Ft Myers, Fl #TamisWeekendGetaway

Who doesn’t love a weekend getaway?

As I started preparing for an upcoming women’s conference, hubby offered to come along and turn this into a weekend getaway for us (and some prime golfing days for him while I was doing my motivation time at the conference). 

This was perfect! We could combine two of my favorite things - being inspired and spending quality time with my husband. 

 

 

Most people would NOT consider a long drive a fun start for a weekend getaway. Nor would they care to anticipate that same drive home afterward. But for us, we love all kinds of travel. Be it a quick trip to Atlanta to spend a few hours with our oldest, or even a twelve-hour drive to the Outer Banks to soak in a day or two of beach time. With Ft Myers, Florida just seven hours from our home in Georgia, the trip fits right into our weekend getaway definition. 

Because I was super busy during the day with the conference, our Ft Myers experience was more about the food and what we could see during the few hours available in the evening. 

On our first night, we stopped at Tacos and Tequila Cantina. 

https://tacosandtequilanaples.com/

 

 

This was definitely a treat.  I tried an amazing Pina'Colada Margarita. :)

I loved that they combined two of my favorite drinks into one. On top of that, the chips and guacamole were incredible!

 

 

 

They also had a fun menu where you could order a single taco, along with a huge selection of different flavors to try. The hard part became which one (or more) to choose.  

 

 

I settled on the Baja Taco (absolutely no regrets).

 

 

Hubby had a Cheeseburger Taco and Mom’s Taco.

All were super delicious. 

We ended that first day by standing in a very long line for early registration for the conference. 

 

Day Two:

While I was attending the conference (featured in a previous post), hubby enjoyed his golf thing. But he finished up early enough to come back and grab me for lunch. Each day we were allotted an hour or two, so this turned into a fun experience where he would try to find something different (and close) to try each day. And with 4,000 + women at this conference, we had to be far enough away that we didn't run into any of the crowds who were also trying to get in and get a quick bite, too. 

Our first lunch here was at Marlin’s Brewhouse.

https://www.facebook.com/Marlinsbrew/

 

 

They had an open-air type seating space where we sat just inside the restaurant, but right next to the patio area that opened right up to the outside. If people wanted to sit out under the sun, they could do that. Others found shadier spots. Hubby and I were inside but at the same time, we had the experience of sitting on a patio. It really was incredible. There was also a taco place connected. So customers would grab something there, then bring it over to the brewhouse, grab a beer to eat and sit on the patio with their takeout food. I loved this concept. Plus with this being so close to the local college, I could see how the twenty-something crowd would really enjoy this experience.  

We opted to try the food served by the brewhouse and we were NOT disappointed. 

 

 

Along with my frozen pineapple daiquiri, I had the Marlin’s Lobster and Shrimp Mac. Yummo! Such a rich and flavorful meal. I really was only going to eat half, but could not stop myself. I ended up finishing the whole thing!

 

 

Hubby had the wings. Like with my Mac and Cheese, they were amazing.

If we had not wanted to try different restaurants while we were in town, we definitely would have come back to this one for an evening hang-out. 

That afternoon, hubby scoped out the beach. 

 

 

As soon as the conference had finished for the day, he picked me up and we made a mad dash to try to get back to the beach before the sun went down. Unfortunately, it was a forty-minute drive with the late afternoon traffic and we were not able to make it during the daylight. 

 

 

 

But I still got the chance to walk along the beach with my sweetie. :)

 

 

During his earlier visit, hubby found a dinner place right on the water - PierSide Grill. 

https://piersidegrill.com/

 

 

We lucked out and the lovely hostess sat us against the half-wall with a perfect view of the pier. 

 

 

Although it was dark, it was still very peaceful and the lights reflecting from the pier were so pretty. 

 

 

I had a frozen margarita and a yummy fish sandwich. 

 

 

This was an incredible end to any day. I loved it!

