Today was our last day here - we had a 2 hour drive back up to Tampa Airport, but our flight didn't leave until about 8 pm at night. So we still had a decent sized day ahead of us - and decided to go for one last swim and trip over to Sanibel for the day.
We started out by trying the breakfast buffet at our hotel - which was about 14.00 per person, and was absolutely wonderful. We took our time, read the paper a bit, and then headed back up to the room.
I wish I had taken a shot or 2 of the room - it was very lovely and nicely decorated. Here's a bit of info on them. We had just a standard room, no ocean view, but still very nice. All the rooms had hair dryers, and irons with ironing boards, a decent sized t.v. with buttons, and all the basic amenities like that. The hotel had an extensive room service menu, not to mention several very nice restaurants on site. The Sports Bar restaurant had steaks and burgers, the Chez la Bear restaurant had very pricey and upscale food, the breakfast buffet room was wonderful, and there was one other restaurant I believe, not including the Sanibel Harbour Princess Yacht which did dinner cruises each night. The coolest thing in my opinion about the rooms, were the neat little shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and other toiletries that they gave you. NOT that this is anything unusual in a hotel, but their shampoos and lotions were made especially for their hotel, and the MANGO smell was absolutely incredible! I stuffed all the little toiletries that I didn't use each day into my suitcase, and they gave us a new set every day! You could have twice a day maid service if you asked for it, so potentially you could really stock up on these things. I never do this at other hotels, but I couldn't get enough of that mango smelling lotion! And the shampoo. Anyways, the hotel gift shop sells it, but a small bottle is like 20 bucks. I'm finally running out (6 months later) and am really thinking about calling them and seeing if I can mail order some of it. The smell just brings back pleasant memories!Anyways, we spent the rest of the day at the beach on Sanibel and drove around. We stopped at one of the many shell stores so I could buy a conch shell (didn't quite find one that big, although I've been told if you go out on one of the charter boats to the uninhabited islands nearby, you can find them easily) and then we drove back to the hotel, and packed up.
We decided to stop at the Edison House in Ft. Myers on the way back to the airport, and got there around 3:30. What we didn't know, is that it closes at 5 pm, and you can't just wander around, you HAVE to take a guided tour which lasts 2 hours or so. So we didn't have time. We browsed around the main area, and looked in the museum section. I had been here when I was young, and remembered it a lot. I wish I had had time to see more! Oh well, maybe next visit. Below is a photo of some trees that are quite unique, growing outside of the entrance to the Edison Estate:
