bengunn
Pirate Member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2001
- Messages
- 375
Day 18 Sanibel Island
Previous episodes:
Prequel
Day 1 The trip to Orlando
Day 2 Animal Kingdom
Day 3 Magic Kingdom
Day 4 Typhoon Lagoon, Shopping and Illuminations Cruise
Day 5 - Islands of Adventure
Day 6 Epcot
Day 7 Seaworld
Day 8 Universal Studios
Day 9 Epcot and the Magic Kingdom
Day 10 Discovery Cove
Day 11 Kennedy Space Centre
Day 12 Disney MGM Studios
Day 13 Blizzard Beach
Day 14 Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios
Day 15 - Cypress Gardens and the move to Bradenton
Day 16 Anna Maria Island
Day 17 Siesta Key
The Cast:
Richard (bengunn): Chief planner
Kathy : DW, just wants to go on holiday
Josie : DD 20, at Reading University, Assistant Planner, not very good at getting up
Sam : DS 17, just done AS exams, can get up very quickly when he wants to
Monday 2nd September
I was up first today and went shopping for milk and other essentials first thing.
I should mention that it was Labor Day today and our original plan had been to go to Busch Gardens today; we had even booked the Serengeti Safari. However, we thought that it would be very busy and so had phoned Busch a couple of days ago to change the Serengeti Safari booking to Wednesday when we hoped it would be quieter.
We were all still a bit red from the beach yesterday, and Josie and Sam did not fancy any of the local attractions, so we decided to go to Sanibel Island, which was on our to do list. Now in retrospect, and I would not have thought about driving a long distance on a Bank Holiday in the UK, so why was I doing it in the USA?
Anyway, we set off from the villa at 11:00 (getting much later this week after all the early mornings in Orlando) as we approached the I75, I noticed that it was solid going south but Kathy, who was driving, had already turned up the slip road so I thought too late we are now going to spend hours in a traffic jam. However, imagine our surprise when, half way up the slip road, we were met by a car coming down the wrong way! Several other cars followed, so we did a quick 3 point turn and did the same thing; not sure how legal it was but when in Rome ..
We turned around and went back past our villa at 11:15! We then worked our way down lesser roads through Sarasota and rejoined the I75 further south where it was clear. The traffic was not bad at all after this and we drove the long way down to Fort Myers and the seemingly longer way from there to Sanibel, arriving at the Lighthouse Beach at 13:35 which is not bad really although it seemed much longer.
There was a very long boardwalk from the car park to the lighthouse and the beach; I managed to slip on it and fall over in a fairly spectacular manner
. Fortunately, nothing was damaged except my pride and so, somewhat bruised, we moved on and walked on the beach, seeing a pelican which was also walking on the beach.
There was nowhere to eat at the beach so we returned to the car and drove back to where we had seen some shops. We had some excellent burgers at the Lighthouse Café for $30, had a look round the other shops, and felt much better after that.
We picked up a local free map and guide and decided to go to the nature reserve on Sanibel. As it was Labor Day, and there might be a lot of visitors, the thoughtful people who run it had locked up both the visitor centre and the toilets; very helpful. We walked a bit of the boardwalk trail but it was very hot (as usual) and the trail was several miles long, so we returned to the visitor centre where we saw a racoon which climbed up a tree and ignored us.
There is a trail which you can drive around, for a fee, so we decided to do that; we got to the bit where you are supposed to pay but it was an honesty box and we had no change so, bearing in mind that the visitor centre was closed, we decided to ignore it and drive on anyway.
We drove around the trail, stopping and walking in several places, and saw more racoons, roseate spoonbills, and lots of tiny crabs which climb up trees. I can thoroughly recommend the nature reserve, it is very quite and beautifully unspoilt.
After that, we went to Bowmans beach and saw yet another pelican and lots of other birds which were pecking around at the edge of the beach, running away when each wave came along.
We left Sanibel at 17:35 and drove back through some fairly atrocious weather in Fort Myers and up the I75 for a while, arriving back at the villa at 19:45. On the way back, I finally found a radio station that I liked; Thunder 103.5 classic rock; I have found it on the internet back here as well but somehow it is never quite the same.
Kathy and Sam went out for a Chinese takeaway but soon returned as the Chinese restaurant was closed for Labor Day. They then went out again, to the cluster of takeaways by the I75 junction, and returned which Subs and MacDonalds which were gratefully received.
We then did our usual of reading and watching TV; the TV weatherman said that the sea temperature was 86 degrees which explains why it feels so warm.
