Captiva Island - Part 1

I recently took a family trip to Captiva Island, Florida. Captiva Island is a beautiful place located off of the west coast of Florida. After flying into Ft.Myers, it is a quick 45 minute drive. After much research, we decided to stay at the South Seas Island Plantation Resort. www.southseas.com It is located at the very tip of Captiva Island. The resort was completely destroyed by a direct hit from Hurricane Charlie. It was closed and underwent a $140,000,000 refurbishment. I had heard mixed reviews of the place on TripAdvisor.com and other sites devoted to travel. When I go on vacation, there are certain criteria that need to be met. I want a fairly new room with a comfortable bed, white duvet on the bed (so I know it is clean) and a bathroom with decent lighting. I also enjoy fantastic service. I don’t like to wait to check-in or having to search for towels at the pool or beach.  Upon arrival at the resort, we were directed to the registration area. Since the plantation includes many different types of accommodations, there was not a central lobby area within our hotel.  We did arrive prior to check-in time and our room was not yet ready.  We were able to go to the pool and relax until it was ready.  However, they did forget to call us on our cell phone (as promised) when it was ready (not good service). The friendly bartender at the pool bar offered to call the front desk for us after waiting about 2 hours to see if it was ready (good service) and it was. We decided to stay in one of the hotel rooms at the Harborside instead of in a condo, beach house or villa.

Upon arrival, I was a little skeptical. The rooms all have doors that go directly outside so that it is more like a motel than a hotel. I generally do not like that. Upon opening my door, I found that my room had been newly renovated and was very large. All rooms have flat screen televisions and large bathrooms. Each room also had a refrigerator. The bed had a clean white duvet cover and was fairly comfortable. We also had a large balcony overlooking the channel that connects the marina to the gulf. We were able to see a lot of wildlife including dolphins from the balcony. Another caveat, if you are looking for room service and mints on your pillow, than this is not your place. My little brother who likes room service was dismayed to find only pizza on the menu. We did find a general store located about a 3 minute walk from our room that had a deli, breakfast items and liquor for purchase. The marina area was also very close by and was fun to stroll through. I even spotted two manatees next to the dock.

The new pool area was about 5 minutes from our room. They had built a new pool complex with two pools and cabanas. One of the pools is a zero entry and the other is not. I think they should have made both pools larger. They were both very crowded and overflowing with children. If I were in charge, I would make one pool an adult’s only pool and one a family pool.  This would help make the area more relaxing. They are currently building a water slide complex (set to open in 2009) that will most likely alleviate this issue.  The beach area was very large and very pretty. The water was a beautiful blue color and felt like bath water.  

They should think about adding a beachfront restaurant. It would be great for lunch or cocktails while watching the sunset.  They currently have a small trailer that serves sandwiches and hotdogs. I did find that the whole place grew on me. By the end of the week, I got used to the little community we were in.

C-House

Last night, I went to a great new restaurant called C-House. We also made a stop at their sky high bar named C-View. It is located within the new Affinia Hotel (www.affinia.com) . C-House is the restaurant located on the ground floor of the hotel. They have a great menu of mostly fresh seafood including a large raw bar and sushi options. C-View is appropriately named for the skyline view from the 29^th floor patio.  It is the perfect place to enjoy a cocktail on a summer evening. I just wish I would have brought my camera! My only complaint would be the long wait time for the elevator which transports you to the roof. They should have an express option.

 C-House Restaurant has a very sleek appearance with a large raw bar. It also attracts a very sleek and stylish crowd. Since we had a large group of people, we were able to taste many of the fantastic flavors that were available on the menu. We had oysters, yellowtail tacos, mushroom risotto, beet salad and waygu beef tartare as starters. My favorite items were the very delicious risotto and the yellowtail tuna tacos. They are actually mini tacos and about the size of a fortune cookie- filled with yellowtail and a great sauce. YUM! For the main course, I had the Rib eye steak which was the special of the evening. It was prepared perfectly and had fantastic flavor. I was also able to try the Monk Fish which was also superb.  I think the best item on the entire menu is the side of Chorizo Mac & Cheese.  The large sides are big enough for sharing among two or three people. With a group of 8, we thought two of the Mac & Cheese would be plenty. However, we were sadly mistaken. We had no idea how good it would be. Every morsel of the Mac & Cheese was eaten within seconds. Luckily, our waiter was standing by to quickly put in two more orders! The wait staff was great. They were able to recommend very good wine and were knowledgeable about the menu.  I would highly recommend checking out C-House if you are traveling to Chicago.

Day at Cedar Point

Yesterday, my travels took me somewhere that I would not normally go. I had
a business trip that took me to Sandusky,Ohio which is the home of Cedar Point. For those not familiar with Cedar Point, it is a large amusement complex
with a theme park, water park, hotels, marina and beach. However,it is not
your standard theme park with a few roller coasters and carnival rides.
Cedar Point, set on the beautiful shore of Lake Erie, specializes in thrill rides. It has some of the largest and fastest roller coasters in the world. They have
the very scary looking Dragster that screams by from 0 mph to 120 mph in
less than 4 seconds , the very tall Millennium and the feet dangling Rapter.
Not being a fan of these scary thrill rides, I went on some of the tamer
options. My favorites were the Runaway Mine roller coaster and the Old
Fashioned Cars. They also have a Camp Snoopy area for those under age 6. In the past, I have generally tried to avoid theme parks due to the less
than desirable crowds, dirty  bathrooms and gross food. This was not an
issue at Ceder Point. The crowd was family orientated and well-behaved. The
bathrooms were fairly clean and the large assortment of food inside the
park including Subway and Johnny Rocket’s was surprising.  My group also
visited the Soak City water park that had many different slides, a lazy
river, wave pool and several more “adult” pools with cabana rentals and
swim-up bars. There is also a large beach area with wave runner rentals and
parasailing on Lake Erie. It was a very pretty scene. I can now understand
why Cedar Point has had such success  while other theme parks such as Six
Flags have not.  They have done a fantastic job making it a destination to
enjoy when looking to stay close to home or if you are in search of the world’s most thrilling roller coasters.

The Perfect Spot

The Perfect Spot!

Searching the perfect vacation destination can be quite a process! I start thinking about it months in advance and then start researching the web for insight into the different destinations. Over the past few years, my husband Mike and I have found that escaping the cold Chicago winter for a warmer destination has been a great way to spend the last day of the year. I have found it is much more relaxing to sit on the beach with a bottle of champagne than to fight the Chicago crowds, in the cold, for a taxi to and from dinner.  I just started the process of searching for the best spot to spend New Year’s Eve 2008. The criteria are simple: warm sunny weather, beautiful beach, laid back atmosphere and easy to reach from Chicago. I have looked through the TripAdvisor reviews for any suggestions.   The spots currently on my list are the Virgin Islands, Grand Cayman St. Martin, Mexico and Aruba. I have visited both the Virgin Islands , Mexico and Grand Cayman before. They are all easily accessible via American Airlines from Chicago.  After doing a little research today, I have found that Aruba is a little more difficult to travel from Chicago since American only has a couple of flights each day via Miami. St.Martin is also a little more difficult to get to.  My search for the perfect spot will continue… Stay tuned!

Photo Attribution: Frank Gruber