Well, it is now Tuesday, September 28 and, unfortunately, time for us to go home.
We got up really early and went to breakfast at Nene's which is on the island. It was very good -- but VERY expensive. We found out that lunch would have been better -- $5.00 for specials of two Chicago hot dogs, french fries and a drink. Well, now we know for next year.
I finished up with the laundry (washing the bedding, towels, etc.) and Mark finished up loading the car with our luggage.
We drove over to Starbucks to meet Nicki for a last cup of coffee and a hug goodbye. We went to her office after coffee to try to print our boarding passes but we were having issues and gave that up. It was time to say goodbye. Nicki may not admit it, but I saw tears in those gorgeous eyes of hers. I, on the other hand, just let them flow. I really hated saying goodbye. We had so much fun and I knew that I was going to miss my "sister" something terrible when we got home. We finished our goodbyes and Mark and I got in the car and drove towards Ft. Myers. We stopped at Nicki's favorite place, Waffle House



as we knew we wouldn't be eating on the plane and our flight was scheduled to land at Midway in Chicago around 10 p.m.
We got to the airport, returned the rental car, checked our luggage and got through security and walked to our gate about an hour before the scheduled departure. I was able to log onto the internet at the airport for free in Ft. Myers so spent some time talking on AOL to a good friend back home, DISing and answering office emails.
Then we got the announcement our plane was going to be delayed. First it was 15 minutes, then it was 30 minutes, and so on and so on. It turns out that the plane was coming in from Atlanta and there was an "unruly drunk passenger on the plane" before taking off to Ft. Myers and they had to go back to the gate and get the police to escort him off the plane. I was NOT happy. First, I hate flying; I hated that we had a one-stop flight (stopping in Atlanta before heading to Chicago) and hated the fact that it looked as if we were going to get in really late now. We finally took off and landed in Atlanta. Believe it or not, they made us ALL get off the plane and reboard. I still don't know why they did this. But we only ended up landing in Chicago about ten minutes late...they made up really good time in the air.
We landed at Midway, quickly got our luggage and were in the limo on the way home. Andy, although he had to be up early the next day, waited up for us (it was around midnight when we got home) with the Princess to welcome us with kisses.
I will come back later with a "Final Thoughts" and a Hat contest.