Westworld Alberta
Issue link: http://westworldmagazine.ama.ab.ca/i/365611
(BEACH) DANITA DELIMONT/GETTY IMAGES, (ROSEATE SPOONBILL) ISTOCK, (BUBBLE ROOM) STEVE GRUNDY F A L L 2 0 1 4 | W E S T W O R L D A L B E R T A 31 Members save! Get 5% off the best available rate at Marriott Hotels. AMARewards.ca/Marriott Plus, get a free VIP coupon book at Miromar Outlets. AMARewards.ca/Miromar Save up to 20% at Hertz. AMARewards.ca/Hertz Save 10% at Charley's Grilled Subs (excludes alcoholic beverages). AMARewards.ca/Charleys White sand beckons on tranquil Sanibel Island; (inset) roseate spoonbills nest in the island's J.N. "Ding" Darling Wildlife Refuge; (below) Captiva Island's delightfully tacky Bubble Room restaurant. HOT GETAWAYS The Down-Home Coast: Fort Myers, Florida BY OMAR MOUALLEM When Floridians want a family vacation that doesn't involve Mickey Mouse and roller coasters, they head to the Fort Myers area, a calming cluster of white beaches and quiet islands that are proudly less ostentatious than the east coast. SEE Henry Ford and omas Edison fell for Fort Myers when it was little more than lush wilderness. Find out how southwest Florida inspired them both at the Edison and Ford Winter Estates museum, next to the Caloosahatchee River. Leave with some habanero mango preserve from Edison's former gardens. Cross the causeway to Sanibel Island and kayak J.N. "Ding" Darling Wildlife Refuge to view subtropical mangroves, along with 60 native bird species, including snowy egrets, tri-coloured herons and roseate spoonbills. Hop aboard an island cruise (book online at AMATravel.ca/Activities) and look for manatees and showboating dolphins. EAT After scarfing down Cabbage Key Inn's famous cheeseburger, supposed namesake of the Jimmy Bu et ditty "Cheeseburger in Paradise," tape a dollar bill on the wall with your name on it. Pine Island fishermen started the tradition in the 1940s and around 70,000 people have done it since. On Captiva Island, just north of Sanibel, pop into Keylime Bistro for martinis and almond-crusted tuna on the patio. You'll want to try their award-winning pie and namesake, but save room for the campy Bubble Room, which is famous for two things: cakes (try the orange crunch) and year-round Christmas decor. STAY Serious boat enthusiasts stay at the candy-coloured Shipwreck Motel, metres from the water in Fort Myers Beach (a town south of the city proper), yet tucked away with a private boardwalk, boat docks and Tiki huts. Sanibel's Casa Ybel Resort o ers a historic lodge, shing excursions and tennis lessons. The Sanibel Harbour Marriott Resort & Spa trades beach life for nightlife, thanks to a lively pool bar, while its spa's most irresistible o ering involves a metal dome that bathes the body in sound waves. SHOP Mail your friends a "coconut postcard," a hollowed- out coconut painted by the owner of Captiva Island's Jungle Drums Gallery. Make it up to them with gifts from the mainland's Miromar Outlets, which has Saks, True Religion and 140 other stores. Or pick up some single-origin-cacao tru es from Norman Love Confections, southeast of downtown and considered one of America's best chocolatiers. W The Down-Home Coast: