And I think to myself...

After a lovely evening with family, capped off with a late-night viewing of Music and Lyrics (thumbs up), and lots of sleeping in, we headed off for an adventure this morning. We stopped in at WW (weight watchers) for the good news of -1.2 pounds this week and then went to test out the new section of the Sanibel Causeway Bridge that opened last night. The causeway has three sections-- mainland to itty-bitty-island-number-one, number-one to number-two, and number-two to Sanibel Island. The middle section has been completed for a little while now, the third section has about another month to go, and section one opened last night. It includes a new toll booth area where they take your six! dollars gleefully and a realllly tall bridge which negates the need for the drawbridge. Here's the approach (sorry for all the dashboard in the shot):


...and the new toll booths, with actually very friendly toll collectors:


... and the view from the toll booth:


This is near the crest of the bridge, where you can see the old drawbridge stuck in the up position:


And the descent from the top:


It was pretty fun to test it out. A-ok in our books. We stopped at the Chamber of Commerce to ask where the best burgers can be found. The very kind lady didn't have an opinion but gave us a brochure that had information on all the restaurants on the island, including their menus! Great find. We chose to go to The Island Cow since we've never been there before. It felt vacationy and was full of European tourists. The burger we split was pretty good, and the seasoned fries were great.


We drove around a bit more and then stopped in at a place I've wanted to go in for a while-- a little antique store. The facade was deceptively small as this place went on and on, and had a t-o-n of stuff inside. I could have spent a mint!


We found this bag of coffee and took a pic in honor of my dad, who likes to refer to himself as Uncle Bill from Libertyville:


LOVE these old suitcases. Someday I'd like to stack them and use them as a nightstand.


I saw this and immediately thought of my grandfather who is the absolute king of clever gags.



And this was in the parking lot (notice the crushed shells instead of gravel!). What a lovely hibiscus bloom all lonely and waiting to be stepped on. I almost felt sorry for it.


We were just about to leave the island when we decided to go dip our toes in the water. We drove over to our usual secret spot and parked illegally. (If you're ever on Sanibel and want to sneak onto a beach and borrow a private cabana, the name rhymes with Oliday Nn. Never had a problem parking there.) We were just going to dip our toes in, but once we felt the gulf breeze and the ten-degree-cooler temperature by the water, we decided to go for a little walk. It was delightful and a soothing, calming way to get a little exercise.

Here's the walk to the beach:


This was taken by a gentleman tourist who I'm pretty sure hasn't used a camera phone before. He kept holding the face of the phone up to his eye and squinting... not a good sign.


After a brief washing-off,

...we headed home. Here you can see a bulldozer taking apart section two of the bridge. They're going to create a man-made reef out of the hunks of concrete.


And this is how I'd like to go to heaven. In a Miata, on a beautiful day, up, up, up the bridge, and I'd like to just keep on going.