Marco Island: Part 3

The beach was great for shelling.  I've never seen a beach with so many shells actually worth taking home.  

 There were spots you had to dig a little and other spots that where the complete pile looked like they could all be for sale.  We took a bag home and I've been looking for ideas to make something fun with them.

This was the view from our hotel room and thankfully it was a free upgrade because we didn't enjoy it enough.  It was hard to enjoy the balcony with an on the move Wills and our leaving for dinner out every night.  But, we hurried on our last night to make it downstairs to catch the sunset on the beach. 

We could have seen the same thing from our balcony, but its much better with sand between your toes.

Right, Lauren?

And I wanted to grab a few pictures of us sans bathing suits...

She wouldn't smile nice for any of the pictures with us, but as soon as she sees "Ariel," she turned it on.  

Our flight wasn't until 3pm on our last day and we heard about a few places worth stopping at through the Everglades.  We packed up and left the hotel early to get it all in. 

Stop #1:  The Smallest Post Office in the US

It was literally at 2 minute stop.  The kids were asleep in the car and we jumped out to snap pictures to document our presence in Ochopee, Florida.

Stop #2: The Smallwood Store in Chokoloskee

The dirt road leading up to this historic store had us second guessing our decision, and luckily when we pulled up there were other patrons.  

 It served as a trading post, store, and post office for pioneers and the island was only accessible by boat until 1955.  The same year it got a bridge and subsequently electricity.  The store ran on a generator before that.  The muesum looks a lot like the store would have, showcasing many of the items that would have been for sale.

The only thing we purchased was a toy alligator, with a bonus gift of a dozen mosquito bites.

Stop #3: Triad Seafood in Everglades City

This area is where they catch the stone crab and then sell to the famous Joe's Stone Crab in Miami.  At half the price and no hour long waits, we didn't think twice.  A google search led us to this blog post.  She was right on!

This place was just the restaurant for us, complete with sugar packets for playing... 

And oddly, the best highchair of all of our dining experiences.  He was happy as could be the entire time!

The best stone crab!  So fresh!

If you are heading to Marco Island, let me know.  I've got a few other places I would recommend eating at and a few I would tell you to avoid.  

As we pulled away and headed to the airport I got teary eyed, I truly didn't want our vacation to end.  We loved Marco, Florida in November, but mostly just The Crawford Clan.

XOXO

Aubrey