No Travel today
The prediction for today's weather included late morning into early afternoon rain. Given that forecast I planned on doing some chores first thing in the morning to get them out of the way before the rains came. That plan was shot to heck when I heard heavy rain pounding down on the boat even before I got out of bed this morning.
The washer and dryer at this marina are, for all intents and purposes, outdoors. They sit under an overhang / wooden awning with some bench seats nearby. At $1.00 per wash and same per dry, the price cannot be beat. However, one dryer is labeled "out of order", and as I went to start my wash, one of the regular marina tenants told me that the other dryer is intermittent. I wanted verification that I could dry my clothes before I got them going in the washer.
Captain Ray offers boat trips for shelling, fishing, dolphin spotting, etc and has his boat next to the washer/dryer platform. He happened to be doing a load of wash. He is the one who told me about the dryer being temperamental. When he put his clothes in the dryer, we were both pleased to see that it decided to be functional today. I threw my clothes in the washer and went back to my boat for breakfast.
I set my phone alarm to remind me to go deal with my wash in 30 minutes. When the timer went off, I walked back to the washer to wait until it was my turn with the dryer. After I got down there, the off-and-on rain turned into an outright downpour. I had my cellphone with me meaning I had Candy Crush Soda and Alphabetty with me, so I sat it out. Although it was raining quite heavily, the awning gave sufficient protection to keep me mostly dry. I was very lucky in that, just about the time I needed to take my clean clothes back to the boat, the weather let up enough to let me make a dash for it.
When I got back to my boat, I made lunch and then defrosted the fridge. As we took care of these and other miscellaneous tasks, Clark and I were both watching the weather closely and looking for a break in the rain lasting longer than five minutes. Clark decided that he wants to keep the broken inverter because at least some portion of the unit is still functional. The box he packed it up in measured 31" x 14" x 11" - - huge for a boat with limited space. We both wanted the box off the boat pronto.
We did comparison shopping and found that, to mail a box of this size weighing 32 pounds, the best option was, believe it or not, the United States post office. Google maps indicated that the nearest post office is a 15 minute walk from the boat. I wondered, 'at what mph'? After the bulk of the rain had moved on, we got on our rain gear and wrapped the box in a waterproof tablecloth I had on board to protect it from the rain.
Clark decided that he needed to add rope handles to the box so he could carry it like a backpack. As we walked down the street, I am sure anyone who saw us wondered "What the heck!?"
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| Walking on the wet dock in the rain with the wrapped package |
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| Putting down the package while hiding from the downpour ... |
The rain slowed once more and we went on our way. Even carrying the package Clark well outpaced me as we walked as swiftly as possible to the post office.
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| On the road again .... |
We decided to check out the street that we could not bike down the other day because it was too narrow and crowded to do so. Most shops in downtown Naples appear to have something to do with art in some form or another. These shops are interspersed with food restaurants, ice cream shops, and a few novelty shops. The first shop we came to was "The Wind in the Willows", which I assumed would sell children's items. When I peaked in the window, however, I saw only women's dresses. Surprise!
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| Women's and Children's Clothing Store |
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| Hmmm - do I want the gorilla or the lions at the end of my driveway?? |
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| Or maybe this welcoming critter ... |
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| Maybe matched giraffes are what I need in my yard?! I always did want a bench by the water, so maybe the bench with the children?? |
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| Italian Cuisine anyone? |
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| Walking around Naples |
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| Fountain near a small park |
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| Near fountain and park |
We saw one restaurant that had two meals and a bottle of wine for one special price, but since we do not drink wine that option made no sense. We finally decided to try Paddy Murphy's Irish Pub. I did not see much on the menu that struck me a traditional pub food other than fish and chips. In the end we both opted for burgers. After all the searching for a decent-priced meal, I was severely disappointed in my burger as it was overcooked by far.
After eating, even though my feet were still soggy from walking through the rain earlier in the day, I agreed with Clark that we should stroll around town some more before going back to the boat. I nearly had my 10,000 steps in for my FitBit goal. As we walked around, we came upon a 50s-decorated ice cream shop. We decided to top off our not-so-wonderful dinner with cones.
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| Ice Cream Shop - '50s style Working juke box that played CDs, 45s on wall, and Gumball machines |
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| Same ice cream shop - Betty Boop Car Hop on Skates |
We finally got back to the boat around 7:30, unpacked the backpack, put everything back in its proper space, and then heard rain hitting the boat. Rain!? Again!? Really!? I guess we made it back just in time. All the restaurants had dried off their outdoor seating from the earlier rains when we were out for dinner. When the rains started in earnest once more, Clark remarked that all that seating would be wet once more messing around with their ability to make a profit.
I am just glad we got in our package sending, eating, and walking while there was a break in the weather. My Fitbit showed 13,000+ steps for today - not bad!
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