West Coast of FL: St Petersburg, Ft Myers, Sanibel

It is very difficult to describe Chalet Suzanne and "do it justice," but I would call it an eclectic, charming jumble of a little European gingerbread fairyland village featuring add-on architecture.

The dining room environment: Bizarre, eclectic charm of a collection of objects surely collected from estate sales and thrift shops locally and in Europe. Chipped china that doesn't match, silverware that doesn't match, and chairs that don't match!

We had planned to come here for our 25th wedding anniversary for at least 15 years if not much more.

If you are into this type of place, you must stay here for a memorable experience. It is indescribable. Look it up on the web for their own site and reviews. No one can adequately do it justice with mere words. It is not for everyone, but for the adventurous, it is fab!

The food is even more so! Never to be forgotten. You will always want to return for the food. It is worth even a 50 or 60 mile drive just to have a meal here. This is a 10 star establishment.

We left all the windows and sliding door to our full porch open and were lulled to sleep with the rhythm of the surf.

Not luxury, but one of very few places a visitor can rent on the ocean side.

After lunch, visit the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, 18328 Gulf Blvd., Ind. the preeminent refuse and rehabilitation facility for injured seabirds.

After dinner we enjoyed a Flamenco show performed by a local folklorco ballet group of 5 or 6 women and one man who danced to taped music. How much I had hoped it would have featured a great live guitarist! Although they were passable, this was a disappointment as well. (This was is 1994, so I don't know it things have improved. Perhaps a call to the Tampa newspaper would be in order to get an opinion.)

The fantastic meal consisted of :
1. Cinnamon Grapefruit with chicken livers served in a cigar ashtray. Uh huh. I told you it was a strange place with no references to anything you had in the past!
2. Romaine Soup: our favorite!
3. Vinaigrette salad of hearts of palm (Susan's favorite), zucchini, and lettuce with Swiss potato rolls, which were wonderful!
4. Creamy lime/lemon sorbet.
5. Lobster Newberg
Lump Crab Sare
6. Crepe Suzanne, bitter Orange
7. Cherries Romanoff

The only downer was that midway through our meal a group of six jerks in the ad business down from NYC for an ad shoot sat down behind us and proceeded to pull out their cellular phones to transact business back home. Those who did not have their own phones left in the middle of the meal and used the pay phone at the hostess desk. They ruined our dessert of Cherries Romanoff, so we retired with our dessert to the quiet of the intimate bar!

Susan returned from the bar bathroom to get the camera to photograph the antique wash stands, which are painted with flowers.

If this place is still in business, it is worth the cost! We have eaten there on other trips. (Our first visit was in 1994 was for our 25th wedding anniversary)

Tony and Gordon prepared a fresh breakfast minus eggs. Nice fresh fruit along with rolls and muffins. We met the other guests and as usual, they all were interesting, as was the conversation, which contributed to a late start for the day's activities. <:P> Tony put a roll in a player piano. What fun! While the music played I grabbed some interior shots.

Susan and I had lunch at Liverocks nearby to Mike's boat in Maximo Marina, S.W. St. Pete at 4801 37th Street SW around 34th St. (rt. 19). & 54th Ave.

I thought I was driving to the Gamble Sugar 1850 Plantation: 3708 Patten Ave, in Elleton, FL, a small town across the Manatee River from Bradenton, but instead got disorientated by one of the highways, and instead of going east, we ended up driving quite a bit south. We stopped in two discount malls in our search for the elusive quality books and magazines. No luck, losing time. We finally did find Gamble Plantation, but it was in the process of closing!

We ate at an Italian restaurant downtown which was quite good. After dinner we again searched for source for decent books without success. This town is dead in the evening. During the day it has no style.

We again stayed in St. Petersburg at Bayboro House, 1719 Beach Dr. SE [2 nights @ $85]in 1994

This is the home of a great turn of the century cigar industry that moved here from Cuba. The town was made up of many ethnic and religious groups, all of whom contributed to its flavor. Many had their own cultural and social centers which not only provided social events but social services as well: Cuban, German, Italians and Lithuanian Jews. We assembled at Info at Ybor Square 1901 N. 13th St. between 8 & 9 Ave.

