THURSDAY'S CUP: Dreaming about winning Lot 35

Coffee Talk always looks forward to dreaming about the over-the-top auction lots for the annual Naples Winter Wine Festival, one of the most successful charity benefits in the country.

Consider Lot 35, which last year was the highest money-raising auction lot of the festival at $440,000. It consists of an Alaskan cruise for six people aboard the private 170-foot yacht appropriately named The Dream.

Winners will plan their own Alaskan itinerary and view whales, sea lions and glaciers from the top-deck Jacuzzi. Round-trip by private Gulfstream jet is included.

To bid on this lot and others, you'll have to be among the 550 guests who paid $7,500 per couple to attend the festival in late January. Since it started in 2001, the Naples festival has raised $82.5 million for children's charities.