Thanksgiving week on the Gulf Coast of Florida
Review Submitted: December 12, 2011
Date of Stay: November 2011
Our family traveled from Iowa and Illinois to attend a wedding in Fort Myers, Florida, and to spend Thanksgiving week relaxing, enjoying the Gulf Coast, and visiting with family. A friend suggested we try renting a condo, something we had never done. We had been in Fort Myers in January, and I knew we wanted more seclusion than we saw at Fort Myers Beach. Also, our daughter is a natural resources management grad student, and I knew something close to Sanibel Island would appeal to her. We also wanted reasonably easy access to main highways to get to the wedding and to other family gatherings during the week. This condo suited our needs perfectly. The listing description and photos are very accurate. The property is very well maintained, the condo includes everything we could possibly need, and Steve answered all our questions promptly. While we were close to the Marriott, with all of its amenities, we were also secluded from it, and that was important to us. We could walk along our beach and watch dolphins and birds from our lanai. One night, I elected to sleep on the lanai, listening to the waves hitting the shore in front of me. That is an awesome memory when our temps drop well below freezing here in Iowa.
We spent a couple of days on Sanibel Island, shelling at Bowman's Beach, bird watching at the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, and touring the wildlife rehabilitaion center. We discovered Doc Ford's Rum Bar and Grill on Sanibel by chance, and I would highly recommend it. I like to read novels that are set in places I am visiting, and I had downloaded a Randy Wayne White Doc Ford novel to my kindle before we flew out of Iowa. Having never read him before, I was very surprised when I spotted the restaurant as we returned from shelling. Good local food, including vegetarian options, and an opportunity to purchase another Doc Ford novel.
Some of our most cherished memories were of times spent at the condo, comparing shells we found on the beach to a shell chart we found in the tv cabinet, watching a sunset, walking out into the water and observing all the life beneath the surface, watching a brown pelican lift a large fish from the water and fly away, and finally spotting dolphins our last full day there. We had a great week, and we would definitely recommend this unit to our friends and family.
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