Tin City, Tomato Wine, and Shrimp. Lots of Shrimp.

Most tourist destinations have at least one tourist trap featuring some gimmicky theme (Dollywood, anyone?) loads of souvenir shops, restaurants featuring food supposedly representative of the area, and ridiculous prices for both. Tin City checks off a few of these items, but it's worth strolling around to have a look-see, and if you're really up for it, you can sample some tomato wine. And get the shrimp. No matter where you decide to eat, get the shrimp.

The Tasting Room for the Naples Winery

I've worked the wine business in Wisconsin for several years now, and I've certainly made my fair share of visits to our local wineries. Like Wisconsin, Florida is not much reputed for its locally-grown or locally-made wine. The varieties of grapes that will grow in such a hot, humid climate are natives (such as Muscadine) that tend to produce very grapey flavors. But the majority of wines produced in Florida, as in Wisconsin, utilize local fruits other than grapes. They're made by fermenting the fruit, as with grape wine, and often back-sweetened to make the flavor fruitier and more like juice from that fruit, rather than a dry wine (although Naples Winery does produce some nearly dry wines. And they are not as palatable as the sweet and semi-sweet ones).

Being the adventurous person that I am, I set out to try some of the more unique offerings in my tasting. To get a baseline feel for their style, I started with the Florida Banana Wine. Tasted like liquid banana chips. Apparently 10-12 pounds of bananas go into every bottle. On to 40 Karat, a wine made not with fruit but-you guessed it-carrots. Carrots don't make good wine. Unless good wine to you is oddly vegetal and not-quite-carrot peel tasting. I tried the one wine made with grapes (the aforementioned local Muscadine), and the semi-sweetness really made it taste a lot like Concord grape juice. Getting a little weirder, Midnight Sun wine is made by tossing roasted coffee beans in with the oranges. Yep, for those who like to take their coffee in the morning with an OJ chaser. Starts out tasting like their semi-sweet orange wine (which is vaguely orange-tasting), and finishes like coffee. Yep. But if you do make it into this winery, you really have to try Hot Sun, the tomato wine with a touch of jalepeño. I mulled over this one for a while. "Reminds me of a Bloody Mary, kind of," I said to the host. "Yeah, I had one customer say it tasted like a weak Bloody Mary!" We laughed. And then he proceeded to give me his opinion: Better with food, and good for cooking, like in a boullabaise. I could see it. But with this (and the other wines) going for $20 and up... I'll just use tomatoes and white wine. If I ever make boullabaise. Which I probably won't.

So I thought my Tin City adventure had concluded with my wine tasting, but the very next night we went back to dine at Pinchers. Being right next to water and all, they specialize in fresh, local seafood. I am still sad about missing Dungeness crab season on the west coast this year, so I seriously considered ordering the stone claw crab claws because they, too, are in season right here in Florida. But when pressed, I really find it difficult to pass up shrimp.

I knew about oysters, but who knew about these others?

Shrimp. While i don't recall a specific occasion, I am 99% positive that my first shrimp consumed was in Florida, possibly breaded and fried, and likely on the Fort Meyers beach. And I'm pretty sure that for years, the only shrimp I ever ate was in Florida because in northern Illinois, shrimp weren't available very often and/or they were expensive. At a very young age, I know I was ordering shrimp scampi because it made use of my favorite three ingredients: shrimp, garlic, and pasta (okay, and butter, of course). And I'm also sure that at one point after I'd grown up, I purchased shrimp from a reputable fish monger up north and was just a little disappointed because they weren't as good as Florida shrimp. Now, you could argue that seafood shipped to the middle of the country, even fresh-never-frozen, will never taste as good as right off the boats. I'd buy that argument. But what many people who have not visited the Gulf of Mexico do not know is that Gulf shrimp are distinctly different than farm-raised shrimp, and even wild shrimp from other waters.

Raw Gulf shrimp in the seafood case at Pinchers

Gulf shrimp are pink, and they're naturally sweet. They're more flavorful than other shrimp, even than some langostines (in my opinion), and they're best prepared with little fuss. For me, I like them steamed and chilled, perhaps sprinkled with a little Old Bay Seasoning. Serve them up in their shells (peel 'n' eat is half the fun), and pair with a zesty house-made cocktail sauce. A half pound is plenty for one if you've shared an appetizer or started with a cup of soup. But I always have second thoughts about foregoing the full pound portion when my plate is clean. And the price at Pinchers? Reasonable (for Naples, that is). This trip, I'm eating so. much. shrimp. And actually, I would pair these shrimp with Hot Sun tomato wine.

Urban Hiking

Those of you who've read my San Francisco entries know that I love to sightsee by just walking around. Great exercise (especially with SF hills), and I usually end up covering around 6 miles in just an afternoon. Naples, fortunately, is flat. Also fortunate is that my dad's place is within walking distance of the downtown area. So, here are some of the random things I saw around the city over the course of an afternoon.

