Our TENTH week on the road - Time flies when you are having fun!

It's been a fairly busy week for the Traveling Lemons'!  We are finding lots to see and do in the Ft Myers area.  A friend from high school (since reconnected through Facebook) had let me know she was going to be in this area and asked if I had wanted to get together.  Of course I said yes!  Noel and I met Sheri and her cousin Elaine Carter (and her hubby Rich) over on Sanibel for "Taste of the Island", a wildlife fundraiser held on the golf course.  We tried lots of yummy food, including lobster rolls, shrimp, crab-fennel bisque and of course left room for key lime pie and salted caramel ice cream.  It turns out that Sheri's cousin Elaine and I have a lot in common, including a love of sea shells and photography.  We've since gotten together to do some shelling, and its so nice to have a friend here that loves the beach as much as I do (seeing as how Noel is not much of a beach person).

Sheri and I at "Taste of the Islands"

One thing Noel and I BOTH like are farmers markets and thrift stores - and those are in abundance here!  There has been no shortage of fresh tomatoes around here, and the next good read is always at hand.  They even have entire Goodwill stores that are just books!  Heaven!

Noel had read in the paper that the Sanibel library was looking for a maintenance man, and since he really, REALLY, misses working, we went over to the island so he could apply for the job.  Unfortunately, they really want someone to work for the entire season (through March).  He was bummed!

While on the island we rode our bikes a bit, and came across this young gopher tortoise.

 

 

They had the coolest water fountain at the nature center we stopped at - you can refill your water bottles!!

 



 

 

 

Afterwards, we drove through the Ding Darling Nature Preserve, and was excited to see these white pelicans (they have a 9 foot wingspan!) -

 

 

 





 

some Roseate Spoonbills

 



 

 

a tri-color heron

 



 

 

lots of Anhingas, crabs and other shore birds

 



 

 





On another day, we drove to Naples to sightsee for the day.  I know the economy is bad in places, but obviously not in Naples!  So many nice stores, expensive cars, chic restaurants and lush landscaping.  We window shopped at all the expensive places ($36,000 diamond necklace anyone?), then stopped at a few consignment shops on the way home looking for a more comfortable chair for the trailer.  We couldn't afford the consignment shops in Naples either!  We also stopped at a Farmers Market, where I thought $6 for a bag of cracklin's was a bit high, but the produce was affordable, so we stocked up on fresh fruits and veggies.

 

Various pics from Naples:

 

cute Christmas decoration

cool bar

farmers market

beautiful glass

lush archways

palm tree lined streets

nice architecture

adorable shop

funky flowers

 



On another day we went to a fine art show, but I hadn't been feeling well, and I finally had to admit I was going to need to go to Urgent Care.  I have Interstitial Cystitis, so I often have bladder pain, and its hard to tell the difference from the regular bladder pain, especially if I have eaten something that is an irritant, from bladder infection pain.  Good thing we went - I had a raging bladder infection so now I'm on antibiotics.  Geez, always something!

 

We've been eating a lot of fish and seafood, but no Noel, we don't have room in the freezer for this one!

 

 

I forgot to show you one of my finds from shelling in Sanibel - I found this fist sized heart cockle, and was about it throw it back (no room in the trailer for big shells!) when I felt it rattle.  Inside was this perfect, and un-occupied banded tulip!  The cockle must have eaten the little guy in the tulip, and then something else ate the cockle!  How cool!!  Had to keep it after that just for the novelty of it!

 

 

While on the beach with Elaine the other afternoon, we saw the "Sanibel Thriller" going by - I zoomed in with the camera to see what they were all looking at, and there were dolphin jumping behind the boat!  Wheeeeee

 

(you can click any of the pictures to make them larger)

 

The skies here are always so pretty in the evening...

 

 

 

that turned into a beautiful full moon.....