pictures! I look totally sexy, right? I always look my best after an 11 hour road trip.

Oh, I should mention that this is my 300th post on this blog! All of you readers make me feel so special with ever single comment. I don't know a lot of you, but that doesn't stop me from loving you all! Thanks for being readers. I hope I've entertained you sufficiently for the past 300 posts.