A Very Full Day, But So Much Fun!

Ken and I were up at 6:45 and Ken made us a delicious breakfast!  What a guy!  He takes such good care of me!  We drove to Chuck and Melissa's Motorhome at 8:11 (Ken is precise with time!) and they followed us off the island to Publix parking lot where we met Ernie and Noela.  After brief introductions and loading their bikes on the 2 CRV's, the women rode with Melissa and the men rode with Ken to Sanibel Island.  It was a about a 35 minute drive.  We all stopped at the Information Center to get maps and info.  We left there and parked the cars at City Park, unloaded the bikes, and began our bike ride around the island.

We started by riding the new trail behind the parking lot which brought us out near the Periwinkle Camping Park.  We rode through there and were surprised at the area where they had monkeys and beautiful birds.  The CG had some very nice, private sites and it could be a lot of fun to stay on Sanibel Island especially in the fall.  I think it is almost impossible to camp there in the winter months.  Maybe it will happen sometime!

All ready to start our bike ride!

An anhinga drying his/her wings!

We saw this alligator on the very 1st trail!

Wood Duck at the campground! 

The happy bikers!

The egg casing from a whelk shell!

One of the Sanibel beaches!!

We think this is a juvenile ibis!

We did more riding on the island including a stop on the beach.  We also did a trail through a preserve that was very quiet and serene, very different than the actual island.  We got back to the cars around 1:30 and decided to load the bikes and drive to Captiva to have lunch at RC Otters, a place where we eat 1X every year during our winter stay.  They have good food and you eat outside with live music.  It wasn't a disappointment.  We all enjoyed our food. 

If you haven't eaten here, give it a try!

This was Neola's meal - a clam pot!

We are ready for the food!

All the exercise today did wonders for their bodies!

We walked to the beach and then drove back towards Sanibel and stopped at Ding Darling Preserve.  There we unloaded the bikes again, and rode through the Preserve.  We did see a lot of birds, but unfortuately, not a roseate spoonbill.  By the time we left Ding Darling we had ridden 18 miles and walked many steps.  It was an "exercise" day! 

The beach at Captiva!  Beautiful glistening water!

A perfect beach day!

Walking from the beach back to our cars at RC Otters!

Little Blue Heron

White Pelicans!  Did you know they have black under their wings???

Night Heron

Great Egret waiting for dinner.  Love the shadow!

WOW!!!

White Ibis!

Of course, now it was time for a treat for all the hard work!  So we went to Pinocchio's for delicious Sanibel Crunch Homemade Ice Cream!  Melissa said it is the best ice cream she ever had - that is what she said last year when she had it for the 1st time!

The ice cream was so good!  Notice how sad Ernie looks!  He
decided not to have any!

We got back to Publix around 7:30 and all of us needed a few groceries.  We said our good-byes before we headed into the store, but we will all meet on Thursday morning at Manasota Beach.  The 6 of us really had a good time together.  

We were back to Waldo by 8:20 and enjoyed watching The Voice.  It talked to my sister and invited them to join all of us on Thursday at the beach.  Also made plans with Chuck and Melissa to meet tomorrow morning at 8 to play pickleball.  Life is busy but soooooo good!