I took my wife on a workation to Florida . . .

[imcarthur]

Workation: A company-paid work trip with a bit of vacation.

I took my wife on a workation to southern Florida for a week. I visited customers while she chilled at the hotel. We stayed at Grove Isle in Coconut Grove during the Miami stint, weekend at the Marco Island Beach Resort & back to Boca Raton for my northern beach visits.

Since I travel a lot for work, I have sometimes taken my wife along for the ride. It is always a balancing act to get some work done & to make sure she enjoys herself. It also helps to show her that my life on the road is not all fun & games. Past trips have included NYC, SFO, LA, Chicago, Vegas, Florida & several trips to France. With winter in full swing, she decided that I shouldn’t be the only one to get some Florida sun this year. Of course, we picked a cold week. The highest temperature was 72. And that was only for 1 ˝ days. The rest of the week was cold with daily highs in the 50s & 60s & a brisk northwest wind. I only had the top down on the rental Mustang once all week.

Even though the weather bombed, we really enjoyed the time together & had some great meals. And she was very appreciative . . . if you know what I mean . . .

Culinary highlights:

Escargot 41 – Naples: A great small French restaurant tucked in a nondescript plaza on Tamiami Trail. This is a must if you are in the area.

Pepe E Sale – Marco Island: The Italian restaurant of our hotel. Very good food (the best on Marco?) although a bit weak on attentive service.

Chima – Fort Lauderdale: A Brazilian steakhouse on Las Olas. A great meatfest.

Car sighting highlights:

Too may Bentleys to mention – they were everywhere. Ditto on Astons. Numerous Rolls-Royces including a wonderful 70s Corniche in Naples – top down with the driver wearing a toque in the cold! A Ferrari California, a 599 & several 430s. A Porsche Panamera in Boca & a blue/grey CGT on I-95 (the passenger was bundled up with a scarf wrapped around her head). A mid-year 911 in Palm Beach & several older Carreras on the road elsewhere as well. Also several GT3s. New 911s were a dime a dozen of course.

Some pics:

Grove Isle in the Bay of Biscayne from the plane. The hotel is the low-slung tan-roofed building on the north side.



Sunrise from Grove Isle with the Rickenbacker Causeway & Key Biscayne in the distance.



Pool at the Grove Isle Hotel.



Gator sightings on Alligator Alley. My wife snapped this blurry pic at 75 mph. If you look closely, there are 7 gators sunning.



Marco Island Beach. As you can see from my attire, the wind was cold & brisk but some brave souls were still sunning. I was getting sand-blasted.



Corkscrew Swamp. Even the wildlife was hiding from the cold.



Sunset on Marci Island with a cool ‘ghost’ sun from len’s flare.



The pool at the Marco Island Beach Resort. Far too cold for use.



P-car content. A mid-year 911 on the bridge from Palm Beach with Royal Palm Way in the background. The blonde driver stalled it when the drawbridge came down . . .



Ian

[s_morrison57]

Glad you took her with you, it's amazing that women think all we do on business trips is have fun, hotels and resturants are not fun. I took the wife with me twice, the first trip was to Mexico, she soon learned why I hate that place. Second trip was very close to the head waters of the Amazon river, she learned why I love that place but snakes, bugs and very large (350 lb) cats wasn't really her cup of tea, the clincher was sleeping inside a bug net under a tarp, she lasted 2 days. I still ask but after the jungle trip she just gives me the "you think I'm stupid" look. Kinda an inside joke with us but she still always tells me to have fun

[imcarthur]

I agree. The endless stream of hotels & restaurants is tiring but it is very difficult to explain to anyone why. A non-traveling spouse tends to get very jealous.

A workation trip every 5 years or so is very worthwhile for all.

Ian