My mom, my brother, and I went on vacation together to Fort Myers Beach, FL, and we just got back last night after 8 days and 7 nights of family bliss... I mean it, we actually spent all this time together and we didn't get into one fight; instead we had a great sun-filled, beach loving week.
My brother, if you don't know, suffers from psoriasis. Every treatment he tries works at first, and then his body learns to fight it. Recently, he's been on embrel shots and they have really improved his skin condition, but now his body is fighting it and it's losing it's effectiveness. So my mom has this theory about the healing power of salt water -- which in fact is a remedy for psoriasis, but maybe milder cases -- and she's beginning to take Tony to salt water locales.
She's never really traveled alone, she's either with my grandparents or my dad in tow, and I don't blame her because traveling with Tony is not a vacation. So for this trip she asked if I would join along and give her a hand -- both as chauffeur of the rented car, as companion, and as general comedian. Of course I would go!
We were so late checking in because we couldn't figure out the self check in, and we had to wait in a huge line. Then another line for security. As we were sauntering to the plane, I looked at my watch and said, "We gotta run." We were the last people on the plane and we sat in the last row. Ugh, no reclining seats and my view out the window was .... The engine. So I couldn't see anything and there was a constant BRRRRRRR I had in my ears for three days. I started to get claustrophobic... And do you know you have to PAY for a snack on the plane now? $4 for chips. No joke. So my advice, stock up at the mini mart ahead of time.
So how did we like Ft Myers Beach?? We loved it! You cross over the bridge into Estero Island and all of a sudden everything is in pastels. The island is one very long street with small streets and waterways veining east. The island can't be more than a mile wide. And every view is filled with water but the main attraction is the beach. It's just a long cool stretch of white fine sand, blue umbrellas, and sunshine. The water is shallow and warm, no riptides or huge waves and Tony could just lay in the water without any problems. It was low season so there were no spring breakers, only families and nice people. No show offs, no skinny minnies, no one looking at my brother as if he were an alien. Everyone was nice, from the people on the beach, to the hotel staff, to all the restaurant people (especially when my brother has to ask them "Do you have kids?" "Do you like Bonanza?" "Do you like Sean Connery as James Bond the best?" "My hair was blond like yours when I was a kid." -- these are all actual statements made to all different people).
It's summer, so it's hot. Everyday was 91 and 3 nights we had horrible rain storms (70 mph winds). My mom will tell you about me glued to the Weather Channel. I was panicking in case of a hurricane, but nothing happened. But back to the hot sun ... I got so tan and I was wearing 45 spf and sitting under an umbrella with 15spf. So that's how hot the sun is down there -- but you get used to it and now I'm freezing here!!
We stayed at
Diamond Head Beach Resort where all the rooms are suites - 1 bedroom, living room, and kitchenette. It made it so easy with Tony because we had the fridge stocked with water and pop, we made sandwiches for lunch, and then ate all our dinners out. I say it was good for Tony, but really I love this concept, it made it feel more like an apartment rather than a standard hotel. And you can't beat being ON the beach and every room has a view. From our huge balconies (we had 2 suites with an adjoining door in the balcony) we viewed the water, from our front door we had a panorama of the island.
We spent 1 day at
Sanibel Island, but only for swimming and eating -- we swam at
Bowman's Beach (we had to stop a biker to ask for the best beach) and we ate at the
Lazy Flamingo (Nicole's recommendation and it was great). The island is so pretty but really secluded and it costs $6 to cross over the bridge. You can't see the water unless you're at the beach or at a resort. I wouldn't mind spending 2-3 days to explore the island.
My friend Nicole used to live in Fort Myers so she gave us some dinner recommendations -- we went to
Parrot Key Grill (bad on Monday, really fun on Saturday-- see my mom's video),
Gulfshore Grill (best of all the key lime pies, and good priced specials),
Beach Pier side Grill (I loved my grouper ceasar and the view), and we ate at our hotel 2x and that was surprisingly good.
We drove into Fort Myers one afternoon because I was on the search for Matt's gift and I found an
art gallery with local artists, and they donate some of their proceedings to a woman's shelter. On the way back we stopped at
Edison's Summer estate and took some pictures of these awesome Banyan Trees.
I can see how this place is a madhouse come Jan-April (which we heard were their worst months for crowds), but on the off season, the kitschy pink and feel of the island are actually charming when you don't have mobs of drunk 20-year olds hanging about. I would most definitely go back, spend more time on Sanibel, and also hit Naples and Marco island -- this time the trip was all about the beach for Tony.
When I get my mom's photos, I'll post everything on Flickr.
