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One trip that I always look forward to for the past nine out of ten years or so is my annual spring pilgrimage to Fort Myers to see my parents. Being a single man-child who, in his forties, still spring breaks in Florida is something I a proud of. It is a very inexpensive, relaxing vacation for me. Around Christmas time I start scanning for flights. Sometimes I use miles which makes it really cheap. This year I couldn't find anything under $500 to Fort Myers so I decided to fly to Fort Lauderdale with Spirit Airlines. I was dreading the flight because I heard about how no frills it was. At the airport I caved and decided to upgrade my seat for $70. It was a great investment. The seat was an old first class seat. The service however was definitely not first class. But I had a relaxing trip. Unbeknownst to me, the upgrade was for all legs of my trip-including the return!
It is all worth it once I get here. I am a man of rituals, so there are certain things I do every time I come down. After a sleep in on Saturday, we took lunch at one of my favorite places- Dixies Fish House. This is somewhat ironic because I don't eat fish. But they have good beer and a great location. I heard they are owned by the group that owns Doc Fords- a small chain owned by a local writer of mystery novels. It's not bad, but its big and chain-y. I prefer the small local joints. On the north side of Dixies is Bonita Bills, REAL local joint where it's cash only and the meals are served on Styrofoam plates. But the beers are cheap and they have live music and great views.
Golf is another big part of my trip to Fort Myers. My parents live on the second hole of Crown Colony Golf & Country Club. The course is beautiful and kept in amazing condition. However, this doesn't seem to help my golf game. One of the best parts is the abundance of flora and fauna in southwest Florida. I seem to see most of these on the course. Alligators, ospreys, snakes, mossy oaks, saw grass- to name of few. This year Tom and Sue Cody came for the day and we had a fun day on the course.
Although I am not a big shopper, another annual ritual is updating my wardrobe at Sanibel Outlets. A good selection of shops with decent deals. I also like to spend a day out on Sanibel Islands itself. This year I dragged around Tom and Sue and we walked for a good three miles.
Another tradition of sorts is our comical attempts at fishing. Every once in a while we go to Walmart and buy some cheap rods and reels. We usually go to Bunch Beach and walk a mile or so to the channel. We've been doing this for years and dad is the only one to catch a fish. However, this doesn't bother me as I enjoy being out on the water, there's a ton of animals. In fact, I saw a small dorsal fin in the shallows. Could have been a shark or maybe a young dolphin. It was too far to tell.
Another part of my trips here is my birthday. It seems to mostly fall during my break, so we usually go out to a nice dinner. This year was to Chops in Bonita.
Another activity I enjoy is kayaking around and through the mangroves near Bunch Beach. Kayak Excursions has a set up near Bunch Beach that is perfect. For a four hour rental they're pretty reasonable.
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