Summer Sanibel Sojourn: Sand, Shells, Sun & Sparklers - Update 7/5 About This Page:

[duck addict]

First sunburn

Get those porpoise pictures

[sophierushmom]

The crab soup looked super yummy not sure I would have shared even with my mother. Glad you are having a great trip and can't wait to hear more!

[iamgrumpy]

So we were up and at 'em by about 8am I could have slept another few hours but I was hungry so we went down for breakfast. I had an omelet, bagel and a small bowl of cereal. Mom had an omelet, bagel and an orange. I had orange Juice to drink and mom had her coffee.

After breakfast we got ready and we drove over to Fort Myers Beach. We parked at the city pier and set up camp on the beach. I sunbathed with suntan lotion on!!! and mom went into the ocean for a swim. We spent 2 full hours out there, and I tell ya you see so many different people and people watching is quite interesting on a beach.

Clinton and Stacy on TLC's What not to Wear would have a field day there!! I think people need to use the motto of "Just because they make it in the size you feel you wear, doesn't mean you should wear it." Please someone gore my eyes out it would have been far less painless! I say this with the biggest southern smile and say "have a nice day Ya'll Bless your heart" Now you know why I rarely if ever wear a bathing suit in public, and if I do I wear a cover up. NO one should be subjected to me in a bathing suit! Now you see why "iamgrumpy"

Anywho...after 2 hours the sun and heat was getting to us and we could see today's storms starting to roll in off the Gulf so we figured we'd head back and relax at the hotel.

We did get a few photos 9 to be exact ALL Day! That's because we went back to the hotel, I took a 2 hour nap, we ordered a pizza for lunch, and then relaxed some more before going to The Outback Steakhouse for dinner tonight just because we felt like going out somewhere. It was raining so we skipped going over to Sanibel so Fort Myers Outback was it!

The food was delicious and we had an ok server but a little forgetful but sweet enough. It was a good deal, we split a Prime Rib, with an add on of a lobster tail. We split an Bloomin' Onion and it came with 2 sides for our entree so we had a baked potato and a side salad as our choices. For both of us including 2 sodas, appetizer, meal, tax and tip it was $46.

We stopped for soda and a withdrawl for some cash and some gas, and we were back at the hotel and relaxing by 9:30.

Here are some shots from the beach today:

The City Pier


Mom taking a dip in the ocean


The rest are just waves and look pretty much the same so you can take a peek at them on my smugmug site (see link in previous updates)

Today we tried...Fort Myer's City Pier Beach
The Result was... It was very interesting indeed, but the sand was soft, and not as crunchy as Sanibel as there are less shells. We would go back again!
The best Thing today was... knowing we still have 3 full days of vacation.
The worst thing... knowing we only have 3 days left of vacation
The Weather was...Overcast/Sunny/rainy. Morning was overcast, with Sun mid morning and rain from Mid afternoon till night time.
A Magical Moment...Not so magical but amazing was that on Marco Island about an hour or so from here there was a Waterspout (tornado on water) that came ashore and it was caught on video and seeing that was pretty scary but amazing!

Not sure what Day 6 will Bring!

[DrDolphin]

Sounds like you've had a few enjoyable and relaxing days!!

[Kenny]

Sounds like a nice day, Amy!

[chezp]

Sounds like another lovely relaxing day.

[lauren-roxy]

Sounds like a great day Amy!!

[lauriep]

The beach looks beautiful. Here in Boston it was in the low 50's and damp this morning--I had a jacket on at 7am and was still cold! Just reminding you of what you left behind.

[KandJluvdisney]

great update amy
glad you are having a great time
hurry back with more please

[Colexis Mom]

Great update Amy!!

[wheatenwalker]

I f you go by the Pink Shell on Ft Myers beach , wave to it for me- that was my favorite vacation place when my sons were younger!

[iamgrumpy]

So we were up and at 'em this morning by 9am I was just not moving fast and we ran downstairs for a quick bite to eat before they closed down. It is definitely the weekend it was packed in there and there was a wait for a table. But being the professional Seat finder after so many trips to WDW, we did the ignore and swoop technique. Pretend not to need a seat and secretly watch those who were just finishing their food, then just as they are about to grab their plates mosey on over, by the time you get there they get up and well you swoop in and take the table. Yep we ticked off a family who clearly had waited longer but you snooze you lose in my book

I had 2 pieces of toast, a hardboiled egg, and a small bowl of cheerios. Some OJ to drink. Mom had a bagel, hardboiled egg, and some coffee. Nothing spectaculor but Free is for Me so it was awesome!

