March 22-24, 2015

Sunday, March 22^nd

 

The first part of this day was another relaxing time for us. After church, we dashed into the grocery store for a couple of items before we came back to the condo.

 

We had a light lunch and then both of us took a good rest which may or may not have included a nap.

 

We invited our upstairs and next door neighbors to have dinner with us tonight. Al and Michelle are year round residents who are not fully retired yet. Michelle is lucky or unlucky because she manages an upscale jewelry store on Sanibel Island. This is a stressful time of the year for her because her drive each day involves much heavier and slower traffic. Al teaches three classes each day at a nearby private high school. He also teaches Sunday school classes at his church.

 

Webster and Bernice are older than us and they are from Illinois. Even though they rent the condo next door all year round, they only stay here in Florida for four months. Webster tries to walk a half a mile two times each day and I admire him for that because he does not let having to use a walker deter him.

 

Webster and Michelle both brought a bottle of wine with them. We had a very enjoyable evening and I wished I had organized this dinner earlier in our stay.

 

We finished our evening with another beautiful sunset.

 

 

 

Monday, March 23^rd

 

The weather forecast for today did not include any Florida sunshine. It was cloudy and very windy when we woke up and conditions deteriorated as the day passed. We stayed in and spent a lot of time catching up on our blog posts.

 

 

By afternoon, a good rain set in which encouraged us to take naps. But, by early evening the sky cleared and the sun made a late appearance.

 

 

 

Tuesday, March 24^th

 

The first thing we planned to do today was go to a bicycle shop and buy a strap for our bike rack to replace one that broke last week. We were disappointed when the clerk told us that the last set in stock had been sold just a couple of days ago. However, we did see a nice mural painted on the shop’s wall.

 

 

It was a beautiful, warm morning and with our time here in Florida drawing to a close, we decided to spend the rest of this day outside.  There are still lots and lots of geocaches for us to find so we looked for more of them that are placed on Cape Coral.

 

 

 

One cache took us to an area where the cache owner and her mother used to spend weekends camping and swimming. Back then, it had been accessible by car. Now the road is blocked with  natural materials.

 

 

 

We hiked in and on our way we heard some beautiful bird songs and encountered some very pretty yellow plants that were blooming.

 

 

 

Once at the cache site, we saw a stand of airplants.

 

 

We also saw Brazilian Pepper trees which are sometimes called Florida Holly, even though they are not a holly. This native of Brazil has been widely planted and has now spread deeply into the wild areas. Due to its aggressive nature, it has crowded out much of the existing vegetation and is considered invasive. The sale or planting of these trees is prohibited by law in some areas.

 

 

We took a walk on a boardwalk at Prairie Pine Preserve. Horseback riding is allowed on some of the trails, but we did not hike on any of those today.

 

 

 

 

The rules sign that is posted also cautions people to take plenty of water while using the trails. I found it interesting when I saw a bowl for dogs to drink from placed near the water fountains for humans.

 

 

 

 

We saw a lot of butterflies during part of our walk and they seemed to be accompanying us along the trail.

 

 

Skink lizards can be found just about anywhere and everywhere in this part of Florida and they are one of the popular foods of several predators. I saw one today that didn’t run away like most of them do. Perhaps, he thought I couldn’t see him.

 

 

My favorite cache that we found today was handcrafted to look like a birdhouse. It was actually a metal tube suspended inside the birdhouse and after we had pulled it out from the bottom, it retracted back inside.

 

 

 

 

Reflections Park, where we found the birdhouse cache was a bit unlike any park I have seen before. Many parks also contain dog parks, but this one had what was called Disney Land for Dogs. There were lots and lots of obstacles and other things for the dogs to use. I think this would be a popular addition to our parks back at home

 

 

The lake at the park had a duck with ducklings swimming on it today. Some of these cute ducklings were colored differently.

