Collier County Museum

 In the main building of the Collier County museum, there are several figures representing the various people who played important roles in the State's and the county's history.

Barron Gift Collier made a fortune in advertising in New York City.  He discovered southwest Florida and began buying land, eventually 1,300,000 acres.  The State was having problems building the Naples part of the Tamiami Trail (Tampa to Miami), so Collier agreed to take the job on if the State separated the southern half of Lee County and named it Collier County.  The State agreed and Collier got the road built.

This figure does not represent a particular person.  Rather, it is a typical "cracker" woman.  Crackers are the rural pioneers who ranched, farmed and worked cattle and horses. 

The Seminoles and Miccosukees were two of the leading indigenous tribes in southwest Florida.  

The Seminole Wars were a series of three military conflicts between the United States and the Seminoles that took place in Florida between about 1816 and 1858.

Taxidermy

 Collier County operates five museums.  At the main museum in the complex near downtown Naples, there are perhaps fifteen separate exhibition areas.

One of the most interesting is a taxidermy display.  A doctor who moved to Naples in the middle of the last century caught specimens of a great many of the birds, fish and other wild animals in the county.  

A Fort Myers taxidermist preserved them.  They are now displayed in a small cottage on the grounds of the main Collier County museum. 

Shelling

 We finished up a lovely day on Sanibel and Captiva by going to a quiet beach along West Gulf Drive to search for shells.

The granddaughters filled two buckets with shells.  They declared the day a success.

Shell Museum

We went to the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum & Aquarium on Sanibel Island.  The displays were extensive, educational and wonderful.

Carved images of sea animals and shells were around the exterior lower level.  I liked this octopus.

A mannequin dressed beautifully in shells stands in the lobby.

There are so many amazing shells in the displays.  Here are just a few.  The top shells are horse conches.  The lower ones are Hebrew volutes.

This colorful panel of Polymita picta bush snails was assembled in 1930 by Carlos de la Torre.  He presented it to William J. Clench, a zoologist at Harvard who specialized in studying mollusks.

There was a case of the largest known shells of various kinds.  This is a 16 inch Atlantic trumpet triton that was found off Fortaleza, Brazil, at a depth of approximately 140 feet.

And there were several cases exhibiting artwork created from shells.  This beauty was one of several in a display of Sailor Valentines, which were created by lonely seamen for their loved ones back home.

Mucky Duck

Mucky Duck is a favorite restaurant on Captiva Island.  In past years, people sat at outdoor tables and looked out to the Gulf of Mexico.  In 2022 Hurricane Ian blasted the beach and the restaurant.  

Mucky Duck was almost destroyed in the storm and was closed for four yeas.

Mucky Duck finally opened just weeks ago.  But, the county has built up the berm to protect against future major storms, at the cost of the view from the outdoor tables.   The restaurant owners aren't happy, but I think the county made the right decision.

Many people rent bicycles to get around on Sanibel and Captiva.

There is a wait to eat inside.  Because the restaurant is small, tables are close together.

My family always eats outside.

I can't remember ever eating at Mucky Duck without someone going home with a new tee shirt.

Mucky Duck opened 50 years ago.  I'm glad it is finally open again.

The Timbers

 

The Timbers is a family favorite seafood restaurant on Sanibel, Florida.

"We serve it fresh… or we don’t serve it at all."  A good motto for 48 years.

My family first went to Timbers in the 1980s.

Last week we went over to Sanibel to visit a friend who has had a condo there since the 1990s.

The food was as good as always.  Including the dessert!

No Diving!

 My pool is too shallow to permit diving.

But belly flops are permitted.

And cannonballs.

And pencil dives.

And flips.