Our week at Fort Myers Beach RV Resort

On Sunday we moved about about 85 miles from Peace River Preserve in Wauchula to Fort Myers Beach RV Resort. When we arrived we found the office closed. A note was posted on the door with our name and a site number on it. Suzanne and Gary had arrived before us and following instructions from the Encore management picked out what appeared to be the best 2 sites that were together. Facing each other..Great!!!

We moved on in. Set up and moved all the outdoor furniture out. Super Bowl night!!!.. Gary was cheering the Giants on and it was great they won. I actually worked while he watched the game. Gary T and Suzanne wandered in and out doing their own thing. They aren't football fans. Gary T watched a little bit. We enjoyed the evening and slept pretty good that night.

On Monday morning Gary T and I went up to the park office to check us in. When we told them what site numbers we had, the office lady told us we were going to have to move. :(

We were NOT happy campers. The roads and sites in this park are very narrow. ..Did I say they were narrow?? Yes, they were narrow...narrow..narrow.. We felt lucky to have moved in on Sunday without mishap. Anyway..turns out the sites we were parked on were leased to 2 other campers for 3 months. Evidently they both had left on Sunday morning to go somewhere else. So the sites were vacant and not posted as reserved...we had no idea they were "taken".

Anyone have $5.00 to give these folks for a couple of reserved signs?? Sure would have been nice if the sites had been marked.

We asked the park if they could call the folks to see what their plans were..maybe they weren't planning to return this week..nope..wouldn't do it. So, it meant we had to move
(and guess what.. they did not return to their sites all week).

So we moved..at first they wanted to separate us by about 4 rows..and the site for Gary and Suzanne was just not possible for their rig. It is 35' long with a 3' bike rack on the back. Finally, the staff decided they could move to the site beside us (back to back)..Yuck we lost our joined patio area. Oh well..we moved..didn't hit anything..and didn't damage anything. Other than losing time on Monday for all of this..it has worked out fine.

On Monday afternoon we drove across the bridge ($6.00 to cross) to Sanibel and Captiva Island. After stopping at the Visitors Center we drove around the islands and just looked. This appears to be an expensive place to play. $2.00 an hour to park in any lot. We checked on a dolphin tour but decided not to spend the money. $20.00 each for about an hour's ride. Lots of very nice homes. We did find a coconut on the ground and brought it back as a souvenir. Nice place to visit, but we won't spend much time here. There doesn't appear to be much to do except the beaches. Which are beautiful and known for having good shells.
Oh yes..there was shopping...lots of shopping.

On Tuesday we went to Lover's Key State Park. $5.00 to enter the park and stay all day. No additional parking fees. Suzanne had been told this was a good place to go. Good park with a beautiful beach. Only negative.. the beach was quite a ways from the parking lot. However, a tram driven by a very friendly driver took us and all of our gear out. We stayed for about 5 hours. It was great. Gorgeous white sand and clear clear water. A bit "brisk" in temp..but can you believe we went in ..swimming in the ocean in February!!! Wow!!

Thank goodness Gary T and Suzanne had a wonderful beach umbrella. The sun would have cooked us otherwise. As it was, Suzanne got a bit too much sun. Gary and I did OK. I used sun screen and wore my sundress part of the time. Suzanne and I walked the beach and found many nice shells. Good exercise..Walk....bend..stoop..stand up..Walk....bend..stoop..stand up..over and over again. I enjoyed it very much. We finally called it a day about 4:30 and headed back to the house. After showers and dinner in..I worked for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday morning, we went to the Thomas Edison, Henry Ford Estates. Many years ago, Thomas Edison purchased a "farm" on the river for a winter home. Some time later his friend Henry Ford purchased the home next door. Edison spent much of his time while there researching ways to extract rubber from plants. Many varieties of trees and plants were brought in and are growing on the grounds. For $20.00 ($19.00 w/ AAA discount) we toured the houses, grounds, museum and Edison's lab. It was very interesting. I learned a lot about Edison. He still holds the record for the most patents for his inventions ever awarded to anyone. We can thank him for many many things we still use today.
We also saw the largest banyan tree in the continental US. Quite impressive. I still think the one at Cypress gardens is more attractive. Maybe just the setting..don't know why..it just looked better. But this one is definitely impressive. There were also very large and impressive fig trees. And one of the largest bougainvillea plants I've ever seen. It was blooming and was quite beautiful. http://www.efwefla.org/home.asp

On Thursday Gary and Suzanne went to visit a cousin of Gary's. She will soon be 100 years old. Wow ..may we all live so long and be so healthy.

After I worked on Thursday morning, Gary and I took Ellie to the Bonita Springs dog beach. This beach was great fun for her. She was allowed off her leash and got to play with over 20 dogs. She ran and jumped. We could see the smile on her face.

On Friday, I worked again in the morning. After a yummy lunch at McDonald's, we all went down to the Big Cypress Seminole Indian reservation. We stopped at Billie Swamp Safari and went on an air boat ride. VERY COOL!!! We saw multitudes of alligators, birds, wild boars, buffalo (I know..who'd have thought you'd see these in Florida..imported from the wild west I guess)..a couple of ostrich, a few raccoons, and more birds..then when we got back we went through a zoo area they had. Beautiful macaws, slithery snakes and more alligators. Pretty good place to visit.

While on the air boat ride..we stopped near the shore and the driver put out dog food in the water. Well..the wild boars, birds and alligators had a feast..on the dog food..not on each other..which we thought the boars would have made a tasty meal for the alligators..but they weren't interested in them at all..just wanted the dog food..it was quite a sight.. pretty close to the boat too.. they didn't pay much attention to the boat..except to come closer and closer to get the dog food...big teeth..We were reminded to keep our extremities inside of the boat..

http://www.seminoletribe.com/safari/

Saturday was a work around the house day (getting ready to move again)..and I worked for UNC too..then we treated Gary and Suzanne to their first meal at CiCi's Pizza. This is a pretty good place to eat all the pizza, pasta and salad you want for a very reasonable price. To walk all of that off we went next door to the Northern Tool and Equipment store.
Can you say "Boys and their big boy tools" ?? It is actually an interesting store to wander around in. Tools..tools.. and more tools..

Once we got back to the house we walked Miss Elli and sat down for our last card game. Gary and Suzanne have taught us how to play Euchre. This is a pretty fun game with a couple of tricky rules. The first time we played Suzanne and I cleaned up. But this time Gary and Gary came out on top. We played a last game to break the tie and Gary/Gary won that one too. :(

This morning..we got up to see Gary and Suzanne off. They are continuing on their journey west. We packed up and moved back to Peace River. We're going to stay here until at least Friday. Not sure where we'll go after that..

Good Night to you all..Love, Deb

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