Fun in the Sun at Pine Island

After getting our 10,000 steps in Tuesday morning with Ken and Bonnie, we enjoyed the pool again that afternoon.  Because our campsite is in the back of the campground and the pool is in the front, we ride our bikes to the pool...which can be challenging when carrying swim tubes, towels, and my Kindle.  However, with my new rack, we bungee everything on and off we go.

The campground has a very nice pool and it was a very nice day to be in the pool.

While Ken & Bonnie, Neil & Nancy, and Chuck were enjoying the cool pool...

...I was enjoying reading my book on my Kindle...  

...until it got so hot I had to jump in the pool too!

On Wednesday, we all went to Sanibel Island for the day.  We started our adventure off with a bike ride around J. N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.

At the first viewpoint...

...we could see these white pelicans out on an island.  Notice the black feathers under the white pelican's top feathers which are only visible when they "ruffle their feathers" or when they are in flight.

There were also these beautiful Morning Glory flowers along the water's edge.

We rode a little further and there were a lot of cars parked and people looking out at the water.  There were so many cars it reminded us of when Yellowstone visitors would see a bear.  No bear at Ding Darling.  Just an alligator.

A BIG GATOR.

The white pelicans on the nearby island did not seem to the least bit afraid of the gator.

I think they were having a "pelican party."  :)

As we rode a little further, we stopped and watched this egret eating a gecko (he had already swallowed it here).

Along the bike ride, there were several places where you could stop and walk out to see the mangroves and surrounding water.

Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge is the largest mangrove ecosystem in the United States and the mangroves were everywhere....

...and very thick.

We rode our bikes a little further and saw Ken's favorite bird:  a roseate spoonbill.

This roseate spoonbill had a fishing buddy:  a little blue heron.

We rode a little further...

...and stopped at another walkway that took you through the mangroves.  This walkway had bronze exhibits of what all the different wildlife leave behind...their poop!  (Sorry, I didn't take any pictures of the poop.)  But we did get at nice group picture of our little biker group.

After Ding Darling, we loaded up the bikes and went to R. C. Otters for a delicious lunch.

Chuck had a grouper fish sandwich...

...and I had two grouper fish tacos.  Yummy!  :)

What a nice afternoon!  But wait...it's not over yet!  Ken and Bonnie took us for our first trip ever to Costco. We think Ken & Bonnie buy everything from Costco.  We'll ask where did you get this or that and the answer is always the same:  Costco.  I did get a good buy on some new sheets and Ken & Chuck picked us up some big rotisserie chickens to take home.

On Thursday, we had planned to go kayaking but it was drizzling rain a little bit plus the place where we had reservations to rent kayaks didn't show up at the time we reserved them.  We made a trip to Wal-mart for groceries instead and got out 10,000 steps in later that afternoon.  As we walked to the south end of the island, there were these big burgundy colored flowers that had dropped off a shrub.

Ken and Bonnie have been teaching us pinochle at night.  At first it seems kind of complicated, but I think we're getting the hang of it.  Ken and Chuck won the first game but Bonnie and I won the next two games of pinochle. To be fair, I have to admit that Ken and Chuck won a best 2 out of 3 round of Skip-Bo the first night we played cards.  Don't want the boys getting their feelings hurt.  :)

Friday was another fun-filled day.  We got our 10,000 steps with Ken & Bonnie that morning.  Then we played a couple of rounds of shuffleboard.  Chuck and Bonnie were the winners in shuffleboard but Ken and I gave it our best!  After shuffleboard, we went for a bike ride to the south end of the island and rode to the St. James Creek Preserve.

We locked our bikes up near this metalwork Indian at the trailhead.

The trail was a pretty one mile round trip that took us through mangroves and out to Saint James Creek.

The trail was originally an old road bed.  As we got nearer to the creek, we walked across wooden boardwalks through the mangroves...

...until we reached Saint James Creek which is a lot bigger than any creek I've ever seen.  It's really more like a tidal waterway that surrounds the barrier islands along the southeast edge of Pine Island.

It was so quite and peaceful there.  We enjoyed just watching the water and listening to the quietness.

As we headed back, I took a couple of pictures of the thick mangroves.

All of these pictures were taken with my Droid and this one turned out to be a beautiful little surprise with the blue sky reflected in the water.  It's almost hard to tell which way is up.  :)

After an hour at the pool, we went to the clubhouse Friday night for $6 pizza at the campground's pizza night and enjoyed listening to the music group "The Last Resort" for an hour or so.  We finished the night with one last game of Skip-Bo.  The game seemed to take a longer time than usual with the guys ahead most of the game; but Bonnie and I pulled out a win at the end!  :)

On Saturday, we ran a couple of errands and got our steps in with Ken & Bonnie in the afternoon.  Neil and Nancy invited several of us over for a really nice campfire Saturday evening.  The weather was just the right temperature and we met some more people in the campground.  Neil & Nancy head out tomorrow and we're going to miss them.  Safe travels, Neil & Nancy, and we look forward to seeing you down the road again sometime!  :)