 

 

 

 

We called it a day around 4:00 p.m. and on our drive back to the condo, I noticed that the temperature was 85°. When I checked my weather app on my phone, I found out that it was 41° at home at that same time. While my heart and mind are ready to come back to Maryland, I don’t think it is true for my body just yet!

 

March 15-21, 2015

Sunday, March 15^th

 

This was a very relaxing day for us. After church we stopped to look for two geocaches. During our drive, we passed by a housing development that was very beautiful and expensive—although the prices spanned a wide range.

 

 

 

 

We have a couple of squirrels that often run up a tree when we go out our garage. When Cordell stops to talk to them, they usually remain in place until we walk away.

 

 

 

We sure are going to miss these sunsets when we get back home.

 

 

Monday, March 16^th

 

This morning we drove to Cape Coral and spent most of the day geocaching there. Lots of people ride bicycles in Southwest Florida and not always for pleasure. This is a popular mode of transportation and we have seen bikes chained for the day at various places.

 

 

We stopped at a McDonald’s for lunch and I don’t think I have ever seen such a nicely landscaped play area for the children.

 

 

 

It looks like spring has completely sprung here now and I took some photos around the neighborhood.

 

 

 

 

One family has a stuffed animal that is ready for St. Patrick’s Day. It has been hanging in a bush beside the road ever since I first saw it last year. It seems a bit strange me and I think I could find a nicer place to put it.

 

 

Little rabbits hop around our yard, but we notice that they don’t venture very close to the lake.

 

 

Tuesday, March 17^th

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day. This was another relaxing day for us. We went to the community pool at midmorning and soaked up some of this Florida sunshine for a couple hours,

 

 

 

 

We ate lunch while sitting on the lanai and enjoying the lake view.

 

 

When we took our walk around 7:00 p.m. there was still a lot of daylight left.

 

 

 

Wednesday, March 18^th

 

We did a little shopping today because I want to get another bike helmet. The one I recently bought proved to be very uncomfortable the last time we were biking. I did find another new one, but I did not leave the store without looking around at some other things. There have been plenty of warm weather clothes in most all of the stores here and I couldn’t resist buying some new shorts and a t-shirt.

 

 

  

 

Seeing potted plants for sale make me anxious for spring to arrive in Maryland.

 

 

 

 

One large construction site had a lot of men working on a wall. Both of us were reminded how glad we are that we are retired and no longer have to work.

 

 

 

We have been attending Lenten services every Wednesday evening at Hope Lutheran Church. The winter associate pastor, Tom Ramsey, has been delivering messages in the persona of the people Jesus encountered on his way to Jerusalem. Somehow, I don’t think those people were dressed like this, but his messages are very interesting and he challenges us on how to apply them to our lives.

 

 

 

Thursday, March 19^th

 

We went back to Cape Coral again today because there are geocaches still waiting for us to find them.

 

 

 

The grass is quite dry in areas that aren’t watered regularly—especially in undeveloped places. I was reminded of the grass back home in August. While walking through one dry area, it sounded to me as if we were crushing shredded wheat cereal with our feet.

 

 

 

We had a picnic lunch in a park and I was surprised to see the children’s play area covered in artificial turf. I suppose not having to water it makes it easier to care for, but I prefer real grass which I expect to see here.

 

 

 

Friday, March 20^th

 

Finally, the first day of spring has arrived. It is my most favorite season and it seems like it has been here in Fort Myers for the past 3 months!

 

We spent most of this day at Lovers Key State Park. It is made up of four barrier islands—Lovers Key, Inner Key, Black Island and Long Key. In the early 1900s, the islands were accessible only by boat and it was said that only lovers made the effort to get to this romantic place—thus the name “Lovers Key”.

 

Local legend hints that Black Island got its name from Black Augustus, a captured pirate who escaped and made this island his home for the remainder of his life.

 

 The park has 2.5 miles of sandy beaches and stands out as one of the finest examples of subtropical, costal habitat remaining in Southwest Florida. It is home to dolphins, manatees, bald eagles and roseate spoonbills, in addition of thousands of migratory wading birds, shorebirds and other waterfowl in season.

