J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge

After our cold cereal breakfast with morning beverages and doing our morning language lessons, we packed the truck and left by 8:00 AM. The J. N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge specializes in bird viewing. The visitor center had been nearly destroyed by Hurricane Milton two years earlier but was in the process of rebuilding. Most of the roads and trails had reopened.

Great Blue Heron

The drive from our AirB&B in Bonita Springs to Ding Darling Preserve on Sanibel Island took less than 30 minutes. The National Park pass got us into the area at no charge. Our first stop in the wildlife refuge was at a bridge where many birds were wading in the shallow water. A helpful volunteer told us that we should be able to see rosette spoonbills, night herons and many other wading birds. We saw several yellow crowned night herons and many of the usual herons and egrets in the warm shallow water. We were disappointed that the trail to the shell midden was closed due to hurricane damage, but we continued to make our way through the preserve. We stopped at the visitor center on the way out of the preserve then drove to the Edison and Ford Winter Estates in Fort. Myers.

Statue of Edison across from his winter home

When we pulled into the lot for the Edison and Ford homes the attendants directed us to a lot adjacent to an elementary school where we found a parking space in the shade. We had a quick lunch of rice cakes with peanut butter and mixed nuts. As we left the truck, we noticed that we would be unable to leave the lot between 2:45 and 3:45 because of dismissal of the adjacent school. We were concerned since that would have been about the time we might be leaving the area. Mary spotted a shaded parking space in another lot, so we held the space while Mark moved the truck.

Edison's winter home

We purchased admission tickets for the gardens and homes, downloaded the app for the audio tour and admired the banyan tree that is believed to be the largest in North America. After walking across the road, we walked through the many gardens and structures on the property. The swimming pool is well over 100 years old and was constructed from a monolithic pour of concrete. Only the diving board was damaged by Hurricane Ian  in 2022 as was a 400,000-gallon cistern that provided fresh water to the Edison and Ford properties. Several of the plantings on the properties were trees that Ford and Edison hoped could cost effectively produce latex for the manufacture of car tires.

Mark in front of Ford's winter home

As one might expect, Edison’s home was very thoughtfully designed, although not especially grandiose. The house was purchased as a kit from Maine and assembled in Sarasota. Each board was cut to size and labeled for assembly. Adjacent to Edison’s winter home was a guest house of nearly equal size. Also nearby was the winter home of Henry Ford’s family. Like the Edison home, Ford’s house was very functional but not overly ostentatious. As we left the property, we stopped by the plant sale where Mary bought a pink canna that she will plant with the other cannas at our house.

Mary's seafood salad

We drove back to the AirBnB in Bonita Springs where we cleaned up and drove to the Fish House Restaurant. All the restaurants in the area were very busy and parking was difficult. We were fortunate to park at the auxiliary lot about a block from the Fish House. We got on the list for seating and were taken to our table after only about 20 minutes. Mark, Cindy and I had margaritas that were excellent as we waited for our meals. Mary had a Cobb salad with shrimp, and I had the grouper basket. Everyone enjoyed the meal.

Mark, Mary & Cindy on the beach at sunset

After dinner we drove a short distance to a beach where we watched the sunset, which was very nice. We went back to the B&B to watch the Winter Olympics until we turned in early.

Home from Florida

Despite all outward appearances of the Ft. Myers Howard Johnson, our room was surprisingly comfortable and we slept well waking a little after 5:30 am. We did our German lessons and watched a couple episodes of Counting Cars on television while we waited to hear from the rest of the group. We did out last minute packing and preparation before piling in cars at 8:30 to stop for breakfast at First Watch in Ft. Myers. Mary and I both had eggs Benedict and enjoyed them although we would have preferred the eggs to have been cooked slightly longer. We both like the eggs a little gelled rather than the whites and yellows completely runny.

After breakfast we drove to the Ding Darling Nature Preserve on Sanibel Island. We had been here several times before and always enjoyed the visit. Today was cold and very windy by southern Florida standards. The temperature was in the mid to upper 50s but seemed much cooler with the wind coming off the water. We spent about 30 minutes at the visitor center looking at the displays and reading about the area’s history of bird species preservation. At the gate to the wildlife drive we were admitted free with our Senior National Park pass and drove to stops along the way to view the birds of the area. Because of the wind and colder temperatures, there were fewer birds out and no alligators or turtles. The birds we saw tended to be low in the mangrove thickets. We took the few short walks that are available in the preserve including one along a power line path to the water. We didn’t stay there long because the wind off the water was so intense and there was no visible wildlife. Our last stop was at ancient middens dating back over 3,000 years. There was a mountain of shells that had been piled up by the many ancient cultures after gathering native shellfish. We made a quick stop at a Walmart where Cindy got some Zicam chews and we picked up a turkey sub and some bananas for our evening meal.

We started toward Punta Gorda Airport for our 5:30 flight. After goodbyes, we went to the Allegiant desk where we learned that the flight to Cincinnati was delayed about an hour and that we couldn’t check our bag until after 3 pm. We sat outside security for a short time until we checked our bag and walked the short distance to security where our Global Entry status allowed us to take the TSA PreChecked line. We moved quickly through the process without removing shoes, jackets or taking tablets out. However, I was randomly selected for a partial check; my carry-on electronics were swabbed which took very little time. We sat at the terminal until our flight was ready to board around 6 pm for our flight home. The Punta Gorda terminal is very small with six gates in one room. We enjoyed our sub and bananas while we waited, taking walks to stretch from time to time.

We arrived at CVG around 8:30, Mary picked up the bag from the carousal while I tried to catch the shuttle for the Florence Hilton. I missed that shuttle, so I had to call the desk again and get the next one in 30 minutes. The temperature was 16 degrees, quite an adjustment from our two weeks in Florida. We made the drive home from the Hilton and were in bed by 11 pm, tired but glad to be home after a great vacation.