We just returned from our much needed vacation at Fort Myers Beach, Florida. Mom, Dad, Curtis and I flew down (thanks for the tickets) on Sunday to stay in my Uncle Bill's condo (thanks for the lodging). We had a wonderful time, best vacation we've had since our honeymoon! My uncle's condo is very beautiful with panoramic views of the Gulf and the bay. The weather was perfect, 75-85 every day, no rain...a little breezy but we didn't mind. We saw dolphins every day, went to a Twins game at their spring training facility, took an airboat ride in the Everglades, rented bicycles to go to the shops, walked beaches, including Lover's Key, Bowman Beach on Sanibel Island and of course Fort Myers Beach. The week went by so fast...we wish we could have stayed for two. Here are some pictures from our week away from it all...
Just stepped out of the Fort Myers Airport and waiting for our ride.
Living room of condo looking towards lenai...you can see the bay out the window in the living room.
Here's a view of our condo. We were in the penthouse suite, 10th floor, on the right hand side of the picture.
This was at Hammond Stadium, spring training site for the Minnesota Twins.
Nice view of Fort Myers Beach from the pier.
Sunbathing on Fort Myers Beach off of the Chapel Rd. beach access. We slathered ourselves in sunscreen and managed to avoid the burn for the most part.
One of many beautiful sunsets we watched from the condo.
Curtis, Dad and Mom waiting on our Airboat ride in the Everglades!
View of the propeller in the airboat...amazing how those things work! I don't know how fast we ended up going, but it was FAST...thought we were going to fly out a few times!
Brown Pelican that landed on our boat. These birds are abundant in this area, we saw tons of them everyday.
There were no alligators on our airboat ride, but they told us where we could find them. During the "dry season" the 'gators move inland for "sweeter" water. We didn't see any manatees during this trip...Mom and Dad saw them everyday when they came in August of last year.
We saw plenty of alligators, large and small, at just this one site...I was glad they were inland.
Curtis and I drove over the bridge to Sanibel Island and Captiva. We weren't that impressed with Captiva...just a bunch of huge mansions that you can barely see behind their gated entrances. Sanibel was very cool though. We went to Bowman Beach ($2/hr) and were amazed by the seashells. They were literally everywhere...there are more shells than sand!
There were so many beautiful birds on this trip, but this Great White Heron takes the prize. He was on Sanibel Island, about four feet away from a couple in beach chairs, begging for the meat of their turkey sandwich, haha.
There is a greyhound track in Fort Myers/Naples so we went to see a few races. I WILL adopt one of these dogs someday!
Our favorite beach was Lover's Key. We walked around the point to the Gulf side and found a little inlet where there was little wind. Behind us was protected area, very natural, very rugged and beautiful.
I made a sand manatee, since we didn't see any real ones.
Curtis loved our little private beach...he had fun taking pictures here.
Lover's Key had lots of driftwood and fallen trees. This one was really cool because it had hundreds of seashells stuck on the root system. It looked like a christmas tree decked out with ornaments.
We saw wildlife on this beach as well, including osprey (w/nests) and these horseshoe crabs.
Osprey on its nest. A male and female kept collecting sticks and adding to the nest.
We finally hit the condo's pool on our last afternoon in Florida...we had to wash of the sand from the beach without dirtying up the condo we'd just cleaned that morning.
And then we were back in the airport...2 hr delay on our flight this time, didn't back to Indianapolis until midnight.
Flying makes vacations worthwhile. Planes can just transport you to a different world in a fraction of the time, where you can forget your troubles and stresses, without any effort on your part to get to that destination. But, those planes can just as quickly, bring you back and plop you back down into the "real" world, where it's still rainy and cold and summer weather is still months away.
Leslie and Travis are there at the condo this week and I'm sure they're having a great time as well. Curtis and I hope to be able to go and vacation there again next year...possibly in the fall, with hopes of seeing Manatees and Sea Turtle Nests!
Wiley went to Dog Day at the Park this spring instead of Tyson...you have to go places to get adopted! Tyson will get to go to the June 9th Dog Day:)
Wiley was on Channel 3's "Pet of the Week" feature! He did a great job smiling for the camera, but he was a bit too distracted by that little kitten!
Displaying his desire to be a "lap dog"....honestly he just fits!
