O'nut does Southwest Florida - a trip report

[Olympicnut]

Brian and I took a little trip to Ft Myers, Florida to surprise his parents as an early Christmas gift. What a great, amazingly relaxing trip it was. And it’s really such a pretty area down there, particularly the beaches!

Our home for 4 days, in an “over 55” mobile home park. Hey, it’s a double wide!


And when you bring your little children here, this is what happens to them. Some strange force solidifies their clothes, and turns the children into plants. It’s creepy I tell you. Creepy.


And what would you expect someone to DO in an over 55 mobile home park you ask? Well...
There’s horseshoes.


Notice the determination. The great poise.




Then what better way to work off those high calorie all American dishes mom makes up than to go bike riding. Here’s Brian.


And here’s me on my fun bike! And no, I did NOT loose teeth just by being in Southern Florida, it's a shadow. I swear. Heh heh, I have Pooh in my rear.


Some of the décor in the mobile home lot is a little, ummmm. Well, check out Mickey. Mickey says “hi”. But notice how he says it. Knowwhatimean?


Then there’s creepy Santa who has an eye on that reindeers posterierre (is that how it's spelled?). Run run Rudolph, run run!

[Olympicnut]

OK, so we actually did make it out of the confines (and the electrified barbed wire gates ) of the over 55 compound to check out the area. Here’s a lovely sunset shot from Ft. Myers beach.


Tropical Christmas!


I think the sign says it all.


This place was an awesome candy/ice cream shop right on the beach. Everything is made right there in the shop!


He’s making butterscotch fudge.


I know this is blurry but it’s kinda cool. It’s palm trees lit up outside Thomas Edison and Henry Fords winter homes. They lived right next door to each other and it was all lit up around the properties. Very pretty.

[dsnylndmom]

That sunset shot is gorgeous!! And the evil Santa scares me

[PrincessY]

I think you guys are fitting in a little too well in the Florida lifestyle.

Love the sunset shot!

[twinmom]

Great report! I love your comments.

[Olympicnut]

Next up, a trip out to Sanibel and Captiva Islands. Here’s a beach shot.

Most of the white you see are sea shells. The beaches here are world famous for just being loaded with shells. It was really cool!

Lunch time. Here we are at the world famous Bubble Room. What a fun fun fun place this was!



Just being goofy.


All the tables have cool things in them, such as toys from the early 20th century up until the 50's.


A display of Santa and his elves.


Ah, l'amour, l'amour.


We got to sit in, what I called, the Disney room. All the rooms sort of have a theme, like there's a Coca Cola room, things like that.


BIG MICKEY! And look at Goofy on the right. Looks like someone had just a LITTLE too much Botox put into their lips.


Cool drawing on the wall.

So, that was the Bubble Room. Just up the street on the beach, is a bar/grill called The Mucky Duck. So we had a drink and relxed on the picnic tables outside. Here's their Christmas tree.

[pratt55]

Great pictures. Now I want some butterscotch fudge maybe on some of that Dairy Queen ice cream.

[Olympicnut]

We took a quick afternoon trip up to Punta Gorda for dinner. I only took one photo because apparently, they can't spell there


Last but not least, is the restaurant in Ft. Myers called The Oasis. If you've ever seen ***** as Folk, the diner they always went to, was based on this restaurant. It's owned by a lesbian couple that have been together for 20 years! Let me tell you, the food might be your average breakfast/lunch place (they are only open until 3pm) but the staff and owners are absolutely awesome.


One of the owners gives everyone a hug. The other owner is more "business-like" but she warmed up to us and gave us hugs too. In fact we ended up spending quite a bit of time talking with the both of them, and just fell in love with them. The wait staff is pretty awesome too.
Here we are the first time we went.


Then the second time we asked to have our pictures taken with them. I'm standing next to Tammy, and her partner with the dark hair is Bonnie (she's the hugger). Isn't that cute? Tammy and Bonnie!!


Anyway, there ya have it. A little Southwest Florida trip report through my eyes.

[Xharryb]

Looks like you had a fabulous trip!

[SummerInFL]

Excellent TR! I always wondered what Ft. Myers looked like, not much different than our beaches up here.

Thanks for sharing Onut, it looks like you had a great time.

[Alice's Wonderland]

That santa really is scary. I love the Tropical tree! That's awesome. Thanks for sharing!

[sir clinksalot]

Looks like you guys had an awesome time.

It was great seeing you yesterday.

[RonNYC]

It all looks so leisurely and laid back. Glad you guys had a nice weekend and surprised Brian's folks!

[aashee]

Great report. I hope no one fed BoBo the monkey. LOL!

[MWalton]

What fun seeing a totally different sort of Christmas then we have going on in freezing snowing Washington!

Thanks for sharing!