Finally at the Hotel. Finally!

Florida Trip Travelog #6
Bonita Springs, FL - Wed, 21 Sep 2022, 5:30pm

Here it is, entry six in my blog series, and we're finally where we meant to be. Getting here was quite the misadventure, what with unexpectedly sleeping in an airport and all. Oh, and one of our suitcases is still MIA. But here we are, finally, even if basically a day late.

We checked in to the hotel around 4pm. We're staying for four nights. We booked a room at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point on points. In this case, Chase Ultimate Rewards points that we transferred to Hyatt to book the room.



We asked at the front desk if room upgrades were available. They were— but not for free. We don't have any elite status with Hyatt. But we're 💯 with the idea of you get what you pay for. There were a few choices of paid upgrades available. For an extra $25/night we upgraded to a corner room with not just one, not just two, but three balconies. You can see two off the main room in the photo above.... The third balcony is off the bathroom!



Here's the view from one of the balconies, above. Another is below.



After unpacking our suitcases a bit and acquainting ourselves with the room, we changed into our swimsuits and went downstairs to visit the pools.



Going out the "back" door of the hotel there's a familiar type of scene, with an ornamental pool laid out before us. The swimming pools start beyond that.

Unfortunately the swimming pools were all closed! We weren't terribly surprised, as it has been raining off-and-on this afternoon, with thunder and lightning. Instead of swimming we walked around the grounds.



There are, like, four swimming pools here, including two with big water slides, plus a lazy river pool. We chose the hotel on the strength of those amenities. Yes, we're kind of like 11 year olds at heart. 🤣

We'll try again this evening if the weather clears. The lazy river and water slides will be closed, but we'll try to use the main pool(s) and/or hot tub. For now we're back in the room, taking it easy. We'll go out for a light supper in a bit.

Water Slides, Lazy River, and Other Fun Stuff

Florida Trip Travelog #7
Bonita Springs, FL - Thu, 22 Sep 2022, 2pm

Today's our first real day of vacation. Unfortunately we spent 27 hours getting here, and by the time we arrived yesterday afternoon the pools were all shut due to afternoon thunderstorms. (Afternoon thunderstorms are virtually a 100% chance daily here at this time of year.) Then after dinner I was so wrecked— from getting 1 hour of sleep in the previous 38 hours— that I went to sleep at 10:30pm while Hawk was still on a videoconference for a board meeting. Our first day of vacation was a loss.

Anyway, this story is not about yesterday and all the ways it sucked, it's about today and all the ways it's awesome!

My day almost started when my weekday alarm rang at 6:45am. I say almost because I swatted the off button— not just snooze, but off— and went back to sleep. I woke up again at 7:30 when my phone buzzed...this time not for an alarm but for some good news. The delivery person for the airline had our suitcase and would be arriving in 10 minutes! I threw on some clothes and met him downstairs in the lobby. Now all the pieces were back together. Some of us got here in 27 hours, one took 43 hours.



While I was up from then on, Hawk was still catching up on sleep from the previous two days' ordeal. I let her sleep in a bit. I wasn't ready for adventure yet, either. I was glad to start slowly. I worked on my computer quietly in the room and ate breakfast of sliced meat, cheese, and crackers that we bought at a grocery store last night. I enjoyed the views from the balconies for a while— but mostly by looking through the glass, as it was already hot outside in the sun even at 8-9am.



Eventually we were ready to face the outside world— from more than our balcony, anyway— and dressed in our swim suits to go down to the pools. We walked past the ornamental pool and one of the "plain" swimming pools (both visible in the photo above) and headed to the water slides and lazy river.

"What time is it?" I wondered. "Maybe 10?" Nope. It was already almost 11. Time to get busy!



There are a total of five water slides at this hotel. Two of the big ones are in the photo above. You can also see half of another big one; it's the beige colored slide. The difference is the beige slide is for riding on an inflatable tube. The two blue slides are for just you and your swimsuit.



I used the blue slides a few times first. My... photographic assistant... made a video and some pictures. The first video was screwed up, so I had to go down again. There were problems with that one, too, so I had to go down the slide a third time. Then I wanted to get some stills photos, but again... my photographic assistant... had trouble with the camera. Thus a fifth ride was necessary. Ah, the things I do in support of photography!

I also used the beige slide a few times on an inflatable raft. My... photographic assistant... had given up on photography by that point, but I still did the slide anyway, just to practice for later.

After the slides we both grabbed inflatable rafts and went to the lazy river pool. Like the slides, the lazy river wasn't crowded today. I credit that to it being a weekday and (somewhat) early in the day.

When tired of the lazy river after a few laps we went to another water slide for a few runs then waded in a swimming pool for a bit. As the hour wound toward 1pm we got out of the pools, toweled off, and sat for lunch at a bistro in the resort. Hawk had fried chicken tenders while I enjoyed a quesadilla and a beer. The food objectively wasn't great— and it also wasn't inexpensive— but we had some serious taste amplification from the exercise, fresh air, and beautiful surroundings.