Weather Dominates Florida Trip - Marco Island

Photo of Marco Island beaches - Marco Island, Florida (from tourism website -  NOT our photo)!

My husband and I left last Tuesday for a short anniversary trip to Marco Island, Florida - about as far south as you can reasonably drive from Atlanta (almost 11 hours). For those paying any attention, Tuesday was the day of the snow-meltdown in Atlanta - major gridlock and stories of endurance and courage. We were leaving as the weather forecasters were announcing the snowfall totals could reach 2-3 inches - not much my most standards - but combined with the way-below freezing temperatures and lack of ice/snow treatment and removal equipment, a major inconvenience at best and, at worst, what the city actually experienced.

While escaping this terrible situation, we were not spared weather woes. Marco Island is a beautiful island - from their website:

Nestled on Florida’s west coast and adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico is Marco Island, Florida. As the largest barrier island comprising what is known as southwest Florida’s “Ten Thousand Islands,” Marco Island is known for its mangroves and close proximity to the Everglades, its beautiful, pristine beaches, fine dining, outdoor recreational activities, and tropical climate. link

We stayed at the Boathouse Inn - located at the northern tip of the island knows as Old Marco Island. It was highly rated on TripAdvisor and the most reasonable place we could find for four days. It was also right on the water - which we love! The Inn is really a well maintained old-time type "motel" with rooms on the first and second levels. The rooms had no views other than the ones at the end which overlooked the bay. It did have a great dock and pool area and appeared to be a very prolific fishing spot since we did see a number of fisherman actually catching fish right out by the dock.

Our weather was not great and just kept getting worse - a lot of cold rain (heard from several locals that this was the first occasion they had to turn on their furnaces).  We hated missing all the things we had planned - a eco-tour through the Everglades, a sunset cruise on the Gulf, wandering the beaches, etc. etc.

while dodging rain-drops, we did stop by this great little consignment shop on the main drag. 

We did enjoy being in this part of the Island and found nice restaurants and shops in walking distance.

We were disappointed by the weather and once we heard that the roads in Atlanta had finally cleared, actually returned a day early - just as they were predicting sunshine over the next several days and a return to the normal 80 degree days. We will definitely have to go back!