Shells of Sanibel

We have just returned from four days in Fort Myers.  One of the "must do" activities for the trip was a visit to Sanibel Island known for its shells.  From where we stayed in an RV park near I-75, driving out to Sanibel Island was about a 45 minute trip or more.  The island is very much orientated toward tourists with a multitude of eating establishments, gift shops, real estate offices and the expected traffic for "high season."  There is a fee to cross over the bridge to the island and another to park at the beach.  In spite of that, we were anxious to walk with the crowds over to the beach to see the promised shells.  Busily directing traffic and pedestrians through one of the few public beach access points we could find, the local police had their hands full with the task.  Finally, we were able to cross the highway at the officer's direction to do so and walk to the beach after waiting for car after car to pass.  The bicycle rental business is thriving on the island and we could see as we drove around that those individuals choosing to travel on bikes were making much faster progress navigating the roads, sidewalks and bike trails than we were.

Except for one type of large shell abundantly strewn over the sand, every other variety was pretty much the same as we have here in Bradenton.  In fact I think we have more shell varieties here!  To me the beach was not as white nor as sandy as ours is either.  I don't know what my imagination had created for Sanibel Island above and beyond what our beach offers but I did not find it in Sanibel.  Maybe there is a South Seas island in the Pacific which would yield more of what I considered the rumored Sanibel Island to be with white sand and swaying palms.

Lunch turned out to be fabulous though.  We stopped at a hotdog stand called Schnapper's and were delighted with the Chicago Hotdogs, fries and Cokes we splurged on (diet be damned-we're on holiday!)  Indeed, this was the highlight of the trip over to the island.  If you ever find yourself on Sanibel Island, be sure to stop in and try the hotdogs here.  Another option might be to take time to stroll through some of the gift shops.  Living for the greater part of the year in an RV, I control my urges to shop.  There just isn't room in an RV for every little temptation that comes our way so we passed on shopping, but there appear to be several really cute shops on Sanibel Island.

With a real estate office on every other corner, it was hard not to be enticed back into thoughts of doing the job of selling real estate again-especially on an island as I had done on the other side of the state years ago.  Having long since let my broker's license go along with the effort it would take to create a sales territory again added to the seven-day-a-week requirement of the job, I quickly put that enticement out of my mind!