Ft. Myers, Naples & Everglades

Well we have been so busy that I just haven't had time to write.  We get up at 7 a.m. and get home around 9 pm and we are just pooped!  When we got to Ft. Myers we just drove around and looked at RV places just in case we decided to come back and stay a winter.  With my sprained ankle it is making my beach walking and other walking impossible...darn it!!  It is till very swollen but I can hobble around on it but I am still bummed.  We went to dinner on Ft. Myers Beach using a Groupon coupon.  Groupon is really helping with this trip along with our Passport America discounts for camping.  Otherwise we could never be doing this trip.  If you are interested in signing up for Groupon could you let me know and I will send you an email that will help us earn some free coupons...thanks.
Using Groupon I had a massage schedule for Tuesday on Ft. Myers Beach, it and Ft. Myers are two separate places.  When people refer to Ft. Myers they usually mean "Beach".  After my fall it was nice to get a massage but sure wasn't long enough but it helped. The day was cloudy so we drove out to Lover's Key State Park, but it started raining so we just made a quick trip through the park.  It is a very popular place to go.  That rain was all we got this week, but it helped me stay off my foot.  The town of Ft. Myers Beach is very layed back and very popular for Spring Break.  Again we found that parking for the beach area is very difficult and that you still can't drive along the Gulf water like you can the Pacific Ocean on the West coast because of all the hotels and condos.  Still having a Groupon to use we went to a Pub for a late lunch.  Dusty ordered some Nachos to go with the beers and they were huge, we never had a actual lunch!!  We had fun talking to the bartender and locals and during a conversation expensive drinks came up and a regular told us about a expensive Scotch that cost $50 a shot and tasted like barb-a-que smoke.  Now I had to see what he was talking about but no way was I paying the price!  Smiling nicely I asked the female bartender for a sip...I got a full shot and right away Dusty and I recognized the smell as that of "peat".  When we were in Ireland we learned that years ago not having access to wood the people would cut the peat that the Island is made of and burn it.  They no longer have to do this but the tourists expect it so many places will still burn it in the fireplaces and it does have a distinctive smell.  You could taste it too and I could see why the man hadn't liked it and I would never have paid $50 for it and I do like good Scotch.  But we had a fun afternoon there and then headed back to ice my foot.
On Wednesday we drove down to Naples.  My oh my, what a beautiful, beautiful town!!  Definitely for the Rich and Famous.  I mean why do people need such huge homes these days??  They looked like castles.  I couldn't get good pictures of them as there were always cars behind us and No Parking signs everywhere.  Very limited access to the beach unless you live there.  There is a very nice State Park there that would be the best place to go, but since we are travelling to the Keys...Yeah...while I write this and icing my foot...I can't get to the information of the name of the park. The nice thing about the Naples area is that they have left the coastline natural so there is still trees and palm trees and plants that you see from the beach.  So you kind of get an idea of what it looking liked to the Spaniard's when they landed here in the 1500's.  Did you know Spain sold Florida and some other parts of the south to us for only 1 penny???
Yesterday which was Thursday the 7th we decided to do a Airboat ride since I couldn't do much walking.  The day was perfect, blue sky warm...love it.  Anyway we went to Everglades City and went out with Robert from Speedy's.  They take boats out that only hold 6 people so we were able to go through Mangrove canals and out to the open grasslands.  What a thrill!!  This was definitely on Dusty's Bucketlist and it didn't disappoint.  Robert didn't spend the time talking but gave us a real ride and it was cool to even be able to float over the land.  When we were done we went to the National Park area for the Everglades since we were there to ask about a canoe trip.  But since we have no experience they didn't recommend it.  But a large patio boat was getting ready to go through the Everglades out to the Gulf so we hopped on.  It was a good decision and we learned allot, like that Manatee's have very little fat even though they are huge..there body is made up of 70 o/o bone which is Ivory..just like an elephants tusk.  I asked the Captain why and he said I am just a dump Captain..I don't know.  LOL  He did pass around a rib bone from a baby Manatee and it sure was heavy.  Even though he said we probably went over 100 one never surfaced enough for us to see.  But when we got to the gulf we did see some dolphins playing.  They put on quit a show for us, and swimming right up to the boat.  We had our own little "Seaworld".  He sped up so they could play in the wake and boy did they have fun chasing us, jumping out of the water, not only did the kids on board have fun so did us adults. 
The captain told us of a little restaurant so we went there for lunch.h It was a Cuban one and having heard Bill Rayl talk about how much he loved Cuban sandwiches we decided to try one and Dusty also got some Mahi Mahi.  We agree with Bill they are delicious.  From there we went to a little roadside walkway and saw some Alligators, large turtles and very large fish.  We also went on down the road to a State Park and started to walk a ways down the path.  There on the bank was an Alligator about 6 ft long.  The people said there had been a baby one climbing all over her earlier, we waited, but it didn't come out of hiding even tho we coud hear it clucking.  I told Dusty to get close so I could take a picture..he said .."So I can get bit?"  I said no I just wanted one so people would know we were in the natural sitting and not at a farm.  Unfortunately he got eaten so I have no pictures to show you.....NOT.  He just hasn't had time to download them so they will be on later.  My foot wasn't allowing me to walk much further so on our way back I decided to have my picture taken with her.  Just after that a group came up and were talking...Hey I didn't know an Alligator can run 27 MPH for about 50ft!!!!  I asked the man if he was sure and he said he was a tour guide on his day off and Yes he was sure!!! Oops...no more pictures with that Alligator.  On our way home we rode over to Marco Island, again unless you live there very hard to get to the beach, nice place but not nearly has beautiful as Naples.  I must say Naples is one of the prettiest towns I have ever seen, I am talking along the water and the old town of Naples, not out along Hwy 41, that is like any other town.
The main thing so far is we are loving this trip and even though it took us 3 years to get here- we did and are having fun in spite of this stupid foot!

