My husband and I (40ish) have four days in the Fort Myers area in January, without the kids. Any ideas to keep us busy? Is a day trip to Sanibel worth it when the weather is cool?

Sanibel is always worth it IMO. At least do the pretty drive all the way throught Sanibel & Captiva and eat at one of the restaurants. Shopping on Periwinkle is also fun if you like shopping - more boutiques not like mall shopping from what I remember. There's also J.N. Ding Darling for outdoors/nature. If you want to do a beach picnic, stop by one of the places listed below and get a box lunch or picnic fare and go to Bowman's Beach (great sunset views I hear) or the beach by the lighthouse.

* Bailey's General Store, at Periwinkle Way and Tarpon Bay Road (tel. 941/472-1516), carries a gourmet selection of breads, cheeses, and meats with a supermarket, deli, salad bar, hardware store, beach shop, shoe repair, and Western Union all under one roof

* Huxter's Deli and Market, 1203 Periwinkle Way, east of Donax Street (tel. 941/472-6988), has sandwich fixings and "beach box" lunches to go

* Jerry’s Supermarket

Do the Edison and Ford winter estate tour. We throughly enjoyed them--beautiful grounds, lovely setting and an interesting relationship between these two close friends--you can just picture what life must have been like living there in the late 1800's.

One other thought, if you've never been to Naples, I'd take a drive down there one day. We occasionally stay in north Bonita Springs, close to the Ft Myers border and it takes us about 40 minutes to get down there. Talk about shopping! I've actually considered the drive down from Tampa just for some power shopping (terrific specialty shops) but it's a gorgeous town as well with beautiful homes!

If you are up to a day trip to Key West go on the Key West Ferry to spend a day in Key West. Leaves from Ft. Myers. It is a long day but leaves you with 5 hours in the Key's. Also about 4-5 hours each way on the Ferry. Like I say it is a full day. We enjoyed the trip. We had calm waters. Yes it is worth a trip to Sanibel and Captiva. We had dinner at the Mucky Duck. See a beautiful sunset. There is also a booth at the boardwalk in Ft. Myers which has various tours. You can arrange an Everglades tour from Ft. Myers if you wish also. Enjoy.

Thanks for all the tips! We'll certainly make trip to Sanibel. Any suggestions for restaurants in Ft. Myers itself?

We plan on visiting the fort. myers Beach in late Dec. I wish I could think of some the more affordable motels on the beach that is close to the boardwalk. I've been to Sanibel, its nice. Naples old town shopping is unique, the Edison house tour was boring to me.
Anybody know of affordable motels on the beach?

Ron, we stayed at the Oceanfront Best Western. All rooms are Oceanfront, it is clean, has a nice pool and is within walking distance to the boardwalk. Others that were closer were Ramada Inn, Quality Inn, and I think Holiday Inn also. There were 2 or three in a row.