"Once Upon a Midnight Dreary"

Apologies to Edgar Allan Poe! We spent most of Wednesday in a driving rainstorm. I mean a real storm with lightning, thunder, 35 mph wind, and roughly an inch an hour of rain! We have been lucky so far this trip, escaping most of the really bad weather, but our luck ran out today. Nevertheless, we got out of the motorhome as early as we could and started a driving loop to Fort Myers Beach and Sanibel Island.

Ft Myers Beach has some of the prettiest beaches in the area, but access is limited by private ownership. Large condo and apartment buildings are built side by side, and pretty much dominate the area. From time to time, public access is allowed, so we stopped and checked out Bonita Beach. A nice walkway is provided from the parking area to the beach at most of the access points.

The clouds were building, so we didn't spend much time on the beach. The advice here is "When Thunder Roars, Go Indoors". Advice well taken.

After looking at seemingly hundreds of apartment buildings,

we trundled north to Sanibel Island.

Out on the Island, the first thing that struck us was that everything, and I mean everything, had a price tag. In order to get on the island, a $6 toll is exacted for each car. If you're driving a truck, it's another $3 per additional axle. Parking is minimal, but can be had for $4 per hour. Parking fees are strictly enforced, we were told, but we managed to sneak in and out to take a few pictures. The island is covered with high dollar homes, golf courses, and upscale restaurants. Our style leans to a bit more casual, so we wouldn't be able to spend much time here, even if we could afford it!

The Sanibel Lighthouse is listed as a major attraction, but we found it a bit underwhelming after some of the beautiful lighthouses we've seen in New England.

For some reason the lighthouse made us hungry, so we stopped at the Sanibel Marina to eat lunch at Gramma Dots. Gramma Dots son, Myton Ireland, named the restaurant in honor of his mother, who was a woman far ahead of her time. Born at the turn of the century, she traveled the world, rode camels in Egypt, was an avid sailor and shooter. She played billiards and rode horses, and when she arrived at Sanibel Island in 1963 most of the population didn't wear shoes. She is credited with the development of the popular vacation area. Our lunch of fish tacos and a seafood platter was ok, but not memorable.

The coastline is rocky for the most part, but still beautiful.

At the north end of Sanibel, Captiva Island is a much more laid back area. This is by design, because of the lavish estates tucked back into compounds fronting the ocean. There are only a few parking areas on Captiva, and even fewer beach access areas.

The beach at the northernmost tip of Captiva Island is one of the most beautiful beaches on the island.

Some of the foliage along the beaches is so....tropical!

Back across the causeway, we stopped along a public beach to take a very patient Sasha on a walk. The storm clouds were gathering again, so we made it a short walk.

This beach is made of millions of seashells. We looked for some nice ones, but failed to find any keepers.

It's still raining at 6:30 pm, so Sasha will get a short walk tonight. Kinda nice to have a cool, "inside" night! When we returned to Shady Acres, we found Nessie floating in water from the rain today. Not literally, but we need to be aware of where we step! It's supposed to be great weather tomorrow, so it will be a wonderful day!