Sunday – April 24, 2011
When we drove across the Everglades yesterday and arrived in Naples Florida, we both were pleasantly surprised. Naples looked like a prosperous, elegant, and pleasant place to live. Route 41 was a wide boulevard with a lovely center island blooming with lovely flowers and palm trees. The Everglades were wilderness wetlands and, in contrast, Naples seemed like a refined and gentile city.
Causeway Toll Booth to Sanibel Island
We were on the road by nine o’clock in the morning. We drove around a little to see more of Naples and discovered beautiful houses along the Gulf of Mexico. Each street dead-ended at the beach and provided public access and a few public parking spaces.
The Causeway to Sanibel & Captiva Islands
We continued on Rt. 41 north then turned west on Bonita Beach Road. The road continued to Estero Blvd. and across the western barrier island of Fort Myers Beach. Our goal was to to see Sanibel Island and Captiva. We took the narrow bridge across San Carlos Bay. It was Easter Sunday and families had already gathered along the beach of the Sanibel Causeway. They had claimed their territory; set out the grills and picnic gear, turned on the music, and gathered to enjoy the day.
Typical Road on Sanibel
Once we were on the island, we drove east to see the Sanibel Lighthouse. We passed several resorts and condominium units along the narrow road. The speed limit is 20 or 25 MPH, so everyone moved in slow-motion. The lighthouse looked like a large rusty pipe surrounded by scaffolding with a light on the top.
Sanibel Lighthouse
Then we drove north and west along the main driving road. We had to share the road with many bicyclists and it was a tedious drive. The island seemed like a comfortable and pleasant place to live; it reminded me of the expression: “dressy casual”. The houses were relatively modest, but very nice, and probably cost a fortune.
We drove to the end of Captiva and turned around. It was sunny and hot and we were thirsty, so we stopped at a general store to purchase cold drinks. We finally drove off the islands and noticed that there were more picnicking families along the causeway. Loud music blared and the scene was very different from Sanibel and Captiva.
Sanibel Island Houses from the Causeway
We continued to drive north along Route 41, but felt that we were moving too slowly. We decided to make up some time by hopping on the fast Route 75. I drove for a couple of hours on the 65 mph highway. It was a tiring drive because the other drivers were driving much faster than my 68 mph and it took a lot of concentration to drive that fast on a two-lane highway, parts of which were under construction.
The Tibbals Learning Center
We got off Route 75 at one of the Sarasota exits and drove towards the Gulf. We drove through some nice neighborhoods and ended at the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art. It was about 3:00 o’clock and we didn’t have time to see all of the museum. The woman who sold us the tickets made some recommendations of what to see with limited time.
Side-Show Miniatures
We first went to the new exhibit of The Circus Miniature – Tibbals Learning Center. This is a 3800 square-foot replica of The Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus before 1958 when it was a traveling circus.
A man named Howard Tibbals made all the miniature figures during the last 50 years. The Ringling Museum built an addition to their Circus Museum to house the collection. It was an amazing display!!
The Howard Circus Big Top
There were few people at the museum today. We walked to the other end of the circus museum to see the collection of circus memorabilia.
There were wagons, costumes, posters, and other circus artefacts. There was a woodcarving workshop and a displays of circus memorabilia. One display had Emmitt Kelly’s costume and props. We took several photographs and continued to John & Mabel Ringling’s beautiful house on the Gulf.
A Circus Wagon
The interior and exterior of the house was impressive. It was located directly on the water with a spectacular view of the bay. The architecture is called Venetian Gothic and it is actually a palace. In Venetian style, the name of the house is: Ca’ D’Zan or House of John.
The Garden View of Ca’ D’Zan
The interior was decorated in a heavy European style which was the fashion in the 1920s when the Ringlings used the house during the winters.
The Main Living Space with Balcony
We didn’t purchase the “guided tour” so we could not see the upstairs rooms. We had the “self-guided” general admission. It was fine because we could take as many photos as we wanted and there was a lot to photograph downstairs.
John Ringling’s French Desk
The Ringlings used the house mainly for entertaining and it seemed like a perfect house to entertain guests and have a good time!
It started to rain when we left the Circus Museum and ended in a heavy downpour. We had not had rain for many weeks and it was good to experience it again. At the end of the storm a beautiful, almost total rainbow filled the sky. If you look closely to the photo, you can see the beginnings of a second arch above to the left of the main rainbow. Double lucky?!
Lucky Rainbow
We found yet another Hampton Inn near the highway and later we had a surprisingly good dinner at a seafood chain nearby called the Bonefish Grill. It was a good day. The day was filled with many interesting sights and good memories.