Sanibel Island Vacation Diary - Day 1

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[13 minutes, 20 seconds]

Fred: Day one, June 15, we got up around 5:15 and were out the door by 6:00. This was a Wednesday so it was a workday. We wanted to make sure we beat the crowds and we flew right through Atlanta without any great difficulty. Traffic was very light and we basically went through 80 miles an hour, so we were in good shape.

Unfortunately, as soon as we got on Georgia 400 I realized that my car was pulling to the left and I had just had the car aligned, so I was not happy. It was so bad that I was basically ready to pull over and have it aligned right then and there, but we kept driving.

Got down to Valdosta around 9:30 and we found a place that could do alignments and the guy actually drove it. I rode with him and he determined it was pulling to the left, but he seemed to think that it was maybe something other than what aligning would fix, so he suggested that we take a little air out of the right tire and we did that. This helped a little. It is not perfect. I will be taking it back to Kauffman Tire.

So, we got back on the road and proceeded to--I guess it was the Gainesville area--where we stopped for lunch at Cracker Barrel about 11:35. Well, we got seated and someone took our order about 11:45, but our food did not get to the table until 12:15. So, we wasted 20 minutes basically waiting on our food that should have come out in 10 minutes. We got it in 30 minutes. So, we are running a tad late as a result

But anyway, we are on our way. Susan’s driving at this time and that is all I have for now. Susan do you have anything to add?

Susan: At this time I do not feel the car pulling to the left. I am having no difficulty driving the car. 10-4.

Fred: That is a woman’s view, incorrect as it may be. So, that's it. Next update...whenever.

Let me add a slight review of our Cracker Barrel meal. I had the three pancake breakfast which included a choice of two eggs any style and choice of meat. I had the over-easy eggs and also had the sausage patties. One of the problems with the meal was that there was not enough syrup. They bring it out in little bottles that are sealed and you crack it open and pour it out. It's probably 3 ounces, maybe. And that was enough to wet the whistle of about one and a half pancakes. So I had to get the guy to bring me some more later. And that still really wasn't enough, the way I like them anyway.

The eggs were alright. They were kind of small, but they were okay. And the meat was a little overcooked. Oh, the pancakes were slightly overcooked too--a little burnt on the bottom. They carefully hid that by turning them burnt side down.

But the beef--the sausage was okay. It was a little weird tasting actually, but it was alright.

Anyway, Susan had the fried shrimp and...

Susan: ...steak fries, green beans, which were very good, and cole slaw, and I got three hush puppies.

Fred: Any comments about the quality of the food?

Susan: My food was fine.

Fred: I did have to prompt the guy to bring the bread that was supposed to come with Susan's meal--basically because I wanted to eat it, not because Susan wanted to eat it. But I like the cornbread there. They do have good cornbread. I'll give the cornbread an A+, thumbs up. And also got a biscuit which I just took a bite of just to test it.

So, there's the review, first meal review. Hopefully that's adequate.

We continued driving after having lunch and encountered some rain along the way. Just a bit. But it's always torrential rain when you're driving in Florida, but it usually is over in just a few minutes if you keep driving. Don't get under a bridge and wait it out. Just go.

We made it down to Sanibel Island at about 5 PM [Directions to Sanibel]. We were pretty surprised at some of the changes in the island. We knew to expect that there would be quite a bit of changes due to the hurricane. But there were lots of trees down. The main thing is the trees--they're GONE! There used to be a canopy over the main drag, and that canopy of trees is gone. So the island has taken on a very different look. It's unfortunate since we've seen it the way it was for so many years but they're taking proactive steps to fix the loss of trees by planting a whole bunch of palms, and I guess other types of trees. So, hopefully within a few years, the island will back to what it used to be.

Susan: After checking into our room we decided to take a walk on the beach. Walked out over this really nice bridge that they have that goes from the condos onto the beach. And turned around and we saw there is still damage to the roof of a few of the condos of the complex that we are staying at. And we noticed how many trees were missing. So it was sort of interesting to look and see things we have never been able to see before. But the beach still looked absolutely beautiful. In fact, I felt that there was more sand than there was last year. But it looked really great and I know we're going to have a great vacation.

Fred: Once we got on the island, we headed to our condo unit, which is at a place called Sanibel Moorings. We've stayed here for the last nine years and it's been a great place to stay. It's basically the same size as the first apartment that we shared together when we got married. Almost the same setup, the same size. So it's like being at home, in a way.

So we got situated, got all of our stuff in. It's a slight walk from the parking lot to the condo unit. But it's not too bad. Got unloaded in about 10 minutes and got ourselves situated.

About 6:45 we decided to go get some dinner. We have a tradition where we go to the same restaurant the first night, which is the Jacaranda. And that place has--it's kind of an upscale restaurant, I guess you could call it. So we both enjoyed that.

I got baby back ribs. Those were, I believe, $18.95 and includes a salad and a potato or rice. And both were good. I actually brought some home. The great thing about the condo we are staying in is that it has a refrigerator and I like to eat leftovers from restaurants that we eat at. It's a great way to not gain as much weight, so I try to eat about half of my food and bring the rest home. I'll eat that throughout the week for lunch, a lot of times, while we are here.

Susan: For dinner I chose my absolute favorite. I get it every time we go to the Jacaranda--is the crab-stuffed grouper with lobster sauce, which is just phenomenal. And that comes with a baked potato, fries, whatever you want. I always get the baked potato, loaded, and a salad with blue cheese, and a nice glass of wine.

And it was a very nice atmosphere at the restaurant. You've got white tablecloths, very good service and it has a lot of atmosphere. It's just a really nice place to go for dinner. That's why we always choose it as our first place to eat when we come down to Sanibel on vacation every year.

Fred: So the meal came to $55 plus tip, which is probably slightly more than most other restaurants. I think the prices had gone up a little bit since last year. I guess maybe they had to pay for some hurricane damage. Anyway, it was a good meal.

And then we decided on the way back to the condo we'd stop at the Dairy Queen and get some ice cream. However, there was a tremendous line so I decided to pass.

Susan: After we didn't get ice cream at the Dairy Queen, Fred decided to drive us to the eastern end of the island where the lighthouse is. He had biked down there in a previous year and discovered a fishing pier that we never knew was even there. And when we drove down towards that end of the island, it was just, I mean, each of us was going "Wow!" because of the trees that were not there and what we could see, which we'd never seen before.

The parking lot near the lighthouse, which also has a beach access, it was totally open and exposed, where before it had been canopied by many, many trees. So that was quite different but very nice too, at the same time, you could see a lot more. But maybe we'll get a chance another night to drive down there and walk out on the beach and sort of get a different angle on how things look from the beach side.

Fred: One of the things I do, being an internet business owner, is bring a laptop with me and have to check my email on a regular basis. The problem with that is I'm used to high speed internet access at home, so I had to download my email using just a dial-up connection, and basically that stinks! Fortunately, the connection seems to be better this year than it has been in past years. It was quite a bit faster.

The good thing is, Sanibel Moorings added a wireless hotspot. They have a small business center and you can go there and if you have a laptop and a wireless access card you can use that and have a high speed connection. But, unfortunately, even though our unit is right next to the building that houses that wireless hotspot I can't really get it from here, so I'll have to go sit our there in front of the building. There was a gentlemen our there tonight with his laptop doing just that. So at least they have that now. They didn't have that in past years. Slowly but surely they are getting it. Maybe next year they'll have it in the room.

Sanibel Diary Day 2 ==>