Wednesday, June 8, 2011
It took about 4.5 hours to get to our hotel, the Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa. Google Map routed us through small highways. We drove by this historic hotel in Yeehaw Junction.
The hotel was first rate with a shallow pool that is great for kids. The Marriott property covers 85 acres with the main hotel and then two other towers. There must be 3 pools,6 restaurants, a fitness room and a mile long jogging trail.
We went out to eat on Captiva Island at the Keylime Bistro. The food was good but the service was not the greatest and it was very expensive. We went in the Bubble Room just to look and they were getting ready to close at 9 pm. The Bubble Room had all kinds of crazy memorabilia. It is worth the visit. The restaurants all have very early closing hours. The NoSeeUms and mosquitoes were very bad during dinner and also at the Marriott pool.
We went out to eat on Captiva Island at the Keylime Bistro. The food was good but the service was not the greatest and it was very expensive. We went in the Bubble Room just to look and they were getting ready to close at 9 pm. The Bubble Room had all kinds of crazy memorabilia. It is worth the visit. The restaurants all have very early closing hours. The NoSeeUms and mosquitoes were very bad during dinner and also at the Marriott pool.
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Stefan and I went to Sanibel Island to go biking. We parked at the Lighthouse Beach park at the east end of Perriwinkle Drive. We biked a total of about 10 miles. We had lunch at Schnapper's Hots Char-Grill. It was good but they had outside seating and there were a whole lot of flies. The bike paths are great on Sanibel. There must be 20 miles of bike trails. The cars look out for bikers very well when crossing streets. A good summary of the beaches can be found at: Sanibel-Captiva Beaches.
Friday, June 11, 2011
Stefan and I went to the Edison & Fords Winter Estates. It was a photographers paradise and exceeded my expectations. There are 20 acres of gardens. Usually these places are dark and musty experiences (like Hemingway house on Key West). There are many other tour offerings but we purchased the Complete Tour. This included an audio of the tour. You cannot actually go inside the Edison and Ford houses. They have the doors open with glass on the bottom half of the door way to keep people out. The interesting part of the tour really is not the houses but the gardens. There are many varieties of plants that I have never seen before. There are a lot of orchids, a variegated pineapple plant and many other flowers. Others that I have seen are the largest that I have ever seen. Finally after finishing the gardens area we returned to the other side of the road that splits the property and toured the laboratory. This was a big disappointment because they we doing some work and all the instruments and tools that you see in pictures were removed. There is a museum with historic artifacts that were very interesting. There are a few pictures below but many more at Flickr. See the website http://www.edisonfordwinterestates.org
Saturday, June 12, 2011
We planned to go to the the Ding Darling National Wildlife Preserve and a beach today. We decide to go to Bowmans Beach first. It was much better that expected. There was plenty of prepaid parking ($2 per hour) and bath rooms, outside showers to rinse off with. There was a short walk from the parking lot to the beach which was through a preserve area including a bridge over a lake. The vegetation above the beach was very natural and undisturbed. The beach was not crowded at first and gorgeous. The water was very pleasant and the sand soft with some shells to look through. There were good shells to be found by snorkeling just off the beach. We did not stay as long as were would have like because we still wanted to go to the Ding Darling NWP. Some other other pictures of Sanibel can be found on Flickr
We took the 4 mile ($5) drive through the preserve and it was disappointing. We should have just stayed at the beach. We only saw a couple of birds. One was very interesting, however. The
educational building was okay but not great either.
Stefan and I went to the Edison & Fords Winter Estates. It was a photographers paradise and exceeded my expectations. There are 20 acres of gardens. Usually these places are dark and musty experiences (like Hemingway house on Key West). There are many other tour offerings but we purchased the Complete Tour. This included an audio of the tour. You cannot actually go inside the Edison and Ford houses. They have the doors open with glass on the bottom half of the door way to keep people out. The interesting part of the tour really is not the houses but the gardens. There are many varieties of plants that I have never seen before. There are a lot of orchids, a variegated pineapple plant and many other flowers. Others that I have seen are the largest that I have ever seen. Finally after finishing the gardens area we returned to the other side of the road that splits the property and toured the laboratory. This was a big disappointment because they we doing some work and all the instruments and tools that you see in pictures were removed. There is a museum with historic artifacts that were very interesting. There are a few pictures below but many more at Flickr. See the website http://www.edisonfordwinterestates.org
Saturday, June 12, 2011
We planned to go to the the Ding Darling National Wildlife Preserve and a beach today. We decide to go to Bowmans Beach first. It was much better that expected. There was plenty of prepaid parking ($2 per hour) and bath rooms, outside showers to rinse off with. There was a short walk from the parking lot to the beach which was through a preserve area including a bridge over a lake. The vegetation above the beach was very natural and undisturbed. The beach was not crowded at first and gorgeous. The water was very pleasant and the sand soft with some shells to look through. There were good shells to be found by snorkeling just off the beach. We did not stay as long as were would have like because we still wanted to go to the Ding Darling NWP. Some other other pictures of Sanibel can be found on Flickr
We took the 4 mile ($5) drive through the preserve and it was disappointing. We should have just stayed at the beach. We only saw a couple of birds. One was very interesting, however. The
educational building was okay but not great either.
