Last year when we visited Florida, we took a water taxi over to Peanut Island with my mom and grandma. The boat ride was really exciting for Bracken. This year we went back to Sailfish Marina Resort and took a tour by boat called the Palm Beach “Now & Then” Cruise, with my mom and sister. They had already been on the tour previously, but thought that Bracken would enjoy a longer boat ride. They were right. About the tour, it said: “Enjoy seeing and hearing about the mansions and yachts of the “rich and famous”. Cruise past the newly renovated Peanut Island and on towards the back yards of the area’s finest homes. This tour provides a history of Palm Beach as well as up to date information about what’s new on the island.” We gawked at the giant mansions, wondering why anyone would want houses so large? I laughed remembering last year when we drove to the beach and I thought we were passing some sort of public buildings, libraries or …something. But then my mom and sister told me that those were actually people’s houses and I was shocked.

From what we learned on the tour, about ninety five percent of the houses are only occupied for a few months out of the year. Bizarre, right? We thought so. How could the money otherwise be spent besides a home only occupied for such a short while each year? We played the game: what would we do if we had that much money? (Or an unlimited amount of money?) That’s a fun game to play sometimes, isn’t it? (What would you do? My current answer would be: I’d like to set up sustainable farms, homes, and communities all over the world, especially for those who can’t afford it. And access to clean water sources! Everyone deserves a roof over their head and to be able to take care for their basic needs. I like to envision that even with climate change and natural disasters, every community could feed itself and care for most of it’s needs. So food and water are high on the  list. Not everyone would want to be a farmer, I know, but those that chose that path would be greatly appreciated in their communities for feeding everyone and I’d like to help fund that. Families that would want to provide more of their own food could have access to the things they needed to do so. And I’d like to start restaurants all over the place that source their ingredients locally, including “fast food” restaurants that only offer organic, healthy food. So wherever you travel, you can have access to good food. Sounds pretty nice, huh? Those are a few of the things I’d like to do. I guess I better stop here or I could get carried away and this could turn into a really long post!)

We enjoyed the boat ride, I’m so glad we went. It was a great way to spend our last day in Florida and I loved the quality time with my sister and mom. (I forgot to mention that at the last minute my uncle was able to join us on our trip and that was really a treat too!) We watched boats and birds and even saw some manatees at the end. Afterwards we ate seafood and looked out at the water. And then later Bracken went on his first golf cart ride with grandma. Then my sister and I rode him around in a gold cart a bit more. He insisted, in all seriousness, that we really needed a golf cart ourselves. That made me smile. I guess he was having fun playing the game too. My mom packed us food for the plane ride, bless her heart. We got home late Saturday night and now, even on Monday, I still feel pretty jet lagged. We came back to storms, overcast skies, and pouring rain. I’m still savoring that warm Florida sunshine in my memory. But I’m also really happy to be home!