Tomorrow: Our Silver Wedding Anniversary
Previous episodes:
Prequel
Day 1 The trip to Orlando
Day 2 Animal Kingdom
Day 3 Magic Kingdom
Day 4 Typhoon Lagoon, Shopping and Illuminations Cruise
Day 5 - Islands of Adventure
Day 6 Epcot
Day 7 Seaworld
Day 8 Universal Studios
Day 9 Epcot and the Magic Kingdom
Day 10 Discovery Cove
Day 11 Kennedy Space Centre
Day 12 Disney MGM Studios
Day 13 Blizzard Beach
Day 14 Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios
Day 15 - Cypress Gardens and the move to Bradenton
Day 16 Anna Maria Island
Day 17 Siesta Key
The Cast:
Richard (bengunn): Chief planner
Kathy : DW, just wants to go on holiday
Josie : DD 20, at Reading University, Assistant Planner, not very good at getting up
Sam : DS 17, just done AS exams, can get up very quickly when he wants to
Monday 2nd September
I was up first today and went shopping for milk and other essentials first thing.
I should mention that it was Labor Day today and our original plan had been to go to Busch Gardens today; we had even booked the Serengeti Safari. However, we thought that it would be very busy and so had phoned Busch a couple of days ago to change the Serengeti Safari booking to Wednesday when we hoped it would be quieter.
We were all still a bit red from the beach yesterday, and Josie and Sam did not fancy any of the local attractions, so we decided to go to Sanibel Island, which was on our to do list. Now in retrospect, and I would not have thought about driving a long distance on a Bank Holiday in the UK, so why was I doing it in the USA?
Anyway, we set off from the villa at 11:00 (getting much later this week after all the early mornings in Orlando) as we approached the I75, I noticed that it was solid going south but Kathy, who was driving, had already turned up the slip road so I thought too late we are now going to spend hours in a traffic jam. However, imagine our surprise when, half way up the slip road, we were met by a car coming down the wrong way! Several other cars followed, so we did a quick 3 point turn and did the same thing; not sure how legal it was but when in Rome ..
We turned around and went back past our villa at 11:15! We then worked our way down lesser roads through Sarasota and rejoined the I75 further south where it was clear. The traffic was not bad at all after this and we drove the long way down to Fort Myers and the seemingly longer way from there to Sanibel, arriving at the Lighthouse Beach at 13:35 which is not bad really although it seemed much longer.
There was a very long boardwalk from the car park to the lighthouse and the beach; I managed to slip on it and fall over in a fairly spectacular manner
. Fortunately, nothing was damaged except my pride and so, somewhat bruised, we moved on and walked on the beach, seeing a pelican which was also walking on the beach.There was nowhere to eat at the beach so we returned to the car and drove back to where we had seen some shops. We had some excellent burgers at the Lighthouse Café for $30, had a look round the other shops, and felt much better after that.
We picked up a local free map and guide and decided to go to the nature reserve on Sanibel. As it was Labor Day, and there might be a lot of visitors, the thoughtful people who run it had locked up both the visitor centre and the toilets; very helpful. We walked a bit of the boardwalk trail but it was very hot (as usual) and the trail was several miles long, so we returned to the visitor centre where we saw a racoon which climbed up a tree and ignored us.
There is a trail which you can drive around, for a fee, so we decided to do that; we got to the bit where you are supposed to pay but it was an honesty box and we had no change so, bearing in mind that the visitor centre was closed, we decided to ignore it and drive on anyway.
We drove around the trail, stopping and walking in several places, and saw more racoons, roseate spoonbills, and lots of tiny crabs which climb up trees. I can thoroughly recommend the nature reserve, it is very quite and beautifully unspoilt.
After that, we went to Bowmans beach and saw yet another pelican and lots of other birds which were pecking around at the edge of the beach, running away when each wave came along.
We left Sanibel at 17:35 and drove back through some fairly atrocious weather in Fort Myers and up the I75 for a while, arriving back at the villa at 19:45. On the way back, I finally found a radio station that I liked; Thunder 103.5 classic rock; I have found it on the internet back here as well but somehow it is never quite the same.
Kathy and Sam went out for a Chinese takeaway but soon returned as the Chinese restaurant was closed for Labor Day. They then went out again, to the cluster of takeaways by the I75 junction, and returned which Subs and MacDonalds which were gratefully received.
We then did our usual of reading and watching TV; the TV weatherman said that the sea temperature was 86 degrees which explains why it feels so warm.
Tomorrow: Our Silver Wedding Anniversary
