Escalante Hotel Naples

We've had such a fabulous week in Ft. Myers! Spent lots of time reconnecting with Greg's Uncles Cliff and Steve and Aunts Agnes and Eleanor, who have a really nice timeshare condo on Estero Island, looking out onto the Gulf. Mid-week, Greg's Cousin Claire arrived, after her long drive down from Toronto.

Greg got in a couple of bridge games with Cliff and Steve and Eleanor; we celebrated Agnes and Cliff's 59th ...

Så er vi ankommet til Florida. Vi ankom igår og fandt et billigt motel med pool. Så efter en lang køretur, var det perfekt at kunne tage en svømmetur i poolen. I dag har det været ca. 35 grader, så jeg har sat pris på aircon idag. Vi var dog ude på stranden og fiske og bade lidt. Lau fangede en babyhaj, men ellers har der ikke været noget held. Det er helt rart at have en lidt mindre proppet tidsplan nu, så er der mere tid til at komme helt ned i gear. I morgen står den på køretur til Miami

... we retired to change before deciding to visit the beach. Naples apparently has the best beach in all of the US and there is a walkway that connects the hotel to the beach. If you dont fancy the walk then..never fear.. a hotel buggy will ship you too and from the beach. We walked the 0.6 miles to the beach through the mangrove trail and past signs that warned us not to feed the crocs (dont think there were any), a beautiful walk ...

... and about. Check your room before you go to sleep, turn the air
conditioning off for a moment and listen for the high piercing sounds
of the insect. Take a look around to see if there are any mozzies
taking a snooze on your wall.

... high for great shelling today on the sand, but Bri & Gabi went in the water and dove for shells, finding lots of nice treasures. Squadrons of pelicans flew low across the waves, and groups of White Ibises marched along the wet sand probing for food with their long, downward curving bills. We had a great time, but headed back to the condo by mid afternoon so we could pack up and get ready to leave early on Tuesday.

We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant, Courtney's, then checked out. We drove to one of the public beach access areas and headed out to do some more shelling. We found more treasures! The girls went out at first in just shorts, but that didn't last long. There were signs on the roads to watch out for gopher tortoises...but we didn't see any!

We then drove on to Lake City to stay at the same Comfor Suites...still very nice!

We helped to break camp and then said goodbye to the grandparents. The girls and I then took a rainy drive to Sanibel Island...one of the best shelling beaches in the world!

We got right into our suits and headed to the beach. We picked up a bag full of different shells and Sarah was not feeling well. We then went to the pool for a bit then back to the room to rest before dinner. We ate at the Lazy Flamingo. Katie had fried oysters, Sarah had shrimp ...

We loaded the rental car on Wednesday night (1/14) and departed early on Thursday morning. I had reserved a minivan but upgraded to a Ford Expedition at the rental car desk. Good decision, because it was packed to the ceiling. Of course we had to stop at a Cracker Barrel to borrow a book on CD and buy car snacks. The book turned out to be a bust, but the snacks were good ...

... carry them and we found that the state by state maps, issued by the "Best Western' hotel chain, gave plenty of road deatils, points of interest (as well as their hotel locations') to be the 'best' ones - do you like that little pun, I don't know how I do it! Unfortunately most Best Western hotels don't stock their own maps or even know they exist, (any publicity people want a challenge?), so we set off using a smaller map to Hwy 41. This runs east / west ...

... newly bought jacket and realised they'd forgotten to take the security tag off so i slightly panicked in case someone in airport security thought i had stolen it and locked me up. they didn't. but i did make all the security machines at shop entrances beep. hehehe. flew to tampa. boring flight. no free food and no movies. and someone had a small yappy dog which kept yapping, as small yappy dogs do. got to tampa. it was muggy. renee hated it, i ...