February 23-24, 2015

Monday, February 23^rd

 

Late this morning, we took my cousin Kathy to the airport. She had an early afternoon flight back to Vienna, Virginia.

 

After we left the airport, we made a quick trip to Leehigh and looked for a few geocaches. Then we stopped by the grocery store and stocked up again.

 

 

Later around 5:00 p.m., Kathy posted the following on Facebook:

 

“This morning I was in Florida, in 77 degree weather and wearing a light weight pullover shirt. Now I am back home in Vienna, VA in 25 degree weather and wearing triple layers.”

 

I am glad that she was able to spend a couple of days with us in a warmer climate.

 

 

Tuesday, February 24^th

 

This morning, we dove south to Marco Island to spend the day with the Hausers. They are spending a few days in a resort right on the beach.

 

 

Even though it was foggy, windy and a bit cool for my tastes, we had a good time geocaching together.

 

Barb had made a video call to us two days ago when they were having trouble finding a certain cache. She reversed her camera and we were able to make suggestions of places for them to check. Eventually, Barb found the container. We felt like this was a virtual find for us, too. So today, we went back to that cache site and signed the log as required to claim a “find”.

 

 

We walked to another site where they had not found another cache. The four of us looked and looked and finally Cordell found the container hiding out of sight inside one of those free newspaper boxes.

 

Barb and I noticed this sign for Winterberry Street that made us glad that we are in southwest Florida at this time of the year.

 

 

 

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant where Cordell and I had eaten in 2013. We especially like it because there are tables outside and two really nice fountains.

 

 

After we stuffed ourselves, we went back to the resort, picked up our car and drove to Otter Mound Preserve. It consists of 2.45 acres and is located in a residential area of Marco Island. This preserve is named for a previous resident, Ernest Otter a one-time owner who had occupied the property until 1997. Otter is credited for the unique whelk shell terraces that define the preserve’s signature man-made feature. The "Mound" on which Otter Mound Preserve sits was constructed by the Calusa native inhabitants from oyster, southern surf clam, lightning whelk, and other shellfish species and dates between 700 AD – 1200 AD.

 

 

 

 

We went back to the Hausers’ resort where they prepared dinner for us. We were concerned about the 1+ hour drive back to Fort Myers with all the fog that had been rolling in off the Gulf throughout the day. However, by the time we were ready to leave, the fog had lifted considerably and we had an easy drive back.

 

 

February 22nd

Sunday, February 22^nd

 

Today, we made our 7th visit to Sanibel Island. We drove over early with the intention of spending most of the day there.

 

As soon as we got on the island, we stopped by the Chamber of Commerce which has a really nice visitors section. We like the sign that is posted at the doorway and like to take photos there. This was special fun because there actually was quite a bit of snow at Kathy’s house at that time.

 

 

Cordell dropped us at the bike rental shop and we got a bicycle for Kathy.  We took my bike off the rack and Cordell drove on down to the parking lot for Tarpon Beach so that he could be sure to get a parking place. Usually, the beach parking lots fill up by late morning.

 

 

 

Kathy and I biked to the beach lot to meet Cordell. She is sixteen years younger than I am and she is an experienced biker. She easily pulled ahead of me, but she had pity on me and didn’t leave me exactly in the dust.

 

After joining up with Cordell, the three of us biked along one of my favorite paths which goes away from the roads and makes a loop in some of the preserved areas.

 

 

 

 

 

Kathy appeared a bit nervous when she saw the sign warning of fines for feeding alligators. She definitely did not want to be close to any of these reptiles and was happy that we did not see any of them today.

 

 

 We have been showing Kathy how to geocache and we found several containers placed along the bike trail.

 

 

We stopped at Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grille for lunch. This was our second time eating there and it has become one of our favorite restaurants.

 

 

 

After lunch, we biked back to the bike shop and returned Kathy’s bicycle. By then, we had covered about 5 ½ miles. Then we spent a few hours on the beach. It was not ideal beach weather but Kathy appreciated the much, much warmer temperatures.

 

 

 

 

February 19-21, 2015

Thursday, February 19^th

 

Last night we had record low temperatures. It was pretty chilly when we woke up this morning and all our windows were steamed. At least, they weren’t frosted or iced. Cordell drew a smiley face in the condensation on our bedroom window pane. He took a photo and only later did he discover that the tree outside made it look like a snowman!

 

 

When Jim, Cordell and I took a walk through the neighborhood, we noticed that a few of the residents had covered their bushes and flowers to protect them from any frost.

 

 

It was a good day for us to spend most of our time inside.

 

 

Friday, February 20^th

 

Barb and Jim checked out of Hotel Black and went to spend a few days on Marco Island. Cordell and did laundry and then we made a trip to the grocery store.

 

 

I have never seen a head of cabbage as large as this one. I needed both of my hands just to hold it.

 

 

Early evening, we went to the airport and picked up my cousin, Kathy, who flew in from Vienna Virginia, to spend a couple of days with us. I advised her that we were having cooler weather here and the temps were going to be from the high 60’s to the mid 70’s. She was looking forward to that prospect considering that snow was arriving in her area tonight.

 

 

The airport at Fort Myers has some pretty decorations and this is one that I like,

 

 

 

Saturday, February 21^st

 

Kathy and I enjoyed spending some “cousin time” together this morning.