 

Day Three:

While I was attending day two of the conference, hubby was actually scouting out different places I might like to see. I had wanted to visit Edison and Ford’s Winter Estate, but couldn’t due to the operating hours and my conference. So hubby checked it out (said I would have really enjoyed the tour) and then grabbed me for lunch. As a consolation option, he took me to lunch at Ford’s Garage. 

https://www.edisonfordwinterestates.org/

https://www.fordsgarageusa.com/

 

 

This was a fun restaurant (and packed). Because we were so close to the conference arena, people had discovered that they needed to slip out earlier and grab a place to eat before we actually stopped for lunch.  

 

 

We lucked out and were able to grab two seats at the bar (thanks to a lovely couple who were getting ready to leave and offered us their chairs while they finished their drinks). 

 

 

 

 

Hubby had the wings again (his go-to choice), but I surprised us both and grabbed a burger. I am not a huge hamburger fan because I like it a certain way and my husband grills them exactly right. But they had a huge selection on the menu and I had to give one of them a try. Thankfully, they had a smaller portion (no way could I put a dent in a half-pound burger).

 

 

I grabbed this third of a pound version with melted swiss cheese and a huge avocado chunk. After my first bite, I knew I had made the right choice. They really know how to make a burger packed with incredible flavor. 

 

 

For the rest of the afternoon, hubby checked out the Downtown Ft Myers area. 

https://downtownfortmyers.com/

 

 

He had scoped out a couple of places to eat and see for that evening. After picking me up from the conference and the drive across town, we were into prime dinner hours. The top two places he had picked had an hour plus wait time. 

 

 

By this time, I was hungry and a bit tired from two days of incredibly draining self-reflection at the conference. So we ended up grabbing a slice of pizza and a drink at the Downtown House of Pizza (DHOP). 

https://downtownhouseofpizza.com/

 

 

Because it, too, was just as busy inside as the other places; we took our food and drink outside to eat at a row of picnic tables. We ended up sharing our space with another family and watching a gentleman perform magic tricks for the surrounding kiddos in the courtyard. 

 

 

Afterward, we strolled around the downtown area. I stopped in to check out a couple of shops. And we captured some pictures of the unique statues located around town. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day Four:

By this time, hubby was getting into this idea of scoping out the next place to visit. After dropping me off, then returning to the hotel to do some teleworking (the day job must go on…), he checked out the mall area near our event. 

 

 

He picked me up for lunch and we headed back to the Miromar Outlets (we stopped there the day before at Ford’s Garage).

https://www.miromaroutlets.com/

 

 

Here we grabbed a bite at La Bambas Mexican Restaurants. 

https://www.miromaroutlets.com/store-directory/la-bamba-mexican-restaurant/

Everything was okay. It was just busy and didn't quite meet the expectations we had from the restaurant we stopped at for our first night in Ft Myers. 

 

 

I had the fish tacos, while hubby had beef tacos. Not amazing, but they were good.

To end the last evening of our stay in Ft Myers, I wanted to try the beach again. Hubby drove quickly, but we still didn’t make it before the sunset. Still, I have to say the beach was incredible at night.  

 

 

We stopped at a fun outdoor beach restaurant for dinner and enjoyed the meal and the opportunity to people watch as families and couples walked up and down the little shopping area. 

 

  

 

Another frozen margarita and more fish tacos… :) :) :)

 

 

Hubby ended the trip with a chili dog. (lol)

 

 

Afterward, we took a walk along the various streets surrounding the beach. We listened to some really bad karaoke and watched a couple who'd had too much to drink try to dance to a street band. It was tough not to laugh. But I liked that they were out there living their best life. 

 

 

We packed up and headed home that fifth day.

Like I said earlier, we didn’t have a lot of time to explore the city due to my conference. But we did had a great time finding different places to end each and every day. Hubby ended up NOT golfing as much as he thought he would but did enjoy scoping out our evening touring plans.

I had a great conference experience AND I had a much more enjoyable time during the evenings than if I'd attended the conference on my own.  

I LOVE our #weekendgetaways. 

Cheers!

Tami