Sunday, June 15 — Our trip to San Diego was wonderful because we got to see many loved ones. It was a reminder of how blessed we were in terms of deeply rooted relationships. The crazy part was that, even though we saw loved ones every day, we still didn’t get to see everyone that we’d wanted to.

And we have loved ones in Florida, too. In addition to Johnny and Joanne, we have two sets of very long time, dear friends on the west coast. Today, we drove over to the west coast for an overnight trip to see them.

While Christi unpacked and re-packed, Eric finished preparing for the workers to come on Monday morning. He removed the electronics panel and steering wheel, and moved stuff out of spaces where they’d be working. 

We departed at 0915, taking the I-75, a toll-highway, across the state. it was dubbed Alligator Alley because alligators were known to wander out on the road, though we didn’t see any. In contrast to Southern California, Florida was flat, very green and had tons of ponds and waterways. With so much water around, it was no surprise that alligators flourished here.

We exited the highway in Bonita Springs and navigated to Scott’s house. Scott was a friend from college who we’ve stayed close with all these decades. We’ve been through so many of life’s ups and downs with Scott, and there are few people who know us better than he does. It was great to see him again! While we’d spoken on the phone with his girlfriend, Sheila, before we’d never met her in person, and it was lovely to get to know her.

We went out for brunch at restaurant called Bonita Brunch. The menu was huge. Eric ordered a Monte Cristo, which we don’t see often on menus: a sandwich with slices of French toast instead of regular bread, ham, turkey and Swiss cheese in the middle, with powdered sugar on top and raspberry jam on the side.

The three of us shared an order of crepes, which were filled with vanilla yogurt.

The food was yummy! After lunch, we said our goodbyes to Scott and Sheila and headed about an hour north to see the extended Special Blend family. We first met the owners, Jim and Martha, in 2005 while our nearly identical Nordhavn 43s were under construction. Then we loosely traveled with them in French Polynesia. While traveling together, most of their extended family had cycled in and out, so we’d gotten to meet the majority of the family and bond with them. French Polynesia was a special and unique experience, and one of the happiest times in all of our lives. Their family brings back our happiest memories, and vice versa.   

We picked up Christy in Punta Gorda and continued on to Arcadia, where we met Martha and Leslie. Sadly, Jim has passed away. Jim was a larger than life, fun guy. All of us wished he could have been there. Christy made a fantastic dinner and we spent the evening catching up on one another’s lives and reminiscing until we went back to Christy’s for the night. Sadly, we forgot to take photos and only got a single shot!

It had been such a nice visit with both sets of friends. We wished we had more time with them all. We’ll have to return again!