Surviving Sanibel: Sand, Shells & Sunsets Trip Report - UPDATED 7/13 About This Page:

[chezp]

Great update - sounds like the reveal went really well!

[KMB733]

Great finds at the Christmas Tree Shop! I love that place. Glad to hear your grandmother is excited about going. Congrats on the savings!!! Have a great time

[Kenny]

Brenda LOVES the Christmas Tree Shoppes! Way to make Grandma love the idea of further traveling! WOW!!...THAT'S A LOW PRICE!!... on the room!

[pamcarey]

Have a great trip!!

[mcc0313]

Congratulations on the additional savings. Have a great trip Amy, looking forward to hearing all about it when you return.

[BeckiO5]

Have a great time Amy. Congrats on the savings. Great finds at Christmas Tree Shops. I too love the Christmas Tree Shops as they're owned by a company I used to work for. Have fun in MK despite having to go to your Math Class. Glad your Grandma was excited about Sanibel. Looking foward
to reading all about it when you get back.

[lindawdw]

Nice that you were able to save some money on the hotel!!! Have a great time!

[OhToodles!]

Congrats on more savings!!
Hope you're having a great time!

[magic mickey]

Great plans, Amy with very few changes. Hope you are having an amazing time. Can't wait to hear all about it.

[KandJluvdisney]

have a great trip amy
congrats on all those savings too
hurry back soon

[iamgrumpy]

The Trip Report Begins!!!
Surviving Sanibel: Sand, Shells & Sunsets
By Iamgrumpy

Welcome to the trip report I hope you enjoy it!

Day 1 Friday 09 July 2010

We had finished all the preparations last night and the only thing we had to do was go pick up the rental car this morning early at 8am bring it home and load it up with everything before we could get on the road.

Mom and I left about 7:30 and were at the Four Points by Sheraton where the Alamo location we rented from is located by about 8:04am. We went in and the agent took our paperwork and we were in our car by 8:12am. Whoohoo! Love this location its not at the airport, its quiet and they take good care of us! We were given a Dodge Journey as our SUV and well we will go into the space issues in a little bit. The person who rented the car before us did not follow the NO SMOKING rule even with the giant no smoking sticker on the dashboard so we went back in and they notated the file that it wasn't us so we won't get penalized for it! It wasn't horrible enough to change cars and if we had wanted to we would have had to wait for one to be brought from the airport. So we went with the flow.

We headed back to our apartment, only getting lost once yes we have rented from this location 2 times before and we get lost everytime on the way home because of the confusing ramps that we have to take to get to our road. this time I can blame mom as she was driving my car in the lead and I was driving the Monster car I will say right now I love me a compact car Suv's are good if you need one but for us its far to hard to get in and out of

We were home just before 9am and we were loaded and on the road by 9:30am. We made good time considering we had 3 older adults and me who all need multiple nature breaks and we needed a lunch break.

We were at our hotel at 2pm. It just opened last year and its right next to Publix and a gas station so it is very convenient for us.

I apologize I was driving so I don't have photos of any of the cows, pastures, fields, more cows, more fields, orange groves this time I know you are all so very sad!

But we checked in and our 2 bedroom suite was ready for us! I'll give you a quick tour:

Our Kitchen


The Kitchen table and 4 chairs You can see the 2nd bedroom from the shot!


The Living Room and Nora


The Bedrooms were set up the same so I'll save you 2 of the same photos


The bathroom in the 1st bedroom which mom and I stayed in was just a standard tub and shower but the bedroom off the kitchen Nora and FFF stayed in was handicap accessible and had a walk in shower and commode in one concept.


It was a very modern set up and decor and we love the set up and the room. I didn't take any photos of the lobby or outside of the hotel and hopefully before we leave on Monday I'll get a chance to do so!

Then FFF and Nora got silly with glasses that FFF brought from CT and No I saved my wackiness until later in the trip


No We haven't been hitting the sauce yet...


After we took photos we unpacked and got settled into the room. We decided that we would go to dinner, then head to Sanibel because this was the start of the change of the trip for us. What we had planned had to be modified.

We waited while Nora was on the phone see her brother went in for a normal routine procedure and we were informed that he was being admitted and would be going in for at a minimum triple bypass could be a quadruple bypass. Normally, it is a major surgery but pretty common now a days you may not worry as much but Nora's brother had other conditions that made it very dangerous for him. He was now scheduled for that surgery at 8:30am Arizona time and so we had to rebook her flight for Sunday to get her home to be with him. So we wanted to make sure just in case that changed to saturday departing she got to see Sanibel at least to say she saw it.

So we headed out to Buon Appetito Cafe which is in Fort Myers, in a corporate park, unless you knew about this place you wouldn't know about it and might think its not worth the hassle of getting to it but O-M-G it was the BEST Italian food we have had! (says a lot since we are italian ) It is family owned, the dinner menu is written on the wall and changes daily based on what they feel like making that morning. They make homemade mozzarella which was fantastic we all had a caprese salad with that!

Mom and I had veal parmasean which was so tender and so good with a slice of fresh mozzarella melted on top. Mom had Spinach with whole cloves of garlic and oil. I had homemade cavatelli with sauce. Fantastic!




Nora had Grouper Piccata and she said it was Superb!


FFF had Sausage and Peppers with a side of Pasta


The service was fantastic the owner makes the food but came out to see us and he was kissing FFF's hand and making passes in front of his wife on her and she ate up every minute of it his wife has nothing to worry about They were attentive, they were engaging, and the food was Excellent.

After dinner we headed out and over the causeway to Sanibel, it was twilight but we went to one of the beaches with easy access and we collected some shells and took photos with my cell phone.






We headed back to the hotel so Nora could keep in contact with her family it was decided she'd fly home on Sunday since he would be out of it for most of Saturday and this way she could at stay and enjoy Saturday and be with her Aunt Frances (they are very close) and had support when he was in surgery not stuck on a plane but it was sad that she was leaving early.

So we decided tomorrow Saturday we would do the Bubble Room, and Island Cow for dining the best of the islands for Tradition (bubble room) and Great seafood (Island Cow).

Up Next... Saturday at Sanibel

[pamcarey]

Great start! Wow, does that Italian food look YUMMY!!

[Grammy Grumpy]

So sorry Nora has to leave early but hope her brother is okay. Here's some

for safe travels and successful surgery.

[mcc0313]

Your meal looked delcious, so sorry about Nora's brother sending that everything goes well.

[chezp]

for Nora's brother.