Pelican on the roof of Kelly's Fish House. In the background: Tin City.

Mystery novelist Diane Ketcham was signing books at the Chalk Art Fest. After seeing the title of her latest book, I certainly felt less safe staying here.

A big 19-month old Newfoundland puppy wants to play. The Yorkie is skeptical that playing is a good idea.

The Naples Pier. People were fishing for sea trout... and anything else they could catch. Not a great day for fishing, turns out.

The Naples Beach. The whole thing is open to the public, no private sections. That's pretty cool.

A seagull sporting a Flock of Seagulls hairdo. Not from the Eighties? Look it up.

The entrance to the pier is decorated with sea turtle mosaics created by Naples HS art students in 2010. A nearby plaque says they they "embody the connection that the city has with the Gulf of Mexico and our responsibility to the creatures that live in it." 

3D wall art on a random building

Deserted courtyard

Sculpture advertising the Naples Trolley Tours. Yep, that's a gator.

Floridan Flora

I suppose I could have included these photos in my Urban Hiking post, but I guess if you don't care about plants, you can just skip ahead. This one's about plants.

In the upper Midwest, greenhouses are packed with a variety of tropical house plants to make any room of your house green, even in the winter. These plants are exotic and sometimes difficult to care for. So, if you're from there and you come here, I imagine you might be intrigued by the myriad of plants that flower in the winter and surprised to see some of your house plants used outside for landscaping. Also, plants that fit in an 8" pot back home grow to large proportions when stuck in the ground and exposed to lots of sunshine. When I was little, I just assumed I'd see the same plants in Florida that we had in Illinois during the summer. After all, isn't it always like summer here? 

Hibiscus

Bougainvillea

Also bougainvillea. I'm pretty sure.

Colorful shrubs

Maybe some kind of spider wort?

Bromeliad. Like an air plant. They're on everything down here. If you stand in one place too long, one will grow on you!

Most of the palm trees are producing fruit/nuts this time of year. This one was the prettiest.

Berries on anything that wasn't dormant or flowering.

Yep. More berries.

Chalk for Charity

So, confession: This is a blog fail. I had several great photos of different chalk paintings that got lost on the internets, and I don't believe there's a way to retrieve them; furthermore, I cleared them from my camera roll, which was just plain senseless. But I'm glad this one managed to make it through. It captures everything I wanted to illustrate about the Chalk Street Art Festival. 

In a nutshell, 142 artists' canvases allocated on 5th Avenue South, community business-sponsored artists, and a public voting contest benefitting the local Rotary Club. Local musicians every few blocks, and (as mentioned before), street food. Paintings ranged from simple and graphic to as detailed as an original portrait. Some professional artists were even replicating their own works on the ground.

But I loved this one before they had really even started. I saw the template, and it appeared that this simple blue box was about to sprout palm trees and a beach, maybe even a beach umbrella. But I think it would have said volumes if they just called it a day.

Oh, the Puppies I've Seen!

Warning: Gratuitous cuteness to follow.

I'm an animal lover, a dog's best friend, and not at all shy about approaching complete strangers to ask if I can meet their puppy. And Naples is about as dog-friendly a city as I've seen, up there with San Francisco and Carmel, California. And you might think that, due to the heat and humidity, furry dogs and huge dogs might be passed up for purse poodles and near-hairless breeds, such as an Italian greyhound. Looks just like someone took a shrink ray to a full-sized greyhound. Not so. But so far, I've seen three of the biggest dogs I've ever encountered (and I've seen some pony-sized Great Danes and English Mastiffs!). And the Newfies were certainly big and furry.

Enough with my dog history, and on with the serious business of cuteness.

At 19 months, this male Newfoundland ("Newfie") is still a puppy, and not even full size yet

The Yorkie comparison size test. The Newfie also had a littermate that was just as large, but black and white mottled. Never seen one of those!

Pomeranian in a pink puffy vest

Puppy pack

This little sweetheart is only 6 months old. Her family just rescued her from the humane society. She had been left there because the owners decided that they didn't like her haircut. <hashtag Naples>.

A working dog meeting and greeting the public at the Chalk Street Art Fest.

A female English Mastiff. All 200 pounds of her.

Naples Nibbles

So I came across a street festival today (more on that later), and where there's a street festival, there's street food. Sort of. My first indulgence was a mini turtle cheesecake cupcake. Chocolate cake, cheesecake frosting, and all the requisite turtle toppings. Pretty good choice.

After that, I saw a stand offering "Chicago-style Hot Dogs". I'm from 90 miles outside Chicago. I studied there for a few months in college, have had relatives and friends living there almost my whole adult life, and I cheer for the Bears AND the Cubs (we can debate the wisdom behind this choice at another time). But you tell me: Is this a Chicago-style hot dog?

