W. P. Franklin Corps of Engineers Campground, N. Ft. Myers, FL: A beautiful morning. We headed out for Sanibel and Captiva Islands. Of the two, we really love Sanibel. The Ding Darling wildlife preserve takes up almost half of the island, so there is a lot of natural area to explore. Unlike Marco Island, this place hasn’t been over developed. Captiva seems a lot more congested and crowded. We stopped at the Ding Darling preserve and walked around for a while. Had lunch at the Mucky Duck on Captiva which is right on the beach. We lucked out and got a parking place right away—which is definitely a problem there. Next time we’ll have lunch at Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grill on Sanibel. Doc Ford is a character in the really popular books by Randy Wayne White whose stories take place in lots of Florida locales. On the way back we stopped at the historic Sanibel village, but it was closed. Damn the luck! So we drove all over Sanibel and discovered there are a lot more natural areas than Ding Darling. We wished we’d had our bikes with us. There are bike paths everywhere. Left there at around 4:00 and stopped at a car wash in Ft. Myers and then headed back to W. P. Franklin—right in the middle of rush hour traffic (sigh). We leave tomorrow for the Keys for 3-1/2 months. YES!

Night Heron--Ding Darling Preserve

American Pelicans--Ding Darling Preserve

Christmas Tree on the beach at the Mucky Duck