One More Mile

Lake San Marino is located  just off US 41 in Naples Fl. you can rent an RV space or buy a Park Model and stay year round. Our stay was from 4/06 to 4/08/2011 at a cost of $53.00 ( Passport rate ).We were approx. 30 minutes from the beach,

RV registration and sales office

Here you have everything from shuffleboard to a swimming pool.

One of the many different park models

One More Mile

 Yep its just like it sounds, a mobile home park which rents out its vacancies to RV'ers. It does have a swimming pool, clubhouse showers and restrooms. Clean well maintained and for a Passport rate of $16.00 per night or $550.00 per month which includes power water and sewer stay a month and explore Fort Myers area, approx 2 miles off I-75. Our stay was 4/4 & 4/5/2011.

Club House/Rec hall

Pool

More Sun, More Beach

Dusty & Char 1st time at Sanibel Island

Isn't it beautiful?

Dusty just chillin

OK, so sorry to those of you that are wearing your coats inside or freezing or sitting inside while it's raining outside....BUT...we are so enjoying the sun and beach!!!  Dusty promised me one day just at the beach and since he is not one to lay out, this was very nice of him.  We bought him a beach chair with shade built in and spent 4 hours just relaxing.  He took his e-reader and was content....I just soaked up the sun.  If you ever come to Ft. Myers YOU MUST come out to Sanibel Island....you can walk the beach looking for shells, swim in the warm shallow water, there are no big waves, the ocean floor is sandy and so seaweed to walk over....just perfect.  For those of us who were raised in the Pacific Northwest where when you go to the beach you wear coats to wade in the water and sunbath (my sister and I use to do that) this is heaven. the water is such a beautiful blue I can't wait to get to the Florida Keys. 
But on Sunday there was commotion when a mother lost her 7 year old girl at the beach...any mother who has gone through this knows the panic and the screams of a mother looking for their child....I was in the restroom (surprise surprise) when she came in screaming.  When I walked out Dusty was there talking to a man on a cell phone, they told me to go find the mother has they had the police on the phone and they needed to talk to her, it seems Dusty had locked our keys in the car and we had no cell phone with us and he had originally asked the man to call a locksmith.  I went to the beach to get her, believe me she didn't want to come, she was maybe of Muslim faith..she was wearing head wear and spoke broken English, but I finally got her to come .  On our way back to the Parking lot she saw her other daughter and asked her where she last saw her sister, she said in the ocean.  Oh my the screams from that mother, my heart broke, one lady heard her say her daughter was in the water and screamed for everyone in a swimsuit to get in the water.  People were great...running up and down the beach, diving in the water,just coming together.   when I finally got her to the parking lot the Police Officer was there.  The mother didn't want to talk, she wanted to keep looking, but I stayed with her holding her hand and trying to console her has she sobbed.  The Police officer, a woman, finally let her go back to the beach, an hour had gone by now.  The officer was calling for support, when finally a young man, 14 years old, came running up out of breath saying he had found her and had gotten her to her father who was looking for her.  She was down the beach, 2 miles, she had thought her younger sister was drowning and couldn't see her mom, who had left the kids with the dad while she went to change the baby, and had gotten caught in the water and drifted down the beach and washed up on shore and had no idea where she was..a miracle and thank goodness for gentle waves and undertow.  That young man kept hugging the mother and saying it's OK she is safe, don't worry, she is with her dad, she is coming.  The police officer called him a hero, I told him he was a very mature young man and when I saw his mother I told her so and said I truly hoped that if my grandson's were in the same situation that they would have acted the same.  Back to our lost keys, Dusty couldn't reach a locksmith, the man offered to take him back to the campground and Dusty climbed into a window, would have loved to see that, and got our extra keys.
