Lemon Bay to Uncle Henry’s (Boca Grande)
The entrance to Uncle Henry’s, well off the ICW, was tricky. The dockmaster could see us from his office and told us every turn to help avoid the shoaling coming in.
Our short ride today was only 10 NM. Boca Grande is a town made up of lots of “old money”, so we were told. Our friends, Reggie and Gwen, from Apalachicola had given us places we must go when we arrived, so Amanda made sure we kept her promise to them. Arriving here late morning, we rented a golf cart and traveled to the south end of the island, gawking at the houses and beautiful beach.
This guy kept an eye on our boat while we were golf carting and exploring Boca Grande.
Banyan Trees on Banyan Lane. Apparently, newlyweds get their pictures taken here.
We killed a couple hours, returned to the boat, cleaned up a bit, and then headed back to downtown for our 7:30 dinner reservation at Temptation Restaurant. With a name like that, I was sure there would be babes dancing on the tables. But instead, it was just a nice pricey restaurant. We enjoyed crab cakes and their signature pan fried snapper dish.
I didn’t do so great on the mural behind us at Temptation.
From there, we carted to the Pink Elephant and enjoyed their signature drink, The Hummer. Ice cream, coffee liqueur, and some other ingredients foreign to me, made this a delicious dessert drink. It was, by far, the best thing I tasted all night long. It wasn’t strong (with alcohol) and I would have absolutely had another, if it wasn’t so expensive. It was probably a good thing that it was expensive. Where they get the name, I dont know. But as tasty as they are, it’s my bet that after several, you’d be doing a lot more than humming.
I could enjoy one of these every day, if I wouldn’t get fat, broke, and end up in a rehab center.
We also met sort of a celebrity while at the Pink Elephant. Macy Kirkland, whose father was co-founder of the Kirkland Stores across the country, and her brother, were sitting next to us at the bar. She was sitting beside Amanda and turned to her and said, “Is your name Lauren, by chance?” After clarifying her name was Amanda, Macy said she had to ask because apparently her brother thought Amanda was an old girlfriend. They were a pleasure to meet and we talked (Amanda and Macy) quite a while. Macy was very evasive in defining what she did for a living. Amanda later stalked her on the internet and learned that her family has been very philanthropic, especially supporting Habitat for Humanity. Her home is in Nashville and apparently she manages the estate and philanthropic efforts of the family foundation. She could not have been a kinder, more genteel person. It made the end of our evening a pleasant experience. Wish we had gotten a picture with her, for bragging rights, but we didn’t know she was “somebody” till later.
We carted back to the marina about 10 pm and turned in for the night. Lots of wind is forecasted for tomorrow, so we will determine early tomorrow whether we will risk the travel to Ft. Myers.