Ding Darling and Dinners

Another week is gone. Where do the days go?
Paul and I drove to Sanibel Island early Wednesday morning to the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge.

We wanted to be there when the refuge opened because we read there was a birding bike tour led by volunteer naturalists that morning. If you ever have a chance to visit Ding Darling, I would highly recommend you take advantage of these programs. It cost us $1 each to ride our bikes through the reserve.

We lucked out because it was low tide that morning and the birds were on the mudflats.

Although our camera wasn't able to get close pictures of the birds, there were huge flocks of birds out there for us to view. Also, there were knowledgeable birders at each stop with excellent scopes and they invited people to view the birds close up. I have been trying unsuccessfully to learn shore birds and this experience really helped. The people who led our tour and the birders at each stop were so accommodating.

We both really enjoyed the day. I counted at least 20 different species of shorebirds.

After our bike ride, we drove to one of the beaches on the island, sat in the shade at a picnic table, ate the lunch we had packed and then walked the shore for a little bit. There were no sharks teeth here, but thousands of shells. You can see a line of them next to Paul's feet in this picture.

Paul said he like the Sanibel beach, but it doesn't hold a candle to his beloved Caspersen!!!

Back at the camper, we continue to eat well. Beth told us about Angelo's, a local Italian market. We stopped there one afternoon, bought some fresh sausage and grilled a pizza on the Weber.

Our miniature herb garden outside has come into its own, so we harvested the first crop of basil and made bruschetta one night.

And last night we grilled chicken and made parsley/rosemary/garlic "new" potatoes. Yum.

Well, I have to go. Paul went golfing today and I just might have gone to Best Buy to buy myself a Kindle...I see it's charged up, so I am excited!!!!!  I got tired (literally, eye strain tired) of reading books on my phone. Talk to you soon.