Visitations
After a day and a half of driving, the four of us (Debbie, me, Dave and Carol) arrived at Ed and Betsy’s Winter Haven place Friday afternoon. After talking for an hour or two, we all went out to dinner at Manny’s. The food was really wonderful, not to mention plentiful.
The next day we drove further south to visit Uncle Jim and Aunt Sue in Naples. We’d been there before, so we’ve probably said this before, but it’s worth repeating: they have a really beautiful place. And Naples is really neat. We ate lunch on the beach at Turtle Bay. It was a fancy joint with really great food.
A couple days after getting settled in at Blind Pass, Debbie and I drove to Dot and Greg’s place in Fort Myers. Although we’d asked her not to, Dot cooked dinner. The good home cooking was a welcome change from all the eating out. As we may have predicted, their place was very nice, and it was great to see them.
Blind Pass
We stayed at Blind Pass Condominiums. It turned out to be a bit further to the beach than we thought, and a bit more vertical than we thought. The stairs were a challenge for some of us. The place itself was okay. A little dated, but okay. But the beach and the pool were nice.
We explored the beach – which is a fairly long walk on the path - every day. There were shells galore! And the pelicans, ospreys and other birds are a hoot to watch.
Other Adventures
They actually held the boat for us. I had gotten tickets for, and reserved our spots for a sunset cruise. We had given ourselves 45 minutes to get across the island and over to the marina. It had seemed like more than enough time, but it wasn’t. We were about 5 minutes late, and were flabbergasted to find the boat, filled with other people, waiting for us.
The trip itself was very nice. The captain and crew were fun, and the sunset was as spectacular as they come.
Debbie and I spent one morning biking around half the island. We went over to the lighthouse, and then back along the shore to make it a circuitous ten-mile route. It was a whole bunch of fun, but our butts were pretty sore afterwards.
We also drove through Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge with a guide. The guide had a nifty scope to allow us to see white pelicans, brown pelicans, ibises, herons, egrets, a kingfisher and even an immature bald eagle. (We could tell it was immature based on its behavior… Not really - it was because of its feather colorings.)
On the same day we went to Ding Darling, we also went to the Shell Museum. Sanibel is known for its many shells, and the museum told us more about all of them as well as others around the world.
An interesting coincidence occurred when we bumped into our Ding Darling guide – a volunteer – walking on the beach. It turns out that he lives at our condominium complex year-round.
Jacksonville
Soon it was time to pack up and drive back. We went up to Jacksonville to allow me to run the marathon on the way. Then it was back up north.
Also check out Dan's Running Blog about running on Sanibel as well as my account of the Jacksonville Marathon.