To continue how kind people are, yesterday after being at the beach we came back, had a Margarita and went for a walk around the park and started to walk to a few shops.  Was it the heat, was it the Margarita, who knows but I had one of my black out spells...Dusty said I was talking & laughing when I just collapsed.  He said 5 cars stopped to help,isn't that great to know people still care, but Dusty just sat on the ground holding me until I could get up, got me back to the park, gave me one of my pills for this situation.  I don't remember any of it, other then hearing one person asking is she OK?  When I collapsed I sprained my foot and sit here this morning with ice on it.  I know you who are very cold are saying Ha Ha...but it still is going to be 86 today...so there!!  LOL  :)  We move off the Island today to just Ft. Myers.  So more later...stay warm and dry friends and family..oh and watch the tornadoes!!!

Dusty looking for the Perfect Shell

Doing the Sanibel Stoop



Ah, a perfect day at the beach!!!



Sanibel's lighthouse, different isn't it?

BEACH, WONDERFUL BEACH

So sorry not keeping up with this.  The weather is perfect the beach is perfect having way too much fun!!!  We are getting up very early and heading to beach to look for shells, you can be wading out to you waist at 7:30 am in the morning and looking for shells and not be cold.  Wonderful!!  Dusty is in search for that perfect shell....LOL.  We are on Sanibel Island just out in the ocean from Ft. Myers.  Everyone on the beach is doing the  "Sanibel Stoop"  that is stooping over looking in the water for shells, they are everywhere!!!!  Have a few things to tell you but have to finish coffee and head to the beach, going to be 90 today and want to get there before all the parking places are gone, we can walk from our campsite but it is about a half mile and hard to carry chairs.  Hope someone is reading this....if not oh well, it will be my diary...sort of...not telling you ALL my secrets!!!

One More Mile

If you want the laid back atmosphere of Island life, and you like shelling or just laying on the beach then this is the place for you. Rent a bicycle, enjoy a sunset or even take a dip in the gulf, when passing by Fort Meyers (Sanibel Island) is a must stop for a couple of days of R&R. Full hook ups clean restrooms and laundry, activity center even exotic birds. $45.00 a night is not a bad price to pay for Island paradise.

Exotic bird for all to enjoy

just modern day gypsies home for the weekend

Our stay was from 4/01 -4/04/2011 very relaxing

The Sun is Shining

Yeah the sun is shining today!!  It was the record for rainfall in the Tampa/St. Petersburg Area.  In fact news reporters were saying they had never seen a storm like the one we had yesterday....believe me is was a doozie and even at 9:30 pm the lightning and thunder were still going on.  But having lived all over we had seen storms like this and been where there is tornado warnings....just not something we like to be in!!  So we are on the road headed to Sannibel Island in the Ft. Myers area.  The beach is known for its shells and after the storm maybe some big ones washed up.  The weather is to be in the 80's, so the plan is spend the time on the beach.  We will only be on the island two nights as that was all we could get at the time we booked, then of course after we had made other reservations and pre-paid ( a common practice I found out) they emailed they had 3 more nights open....oh well, such is life.