The Cottages At Naples Bay Reso

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

... yes baby, 10 star luxury. Off season and cheap we had ourselves a divine luxury of a palace, checking in we found our room to be of giant proportions with a king size bed, a bath the size of France, a balcony (with chairs and a table darhling), a shower of equal size and best of all a Samsung flat screen HD telly. I immediately donned the bikini and we headed out to check out the rest of the hotel, once I found the pool I hit the ...

... 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.

We got up early today and drove to Sanibel Island. For those who haven't been there, Sanibel & Captiva Islands on the Gulf of Mexico have some of the nicest beaches around, and Sanibel is known for fantastic shelling.

While walking over the inland waterway to get to Bowman Beach, the girls spotted a manatee and watched it amble under the foot bridge we were on and swim off into the distance. The tide was ...

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 ...

The hotest day yet! Temperature 91+. Visited the Everglades again this time at Shark Valley. Travelled by tram to an observation point. Alligators aplenty and different birds including blue herons, turkey vultures, willow blue herons, northern cardinals, roseate spoonbills, iibis, two rare sandhill cranes amongst others. Also saw a turtle laying eggs. Not as many animals as usual as it ...

... with wonderfully clean beaches. You can see its expensive to live around here. We were also lucky with the voucher we had for the Lemon Inn Motel. They have cute and large rooms with a small kitchen, pool and garden (and free unlimited internet...reason why you are reading this update!!). So we have decided to stay the last two nights here and avoid having to change rooms, find a hotel, etc. A bit of relaxation a the end of the trip is always good :-) We even saw dolphins this afternoon!!!

Off to the Everglades Alligator Farm today www.everglades.com After paying our $57!!! to get in, we went to an Alligator show first. The man taking the show was called Jeremy, and he was really hard case and entertaining to watch. He called out to Kate asking if she would come down and help with the 2 medium sized gators and she was quite willing to go, but he was only teasing. I felt sorry for the gators as he dragged them out in front of the audience by their tails ...