Hi, everyone!
On Sunday night, Grandma and Grandpa let me stay up past bedtime to go to dinner with them. Grandma said she thought I would fit right in! The Bubble Room is near where we’re staying and has lots of fun things to look at. The table tops are glass with interesting objects under them! I made friends with a diver near our table and our two waiters! I liked the bubble bread and sticky buns, even though I had to be careful not to get my paws sticky. It was a little hard to see the desserts through the orchids on the tray, but they all looked yummy! We took ours home to be dessert for two more nights!
On Monday morning, we went to “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge. There was a tram tour of the main area leaving right away, so we hurried to get on! Our guide, Heather-san could spot and name all the birds we saw along the way. There were a lot of birds I had never seen before! I especially liked the roseate spoonbill and the white pelicans. I could recognize the cormorants because I see them at Sodus when I go kayaking with Grandma.
On the tour, we stopped to see an osprey nest where the parent birds were taking care of chicks. Then we took a walk on a boardwalk through the mangroves.
When we got back on the tram, Heather-san pointed out an anhinga drying its wings and a young yellow-crowned night heron. There was another observation area with lots more birds on a sandbar, too!
After the tram tour, we went to the visitors’ center. “Ding” Darling was a newspaper cartoonist who thought preserving the environment was very important. He rallied support for making part of Sanibel Island a national wildlife refuge. The visitors’ center has a copy of his office, where he drew his cartoons. I made friends with some manatees at the visitors’ center, too! Then we took a short walk on the indigo trail. I was looking for alligators in the water, but all I saw were alligator tracks!
On Monday afternoon, Grandma and Grandpa took me to visit one of Grandma’s friends from when she was a little girl. Susan-san and her husband live on a golf course surrounded by “Ding” Darling refuge. They took us on a tour by golf cart! I got to see lots more birds, a very small city park and three alligators! I was surprised the birds were feeding so close to one alligator, but the alligator was more interested in sunning than eating. Susan-san said there are special golf course rules to follow if an alligator eats your golf ball!
Monday night, we watched sunset from the beach where we are staying. That was our first Captiva sunset, because we had rain Saturday night and fog all afternoon on Monday.
On Tuesday, Grandma and Grandpa and I went back to “Ding” Darling to drive the tram tour route on our own. Guess what? There were even more birds around than on Monday! There were also lots and lots of serious birdwatchers watching them!
This time, we stopped to climb the tall observation tower and walk out to the Wulfert Key observation area. So I got a good look at white pelicans swimming in formation and an osprey looking for lunch!
On our way back to Captiva, we stopped at Bowman beach. Grandma thought there might be even more shells there than at the beach where we’re staying. There weren’t, but I did find the ruins of a sand castle!
Last night, we watched another pretty sunset from “our” beach. This morning, it’s raining and chilly! Grandma says we’ll do inside things today!
Love,
Lion-san
Moose-san said he is glad they don’t have alligators in his lake in Maine! He wouldn’t mind a roseate spoonbill though. You saw lots of birds and they were pretty. Hope the rain doesn’t last soooo long that it will spoil too much of your fun. At least it is warm! Moose-san and Tilly got a postcard yesterday and are still looking at it.
Well, Lion-san, you have had a wonderful vacation. Those birds you saw are all so beautiful. Lucky you to have grandma and grandpa take such great photos so you can remember all you saw. Are you heading back home soon? You may find snow on the ground in Fairport. We have some grass showing where snow has melted and other places where lots of snow remains. Tomorrow is to be warmer, nearly 70. Wow! Enjoy the rest of your adventures and trip home. Great Aunt Betsy.
Lion-San,
You brought back the memories of a great restaurant we’d nearly forgotten about, and wonder if it still has the train running around the raised track on a shelf near the ceiling?
I didn’t see any train in the room we ate in, but there were so many other interesting things to look at that I might have missed it!