 

 

Later, we took her to Six Mile Cypress Swamp Preserve.

 

 

 

This was our third trip to this preserve in the past three weeks. Each time, we have seen something different.

 

 

Even though we saw baby alligators and their mother just off the boardwalk when we were here with Janelle, Kathy was satisfied that the only ones in sight today were sunning on the opposite side of the lake.

 

But, we did see a wild pig run right under our feet while we were still on the boardwalk. There were several baby pigs running back and forth along the side, but none of them had the courage to run under the boardwalk. It is sad to think that these cute animals are invasive in this area and measures are taken to eradicate them.

 

 

 

 

After we left the preserve, we took Kathy to Bonita Springs where she saw the huge banyan tree that I love to visit.

 

 

 

We came back to the condo for lunch and Kathy enjoyed sitting outside on the lanai.

 

 

Later, we drove to old town Fort Myers to attend the Festival of Lights Parade which honors Thomas Edison, who spent many winters here in the latter part of his life.

 

After walking around town for a while, we had a nice dinner at one of the local restaurants.

 

 

We had purchased Street Seats from the local church and they were folding chairs set up on the sidewalk. Nonprofit organizations were allowed to sell seats in certain sections. Ours were located in the front row. We had a great vantage point to see the fireworks that were set off.

 

 

The parade began at 7:00 p.m. and lasted 1 ½ hours. It was interesting to see all the different ways the various units displayed lights. As is common in parades in small towns, there were lots of fire trucks, EMT units, police cars and motorcycles, politicians riding in convertibles in addition to the floats and marching bands.

 

 

 

 

Each year a light bulb balloon signifying one of Edison’s greatest inventions is in the parade.

 

 

 

 

Wells Fargo had a stage coach pulled by Clydesdale horses which looked really huge from our seats.

 

 

 

 

All the marching bands found clever ways to incorporate lights and I especially was impressed with some musicians who wrapped rope lights completely around their trumpets.

 

 

 

It was a very enjoyable evening and we were delighted that it was warm enough that we only needed to wear light weight wind breakers.

February 18th

Wednesday, February 18^th

 

This morning, I ate a fresh tomato with my breakfast. They are beautiful vegetables/fruits-- meaty without any hard cores and very sweet. I have not found any at home that are this nice. I sure am going to miss these after we return to Maryland.

 

 

All of us went to late morning Ash Wednesday service at Hope Lutheran Church. Winter Associate Pastor Tom Ramsey delivered a message in the persona of the disciple, Peter. At one point, he spoke about when Peter was recognized in the courtyard during the time of Jesus’s trial. Peter had a Galilean accent that gave him away. Pastor Ramsey compared that to the north Florida accent and the south Florida accent. (I identified with this because there is a distinct difference in the accents of people in southern Maryland). We all had a good laugh when the Pastor followed up by stating that the south Florida accent sounds a lot like New York.

 

We all were anxious to take a drive to the Fort Myers Beach Library where there was an interesting geocache called Hiding In The Stacks. We knew that Barb would especially like this cache since she worked in a library during her college days and she was thrilled with this experience.

 

 

 

The cache adventure began with looking for a certain word placed on a statute outside the building. The sculpture, Statute to a Hero, depicts a boy facing a flagpole. He is saluting the flag and in his free hand, he holds a folded flag, the traditional memorial for deceased service personnel. This piece of art conveys a message of continuing dedication to our country and undying gratitude to the military heroes who have fought and perished in the services, to preserve our freedom.

 

 

Next we had to go inside the library and find a dollhouse. Once we were at the dollhouse, we had to observe a certain object and write that name down.

 

 

Then, we were directed to the third floor where there was a timeline of the history of Estero Island posted on the wall. We were required to locate a certain word and look around the area for an object that looked like that word.

 

 

There happened to be two objects alike and it took a bit of careful searching before I located the information we needed. This was a stage where previous geocachers have had problems and needed extra help, so I felt good that I had figured this out by myself.

 

 

At this point, we arranged the words we had collected in an order that gave us the title of a book. Then, we went back to the second floor, searched the electronic card file and verified that a book with that title was part of the library inventory.

 

 

Barb knew the section where the book was supposed to be shelved and sure enough we found it fairly quickly.

 

 

 

 

However, the cache was not in that book, but we had information that it was located within arm’s reach---but whose arms—my short ones or Cordell’s longer ones? So here the four of us were looking at books all around the area. Finally, I found the cache in a fake book that was shelved right below were the original book was placed.

 

 

 

 

This is beautiful library has a lunch café and bookstore on the third floor. Sand sculptures are place near the elevator.

 

 

And the elevator had windows through which we observed underwater scenes and we rode it.

 

 

It took us a full hour to complete this cache puzzle, but we thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. We stopped in a local café for lunch.

 

 

We saw a boat for sale in the café parking lot and upon seeing the name of it, we felt like it would be an appropriate one for us to own.

 

 

Before coming back to the condo, we stopped at Estero Aquatic Bay Preserve. We had previously found a geocache along the boardwalk and thought that Jim and Barb would enjoy searching for it.

 

 

 

 

 

I have seen many references to alligators around here, but this is the first time I have seen it on a porta potty.