After breakfast I went back upstairs and took a 30 minute nap and then got ready to go. We decided to go over to Sanibel and hit Lighthouse Beach again. Short walk and beautiful views it was a great choice. We got the last parking space Whew! So we lucked out there but thats about where the luck wore out a bit. It was super hot today felt over 100ºF today, very little clouds, no breeze what so ever, we found the bathrooms were like a mile away, by the time we got settled we stayed about an hour and had to leave. We were using little rain umbrellas for shade I looked like Mary Poppins. Yes I did sing "A Spoonful of Sugar" and "Chim Chim" all the way back to the car. It was so the wrong day for the beach, it was way too hot, and even with sunscreen we both ended up a little more broiled then baked

So we headed down to Schnapper's Hots for hotdogs again! their hotdogs, it was a great little find and one we will go back to next time we come down here. Mom had a regular Dog with onions, relish, and mustard, we split a fry order, and I had a footlong hot dog. Two sodas and the total was $14.

After Schnapper's we took a drive over to the hotel, where we were going to stay before changing to the Country Inn and Suites. It looked ok but glad we went with our resort because it didn't look worth what we would have paid for it. :

After the quick drive around we headed over to She Sells Sea Shells and mom bought a bag of shells for $10 and got 2 free shells with a coupon we had. It was a quick stop and then we went back to the hotel.

Remember my "our luck ran out " well it had we got back to the hotel, the fire marshall was outside, the doors were pried open downstairs, the power was off. Seems the heat had affected a transformer and the whole hotel was without power and had been since 10:30am. Estimated on time was not until 5pm about 2 hours but they escorted us upstairs with a flashlight to our room, so that we could at least take a nap and/or a cold shower since the heater for the water was without power to do its job. I know it wasn't their fault but not exactly what we were hoping to return to.

We took a nap, and about 5pm still no power so we left, and had dinner at Perkin's Restaurant, where I ordered Chicken Pot Pie, mom ordered a French Dip Sandwich, and 2 sodas. Well, the waitress comes back and informs me they don't have any more Chicken Pot Pie seriously all I want is a nice warm, home like meal of Chicken Pot Pie but ended up with the Turkey Dinner. It was ok but today was like that book "Alexander and the no good very bad day" but you know what, It's ok because I'm on vacation and its beautiful here, and I'm alive and well so I forget about all that. Plus the French Silk pie, that I had helped too! YUMMY!!!!

After dinner we went outside and we saw that the sky was clear and we had about an hour to get out to Captiva for Sunset, it would be tight since its 1 lane each way and if the person in front is Sightseeing and not driving it could take a while.

We made it with about 10 minutes to spare and so it took us 50 minutes to go about 12 miles from the restaurant. We parked and we got some great shots from Captiva. Best $6 50 minute drive we took!! While taking a photos we did see another dolpin but I'm not great with timing so didn't snap fast enough to catch it but it was pure magic!

Here are the shots (there are plenty more on Smugmug: Here)




















After we took our last few shots, we headed back to the car, loaded up and headed back over to our hotel, we called and the power was back on so that was great!!! We have just been relaxing the rest of the evening tomorrow being the 4th plan on having a late morning breakfast, a round of mini golf and then at night catching both Fort Myer's Beach's Fireworks and Sanibel's Fireworks from a beach right near the hotel.

Sadly, we will be heading home earlier then planned on Sunday as we have to take care of some things back home so we won't be staying as late as originally planned but its ok because we are both getting ancy to get home.

Today we tried... Sanibel, and Captiva for a Sunset
The Result was... A little too hot, but gorgeous Sunset
The Best thing today was... the Sunset
The worst thing today was... The Power being out at the hotel
A Magical Moment... Watching the sunset and watching a Dolphin jump over a wave at the same time.

[chezp]

What a beautiful sunset. So sorry about the power loss...

[lauren-roxy]

Sorry about the loss of power at the hotel Amy. Beautiful photos of the sunset!!!

[Lemap760]

That sunset is beautiful. Sounds like a very relaxing vacation.