Since we had some time to kill before dinner, Susan and I visited the State Museum for Ybor City located in a former bakery featuring a special exhibit on the Jewish contribution to Ybor and Tampa. You could still inspect the two large brick ovens used to bake bread and all the other goodies. From there we walked the main drag, 7th Avenue, checking out vintage clothing and other shops. Eventually we settled in at an interesting coffee shop we stumbled onto which had some nice art. The husband of the owner had painted a very strong mural of two men in cream and sepia tones on one of the walls which was awash in streaks of sunlight from the window. I have a shot of it. I took a walk around to check out a record shop for local jazz etc. and grab some shots while Susan hung out reading magazines from their collection as well as talking with the young owner. I didn't find much in the way of recordings or things to shoot and rejoined her.

As we prepared to depart, an enormous "Prime Timers" tour bus arrived loaded with silver gray haired ladies and bald headed men, some of whom sported tam-o-shanter caps. They inspected the apartments that were open and being cleaned, visited the gift shop and had lunch.

We drove to the west entrance of the Everglades in Everglades City (150 miles, 3.5 hours non-stop?)

There was virtually nothing to see along the way, quit desolate, just sawgrass, "hammocks" and agriculture. Still it was better than driving through snowbound Indiana!

We had lunch at Don Joses Tortilleria, a Taco place on the right side of FL-29 on the south end of Immokalee. Susan had two Fajitas, I two tortillas. There is a Seminole Indian Reservation nearby that we did not have time to visit. I suspect it is a tourist trap.

I pulled up to the Ivy House in Everglade City, 813-695-3299, while Susan waited in the car. I went in, returned and said, "Well, ... the room is nice." Susan said: "And.....?" with a raised eyebrow. I replied, "Does not appear any rooms have a private bath. There are common bathrooms for men and women." Susan instructed me to return and ask if any rooms came with a private bath. Since it was dinnertime served family style, this caused great hilarity! When I returned, I asked Susan if she remembered what it was like at summer camp when she was a kid.

The Ivy House is more like a hostile with communal bathrooms and family style long tables for breakfast. They provide complimentary bikes, canoe rentals: $20/d; guided tours: $40/person: 9a-3p.

During a walking tour of the small town we discovered the Dixie Landing Inn on School Drive, which was not open.

Met a couple from Minnesota and had a lousy dinner at a 1950's style dinner that had run out of coffee by 7:30pm! (My fish was okay, Susan’s veggie salad was just a few slices of green & red peppers, onions on a bed of 5 leaves of lettuce.)

The next morning, after sharing a hardy breakfast family style some of us assembled for a guided tour of part of the Everglades led by David Harraden's wife, Sandy, both of whom run North American Canoe Tours. [(813) 695-4666] out of the Ivy House where we are staying. Entering just off US-41, we silently moved up the Turner River observing an alligator basking in the sun along the bank as well as a few birds in flight or sitting on branches. The temperature was in the mid 70's. All of sudden we turned and eased into a very narrow channel through very dense saw grass growing in the water. After a short distance we then penetrated the uncharted primitive "tunnels" of a Mangrove swamp. I would liken this to walking into a ten or twelve foot high dense thicket on land. If you try to transverse a thicket, you find you are usually following small "tunnels" which mammals have developed during their travels: very windy and illogical: similar to a maze around rocks, tree trunks and other obstacles. It is impossible to actually walk through a thicket...and very easy to get lost. A Mangrove is similar. There was this one very crooked winding "stream" with branches hanging so low that it was passable only by sitting on the bottom of the canoe, grabbing onto the overhanging branches and pulling yourself forward to glide to the next branch or stump and again repeat the process through out the rest of the trip. Hands above your head pulling yourself forward using muscles you forgot you had. From these branches strange long "fingers" hung down in their search for water. More than likely, if you grabbed one of those, it broke off and you were left stranded dead in the water. Once we entered the Mangroves, we were totally enveloped in an eerie green light and became totally disorientated as to direction. Luckily the sun was out so I could occasionally be aware of generally which direction we were going. We didn't see much wild life because we made so much noise, but when we tell the story we take some liberties and embellish it a bit by adding alligators lurking in the shallow waters only inches away between the Mangrove roots and slithery lizards and hundreds of birds of varying colors and sizes perched in their branches overhead! That part was true.