The answer, my dear readers, is No. I'll admit to skipping the sport peppers, but they had no tomatoes! So I put <gasp> ketchup on it. And that pickle relish certainly isn't neon green, and there's nary a poppy seed on that bun. But they did have the oft-forgotten celery salt, and it was still a hot dog, so I ate it. I'm mostly okay with that choice.

And to wash it down several blocks later, I just had to hit up this coffee shop, and the bathroom sign made it worth the effort of crossing the street.

Definitely a bad ass choice.

"Always Full of Fun"(tm)

When I was growing up in, let's say... The 80's... I spent a lot of time with my paternal grandparents. And they spent a lot of time drinking water out of Tervis tumblers with golf motifs (okay, my grandma's was probably gin and tonic). And so I always associated this beverage ware with retired folks. And I never really saw them anywhere else until five years or so ago when they started showing up in big displays at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. And at the International Home and Housewares Show, where I was working as a buyer. But apparently, Tervis hasn't lost any presence down here in its home state, coincidentally(?) land of many retired people. And I was nostalgically excited to stumble upon an entire Tervis store right on 5th Avenue.

American-made, lifetime guarantee, and now motifs for anyone you can imagine. Flowers, fish, sports teams, and various colorful patterns and kitschy sayings, of course. And also the following:

For kids and fans of Japanese cutesy stuff

For wedding parties

For partiers (beer pong, anyone?)

And for hipsters. 

Keepin' it classy, Naples

No Bud Light bottles in the bushes 'round here.

Would You Like Ice Cream with that Gyro?

Tucked into a strip mall, next to a movie theater, is an ice cream parlor/cafe ahead of the times. Mario'sice Cream and Pizza. No, they don't serve Dippin' Dots. They pair food. With. Ice cream.

Being in the pair-beverages-with-food business, I was delighted to see such thought going into these recommendations. Sugar- and fat-free Butter Pecan after a greasy gyro, Classic French vanilla after a classic hot dog,super-sweet cotton candy after a savory club sandwich topped with salty bacon... It's too bad that I had dinner already and only had the ice cream. Hmmm, I should have asked which flavor paired with grilled tilapia and fried plantains. I went for with-sugar, with-fat Butter Pecan, and I can't say it was a bad choice.

One of these things is not like the others

I'm sure there's some psychology behind what your see first in this picture, but I'm not gonna look that stuff up. I'm on vacation!

Naples... the Zoo.

I love zoos. But only good ones. I think I've said all this before in my "Into the Oakland Jungle" post, so I won't repeat it here. The Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens is a good zoo, so good that I want to visit it every time I come to Naples. Also accredited as an arboretum, this lush tropical zoo reminds me most of the Belize Zoo (which you should go to if you're ever fortunate to visit that beautiful country). The best features of this zoo, included with admission: great walking paths with labeled plants; a guided boat tour of the man-made lake that contains barrier-free islands populated by gibbons, lemurs, and monkeys; and a twice-daily Feature Show.

The Feature Show is my favorite part of the zoo. Usually I find zoo show schedules detract from my seeing all the exhibits I want in the time I have because parks can be large, and theaters are usually inconveniently located. But this park is not huge, so it's easy to see a few exhibits before and after the show without spending a lot of time retracing your steps.

But back to the show. Zookeepers use the show to introduce attendees to animals that are never on public display, to educate us about wildlife conservation, and to entertain. The presenters are funny and informative, keeping kids' attention without condescending. And the whole program is very integrated. It doesn't feel like a show and tell plus a separate lecture on wildlife-inspired medical research. Also, I've seen the show twice - once a few years ago - and they brought out different animals each time. So it's worth seeing each time you're there.

This show they featured a screech owl ("one of the fiercest predators in the wild"), two-toed sloth (absolutely adorable as she clung to her keeper), a large bird of some kind that was trained to tap a red frisbee for treats, a gila monster (filled with deadly venom that may hold the key to curing Type 2 diabetes), and a fosa (pronounced "foosa"). The fosa was crazy.

Josh and a screech owl. This screech owl can take down other birds and small mammals as big or bigger than itself. Fierce indeed.

Surprisingly, I had a difficult time getting a good picture of this two-toed sloth during the show because she was moving too fast. Or maybe it was the zoo keeper pacing quickly in front of the audience...

This is Josh with a fosa. This is not a Scott, the other zoo keeper in the show. This fosa thinks that a Scott is a tasty, tasty morsel. So you would never be able to takes picture featuring both a Scott and a fosa because Scott spent the whole time trying to avoid the fosa, who was usually straining at her leash in a Scott's general direction. How did I learn this? A genuinely fearful Scott told me so. Just like this. In real life, fosas live on Madagascar and eat ring-tailed lemurs. A Scott must smell like a ring-tailed lemur. Don't think a Scott should be afraid of this gal looking so cuddly with Josh? Go find some nature documentaries. You'll be glad you don't smell like lemur. Or do you? Be careful in Madagascar...