Observed: Bucket list trip

Longtime local commercial real estate developer and entrepreneur Cathy Layton went on a 10-day trip to the Galapagos Islands in September — and she brought along some good reading materials.

Layton, joined by her husband, Pete Russell, and a friend, Marjorie Pflaum, says the trip has been on her bucket list going back to elementary school when she learned about Charles Darwin. It was worth the wait. “It's up there in one of the three top trips of our lifetime,” Layton tells Coffee Talk. “We had lots of good adventures.”

Layton, chairwoman of the board of Sarasota-based Bank of Commerce, says the islands are like a “joyful playground.” She shivered through one of the best parts, she adds, snorkeling next to penguins and sea lions and other animals in water that sometimes dipped below 50 degrees.