Sanibel Island: Part Two

One of my absolute favorite things I've done in my life so far is renewing our wedding vows. Here's the thing...it was all Chris' idea. Yes, he is the best. He planned every detail and it was magical really. We were originally married on an island in the gulf, so it only made sense to renew our vows 10 years later on an island in the gulf. The weather couldn't have been any prettier. It was perfect. Everything was perfect.

 During the ceremony at sunset the sky turned the most gorgeous shade of pink. The tide rose up to wet our feet and we, for just a moment, were the only ones on the private stretch of beach. I carried a small bouquet of white orchids. Patricia Slater performed the ceremony and she was awesome. She was so genuine and made us feel so special. She has been a part of over 8,000 weddings/vow renewals and it shows. She knows the little details that matter. 

One funny thing I want to remember is while she is reading all these beautiful words a totally legit swimmer swam by about 100 feet off the beach. He was by himself and had to have been swimming for miles. I never saw him get in or out of the water. Afterwards, Patricia told us she just thought it was a porpoise out of the corner of her eye. Haha! Nope, it was pretty much someone training for some kind of water marathon.

After the vow renewal, Chris and I had reservations at the Thistle Lodge. They had delicious food. We had such a great time laughing that I only got one lonely picture of my drink (it was uh-mazing btw). It's called the Sanibel Sunset.

Another place we eat while on our trip was The Island Cow.

It had the longest wait of any place we eat on the island. They did have a fun waiting area though. My crab cake sandwich was tasty, unfortunately, what Chris got (patty melt) was bad. He barely eat any of it. He's not a picky eater either. So, I can't see myself ever going back here. Here was my crab cake sandwich:

Another place that we actually both loved was The Fish House.

It was some of the best Shrimp Tacos I've ever had. We will definitely be going back there.

Of course, we had just rode 8 miles on our bikes before lunch so that could have had something to do with how great it was! ha Cardboard would have tasted yummy too probably. I really think it was truly delish though. Speaking of our bike ride, it was so fun. It was super hot, yes, but there was breeze once we got to cruising speeds. 

We went to see the Lighthouse (the first thing ever on island). There was beautiful scenery on the way there. 

I also witnessed the fastest tortoise alive. Well, I almost ran his hiney over until Chris saw him.

Another yummy lunch spot was in Captiva--almost to the end of the island.

It's called Cantina Captiva.

The cheese dip was a little pricey but oh so good! I mean you're on vacation, everything is more expensive. ;) 

We kayaked one day and that was something I've never done. I usually prefer boats with motors (big motors, not trolling motors) because I'm scared of certain sea life. For some reason, I assume I could escape quickly in large boat. Anyway, I was brave and turned out I really enjoyed it and see why people love it.

Chris did all the work, I just took pics and worked on my tan the whole time! ;)  

We went through the Mangrove forest on Tarpon Bay.

We rented our kayak through Tarpon Bay Explorers. They were great. It was a cheap and fun activity! 

Ok, I saved my favorite restaurant for last, The Sunset Grill. It's in Captiva as well and overlooks the ocean. The food was amazing! It's a smaller, fancier style restaurant and it's a little pricey, but it's worth it. They have a small menu, so I'm sure everything on it is good. We had personalized service, we saw the chef making our food and it was a great experience. I highly recommend this place.

Here was our Key Lime Pie we had for dessert:

Well, as you can imagine, after all this I didn't want to leave. But, oh how I missed my babies. Thanks to Chris' parents for taking good care of them while we were gone. I'm sure they spoiled them. :) 

We are already planning another trip to Sanibel. This time we will take the kids and drive. Eeekk! That long drive scares me, but we drove back from Dallas before so I'm sure we can pull this off too.

Until next year, Sanibel!