My Daughter has moved to Cape Coral and now we go to her house for Christmas. Any suggestions for some outdoor Activities. I'm thinking of doing some paddling in the Everglades and hiking the Florida trail. Also, any suggestions for non-touristy restaurants would be appreciated.

Take a ride out to Pine Island... not only is the scenery great, but the route is lined with quirky galleries, boutiques, and restaurants. At one end of the island (North, I think) is a resort with a great restaurant on the beach... the locals may have more info on the name...

Thanks gt22! I'll check that out. I've been to Pine Island. It was last Christmas. You might remember the record cold and the rain. I didn't stop anywhere. How did that area make out in the Hurricanes this year?

The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary on SR-846 just west of Immokalee, that is well worth a day trip. If time permits a drive to Shark Valley on the Tamiami Trail (US-41) would be another. The drive across the Big Cypress is a treat in its self that time of year.

I don't know of a beach and resort on Pine Island as it is on Pine Island Sound and not the gulf and has no beach. There is a little restaurant in Bokeelia, at the northern tip of Pine Island which is very funky, if it is still operating. I'm wondering if someone wasn't thinking of South Seas Resort on Captiva. It is on the northern tip of Captiva Island and is close to Pine Island if you go by boat. It is closed until spring for hurricane restoration, from Charlie no less.

Cape Coral doesn't have much. Need to drive to most things. Everglades is quite a hike and they got severely Wilma'd. I'd check into a kayak tour of Ding Darling/Sanibel and definitely make the day trip to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, which is one of the oldest Audubon sites in the country, if not THE oldest. LMF

Thanks RR! I was thinking of a day paddle (3-5hrs). Is that possible?

Hurricane Wilma hit pretty hard on the everglades and the places mentioned in the recs here. A 1 sec google came up with this:

http://www.evergladesdiary.com/

On the morning of Monday, October 24, Hurricane Wilma crossed the south Florida peninsula as a category 3 storm with 125 mph winds. The eye of the storm passed over Cape Romano, close enough to bring Everglades City and Chokoloskee Island within the hurricane's eye wall. In it's wake, it left a trail of devastation that was mitigated only by the storm's rapid passage across the state. The Everglades National Park was hit hard by Wilma, which brought storm surges of up to 7 feet along the Gulf coast and Florida Bay. At this time portions of the Park are open, but backcountry camping has been prohibited until further notice.
Here is the status of ENP as of Wednesday, Nov. 16:
Shark Valley was reopened to the public on Saturday Nov. 12. In the south, the main Park road is open as far as Mahogany Hammock, but Flamingo is still closed to visitors. The Long Pine Key campground cleanup has been completed, but they are still waiting for water test results before reopening the area to the public. At the time Wilma struck, Flamingo was still recovering from a brush with Katrina, and all efforts toward that end have suffered major setbacks. The entire area was covered by a 6 foot storm surge, which left a blanket of mud covering the campground and buildings. Despite the extensive damage, repairs to electrical and other utilities have progressed, and it was expected that Flamingo staff would be allowed to return very soon. Everglades City suffered considerably less damage, which is surprising given that the eye of the storm passed very close. The Gulf Coast Visitor Center is open, and despite reports to the contrary, the canoe launch survived and is available for use. The Gulf Coast tour boats are operating on schedule, and the local canoe and kayak outfitters are open for business.
Many of the Park's canoe trails were blocked by debris and downed tress. The more open trails have been cleared, and crews have been dispatched to other areas to begin the cleanup using chainsaws operated from skiffs and canoes. I was able to paddle the full length of the Turner River trail on Sunday, Nov. 13, but the Left Hand Turner River was still blocked by fallen trees about a half-mile from it's confluence with Halfway Creek. On the south end of the Park, Nine Mile Pond has been cleared, and crews are now working to clear the Bear Lake and the Coastal Prairie trails. The remainder of the Flamingo area water trails are scheduled for clearing.
Not surprisingly, many backcoutry campsites suffered significant damage, especially the Gulf Coast sites. At least one chickee, Kingston Key, has been reported as completely destoyed, and I imagine that others have suffered the same fate. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a count of damaged or destroyed chickees from the rangers on duty, as they are still trying to get a handle on the extent of the damage, and what it will take to bring the damaged sites back into service. Because of this, you should consider any information that you find here regarding specific campsites as historical in nature at this time. I will post updates for each campsite as soon as I can confirm it's status. My thanks goes out to those who have contacted me with Park information since the storm.

If you want to get daily updates on the condition of the NPS areas in the South FL area go to the NPS site (www.nps.gov) go to the bottom of the page and ck on "News & Information". It is normally updated daily.

Thanks lilMs and RR,lots of good info. Hopefully, the recovery will be swift.