If this was not enough, ¾ of the way in, Susan, who was in front steering, let out with a cry and then a wail! A large branch she had grabbed onto to pull us ahead slipped out her grasp, flipped back and hit her just above her wrist and gave her a tremendous bruise. It then hit her in the forehead and then struck her other wrist unlatching her Anne Klein silver bracelet watch, which, with a "kerplunk," flipped off and sunk to the bottom of the water! (I had removed my watch as we entered the grove.) I immediately stopped the canoe, grabbed a branch, pulled the canoe in reversed, stopped where I estimated the watch entered the water, looked down into the clear water and there it was, just in front of a gar fish as he hung in the water like a floating stick! I stuck my hand straight down and grabbed it. Returning on the river, I put the watch on a cross brace of the canoe to "dry" in the sun. Some water condensed on the crystal. Later, back at our room, I popped the back off with my Swiss Army knife and got as much moisture as I could with a Q-tip both of which I had in my day pack. The watch was still running and continues to this moment! Reminds me the story of the alarm clock in the alligator's stomach in Peter Pan. (Be prepared for a pop quiz at the end of this saga. What message does this adventure send us of mythic proportions?)

Such high adventure for two city bound blokes.

The other couple canoeing was a couple from Oxfordshire, England. She was six months pregnant! The Whites and we also went on a sunset ocean tour out of the Everglades that was a bust as far as I was concerned. No dolphins, a few birds and a miserable sunset. We also shared an evening meal at the Rod and Gun club.

We were met by a mob of teenagers, a visiting basketball team and their supporters as we entered a local fish restaurant near the Ivy House.

After that high adventure, we slept like logs at the Ivy House in Everglade City 813-695-3299.

Early on, he got off of the front of the first tram car from which he was delivering his lecture and strode out into the shallow standing water of the "50 mile wide river" which the Everglades are and picked up some slimy yellowish muck that looked a bit like a sponge. It was Parafiten, an algae that allows saw grass two grow which decays and then allows other plant to grow including the all important Mangroves. Parafiten provides oxygen and a place for fish to lay eggs. The Mangrove trees are able to live in brackish water because their roots filter out the salt in salt water. Their leaves drop off, decay and provide food for other bacteria and plants which encourage fish.

Steve also suggested we visit Big Cypress Bend park 8 miles west of route 29 on US-41 outside of the Everglades park proper. It has huge old Cypress tress with lots of birds and animals.

We purchased some food and supplies for breakfasts and lunches in Fort Myers.

Had a fine meal at The Old Captiva House Restaurant at 'Tween-Water Inn on Captiva Island. Wonderful wait staff and service. Stef had a tasty half rack of lamb which was pan seared. Susan splurged on Surf and Turf with Julian veggies, special Scalloped Potatoes and a salad.

We drove 10 miles back to Sanibel and visited swanky strip mall, Tahitian Gardens at 2007 Periwinkle Way on Sanibel and splurged on four Sanibel T-shirts! Had a nice lunch there at The Sanibel Cafe. The tables were glass tops above a "box" containing shells spray painted white. I think it was a project from Shell Craft 101.

I grilled steaks at sunset for dinner. Shortly after I began grilling it began to drizzle which developed into a light rain. I had to keep an eye out for Henritta, the resident blue Heron who has the reputation of snatching any food off the grill! One resident told of bringing down from Philadelphia some very expensive specially aged steaks that Henritta made off with in the blink of eye when the guest came in to get some sauce.

I spent the afternoon walking four miles through the Ding Darling Wildlife Preserve. Didn't see much, but did video a wood stork killing and eating a snake! Best viewing is from Wildlife Drive at dawn and dusk, especially good at low tide in morning when tidal flat are exposed. Biking is a good way to travel the drive. Insects are out at best birding hours, but since I was there in the winter, there were no insects! Some alligators are about. Inhingas, flamingos, spoonbills, etc., are to be found. If you are shooting photos, you need at least a 300mm tele, 600 would be better. You can hire private guides who are located outside the park to canoe you in.