Sanibel Island Vacation Diary - January 16, 2007Susan went out to the beach at 9:15 a.m. I finished my leftovers from Lighthouse Café. I went to the business center to download e-mail and answer some. About an hour later I went back to the condo and got ready to go for a bike ride. Since I had to get the bike first, I needed Susan to drive me to Finnimore's Cycle Shop, so I went to the beach to retrieve Susan. We drove to Finnimore's and I rented a six speed for three days for total of $31.80. Susan drove the car home and I headed out to the Ding Darling wildlife preserve. After almost being hit by a driver turning left, I got on Sanibel-Captiva Road, which leads to the preserve. When I reached Ding Darling, I pulled over and felt a bit sick. I rode out pretty hard so I needed to catch my breath and get a drink of water. I finally went into the preserve, paid my one dollar entry fee, and peddled in. There were many more people here today versus any time I've ever been here during the summer -- more cars, more bikers, and probably all because there were many more birds. Lots of birdwatchers were gathered with their binoculars and telescopes, viewing the large flocks of birds. I'd never seen so many birds here, many of which were very large. As I peddled through the preserve my path was crossed by two raccoons that weren't afraid of me whatsoever. Near the end of the drive through the preserve I stopped at one of the pools where alligators are sometimes found. In recent years I hadn't seen any. This year I finally saw one, even if it was only 4 feet long. It was time to head back to the condo. I paced myself and didn't have any further problems with feeling bad. The lower winter temperatures made the ride easier than my summer rides. I got back to the condo after my two hour ride, and relaxed in the air conditioning for about 45 minutes. Gathering my beach stuff, I went out to meet Susan. She was covered with a towel, and had her eyes closed. Some clouds had rolled in and she was cold, in spite of 70-plus degree weather. We sat on the beach for about 30 minutes, and Susan was ready to call it a day. We packed up and headed in. Our dinner reservations were at 6:30, but it was only 3:15 so we relaxed and took our time to get ready, leaving at about 5 p.m., we drove the back roads to Rabbit Road, and back to the Redfish, Bluefish restaurant so I could take a look at the menu. I found several things I'd want. We'll probably go there tomorrow night. Driving back in the direction of Traders, the restaurant where we had reservations, we stopped in at Mango Bay. This is a T-shirt, beachwear place. I bought a discounted T-shirt ($4.99) and a pair of sunglasses. (I learned in March when I wore it for the first time why the shirt was discounted. It was misshapen, with the shirt hanging down on the left side a good three inches more than on the right. But I didn't mind for $4.99.) Following my purchase we continued to Traders. It was only 5:45 p.m., but they went ahead and seated us. Since we were here last June, traders has painted and perhaps added a few more tables.
Susan ordered a stuffed fish dish (shown above). I ordered a parmesan encrusted chicken breast on a bed of angel hair pasta. I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. Susan liked hers but wasn't blown away. We finished the meal with an apple crisp with cinnamon ice cream. Total for the meal was $74.47 plus tip. On our way out we browsed the Traders store, which has an eclectic mix of decorative items, jewelry, books and more. American Idol debuted tonight, so we spent the evening watching people who (mostly) couldn't sing. Susan went to sleep around 11:15 p.m. I stayed up until about 1 a.m., tried to sleep in the bed, which is much harder than our bed at home, and got up and slept on the couch until 7:45 a.m., when I returned to the bed.
|