 

 

It is one of the most popular parks in this area and we like it very much too. I don’t think I have ever visited a state park that offers so much. Besides the usual amenities such a sunbathing, swimming, fishing, picnicking, hiking, biking, canoeing, kayaking and ranger programs, they rent beach lounges, umbrellas and picnic tables around the concession store at the beach. There is a gazebo that is often rented for weddings and family gatherings.

 

We began our time in the park by biking some of the trails on Black Island where we looked for a few geocaches. There is a series of caches placed by the Friends of Lovers Key. We had found two of them last year and we found some more of them today.

 

 

 

 

One geocache was located at the top of an area described as "The Hill" which is at 30 feet is the highest point in Lee County, Florida.

 

 

 

 

 

The park has posted lots of informational signs all along the trails and I stopped to read just about every one of them.

 

 

We thought about one of our good Maryland geobuddies, Melli, who spent some time with us when we were wintering in Bonita Springs two years ago and we just knew she would have enjoyed this day with us.

 

 

 

 

I found biking in the sunshine and warm temperatures today on hard packed sand with shells and on grass more strenuous and was happy to take time out to rest my 71 year old bones

 

 

 

Bikes racks are placed in convenient places, but since there were none along the trail where we stopped for a picnic lunch; I found a natural one instead.

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch, we biked back to the parking lot, loaded our bikes back on the car, and gathered all our beach gear. Since the parking lots are located ¼ mile from the beach, the park provides a tram that runs every 30 minutes. I was very happy to ride the tram rather than walking to the beach.

 

 

 

 

Even though there were a lot of people at the beach this afternoon, there was still plenty of space for us to spread out. There was just enough of a breeze coming off the Gulf to keep us comfortable in this Florida sunshine.

 

 

 

During our 45 minute drive back to the condo, we discussed our options for dinner. We were tired and sweaty so we picked up a pizza from the grocery store near our condo. We baked it and ate it while we were watching the Maryland Terps play Valparaiso University in the NCAA tournament.

 

 

As the sun was setting at 8:00 p.m., I felt like I was ready for bed too!

 

 

 

Saturday, March 21^st

 

Since the forecast was for another pretty day, we decided to return to Lovers Key State Park again.

 

 

 

Our main objective today was to find two caches placed on Black Island by our local geocaching friend, Pilot searcher. He hand crafts many of his cache containers and it is always a delight to find one of them. A cache he named Coconut in a Seagrape tree was exactly what it is named.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

His second cache was a little harder to find. He had placed two almost identical pieces of wood at the base of a gazebo. Both of them matched the rest of the wood on the gazebo. I found one piece on one side and Cordell lifted the one with the cache in it on the other side.

 

 

We looked for another cache by the Friends of Lovers Key that was placed on the north beach. We rode our bikes from the main parking lot to the north parking lot where we left them and walked to the beach. I was surprised to see a lot of boats anchored on the beach. People from the boats were sunbathing and eating their lunches. Many of them had dogs with them.

 

 

 

I observed one boat that was anchored in the water and two men were drinking beer while they were standing in the water. Alcoholic beverages are not permitted in the State Park, so I guess they have found a way around that regulation.

 

 

We hiked .3 miles up the beach to the geocache site. The area directly behind the beach is restricted so there are not a lot of places where a cache container could be hidden. Nevertheless, it took us a while to find a sandwich sized plastic container.

 

 

Some people describe geocaching as using multi-million dollar satellites to find Tupperware hidden in the woods. There was a man on the beach who approached us and asked us if we were biologists making a survey! We told him that we were on a scavenger type hunt and that satisfied his curiosity. By the time, we hiked .3 miles back to our bikes and rode back to the south parking lot, we both were plenty tired. Walking in beach sand takes a bit more energy.

 

I was able to stay awake to see the sunset again tonight and it was awesome.