Fort Myers, Sanibel Island, Cape Kennedy and New Symrna Airshow

We pulled out of Alafia River State Park around 10:30am and arrived at our first destination here in Port Charlotte around noon.  The drive down was uneventful except when we missed the turn into the RV park and had to make a U-turn.

Those of you who own RV's and Fifth wheel trailers know that to do this, you need a wide road to manage this turn.  Well, we had about 6' less than we needed.   But Deane, always the masterful driver, managed to pull it off if only by driving the front wheel up on and over the sidewalk.

We arrived in the RV park to find it had no reservation for us.  We belong to a travel group called Coast to Coast and stay in their parks for 'points'.  Seems the reservation we made back in January did not get transferred to this park.  But all was good.....they had space for us for the 3 nights.

Once in our spot, we start the 'hook-up' process....first by putting the slides out.  A lot of you know we have had historic problems with our large slide not working properly. Even having the slide motor replaced, we still have an intermittent problem.  Deane worked on the problem last month and thought he had a fix in place.....at least it worked when we tested it. 

Maybe because of the U-turn we made that caused the wheel to thump down off the curb, one of the doors on our pantry popped open.  So when we started to move the slide out, it caught the pantry door and actually ripped it off.  We got the door out of the way before it was destroyed and got the slide out.  But....... when we tried to adjust the slide by moving it back in just a bit......AAAGH!  it would not move.

Screw it....we will deal with it when we leave on Thursday!  Got the RV all hooked up and went exploring.

Deane and Thomas Edison

Edison and Ford

We headed to the Edison Ford Estates in Ft. Myers.  This was the winter
homes of Thomas Edison and his best friend Henry Ford who had homes adjacent to each other.








Edison home and guest house

Of all the museums we have seen in our last four years, we were captivated by these grounds.  The Winter home of Edison was donated to the city of Ft. Myers with the expressed wishes the estate be preserved and open to the public.  What makes this tour so wonderful, is that everything here belonged to the Edison's, in his home as well as his lab.....it was like stepping back in time.


 

Living Room

Edison's lab

As we walked through the grounds, Deane paid homage to Edison for his career as an electrician.  Edison designed his home, the gardens around the estate, his lab and his botanical gardens where he, Ford and Harvey Firestone attempted to produce rubber from plants.

Banyan Tree

When you first arrive on the property, the first thing you see and are amazed at is the enormous Banyan tree planted around 1925 and believed to be the largest in the continental US.  It was said the tree was given to Edison by Harvey Firestone.

Henry Fords Garage



View of Gulf of Mexico from Edison Ford estates

We left the Edison museum and with more of the day left to us headed to Ft. Myers Beach.  If you are looking for a family beach, this is it.  Beautiful sugar like sand, lots of shopping, lots of two star motels, restaurants and things for kids to do on the beach like wave runners, parasailing, etc. 

Traffic is congested and parking is at a premium.  We managed to find a parking spot and headed onto the beach to find a place to have dinner and watch the sun set.  Found a great little place called The Beach where we were lucky to grab a table in the bar right over the beach.

Sunsets in Florida are spectatular

After dinner we headed out onto the pier to catch the sunset and watch people fish.  We were treated
to a fun little show of a bird taking advantage of a fishermans inattention.   One little black bird was quite creative when a guy got his line in the water, put his bait away and turned his back. The bird flew in, landed and quickly opened the bait box and stole a piece of fish.


Next day we headed to Sanibel and Captiva Islands, known for their great shelling.  Something to remember when visiting an island....generally one way on, one way off! On top of the $6.00 toll to get onto the islands, it is still spring break for many northerners and the traffic was horrific.  This would be a great place to vacation if you come and stay on the island and use bikes to get around. Don't plan on going off the island....will take you all day to get off and then back on. Sanibel is only 12 miles long and 3 miles wide and most of the tourist attractions are within the first 6 miles.  Sanibel has one long beach and only 6 parking lots. If you drive onto the island hoping to spend the day on the beach you will be fighting for a parking spot along with 3 times the amount of cars than there are spaces.

The two islands could not be more different.  Sanibel is known for its historic J.N. Ding Darling Preserve whose mission is to support nature conservation, wildlife protection and education efforts.  We took their tour and discovered a lot about the mangrove trees that grow only within an area of 35 degrees north and south of the equator.
http://dingdarlingsociety.org


Captiva on the other hand, does not seem to cater to the 'daily' visitor.  Firstly, it is much smaller only 5 miles long and 1/2 mile across.  Secondly, there are boutique hotels, B and B's and home rentals and some very large beautiful estates.  Captiva is lush, with a beautiful beach but no public parking lots to access the beach except a small one just as you come onto the island and the parking lot would only hold about 12 cars.  It seemed the only people on the beaches are those staying in the hotels or who live on the island.  How nice!  It would be nice if you did not have to travel back across Sanibel Island to get back to Ft. Myers.  It took us 45 minutes to get off Sanibel Island.

Our last day here in Ft. Myers area, we met up with Lynn and Tom Moriarty who were hosts with us at Alafia River State Park and had lunch at  Harpoon Harry's in Punta Gorda at Fisherman's Village. 

Thursday, across the state of Florida we go...... it is going to be wet today and we are trying to stay ahead of the rain.  Did not hit much rain as we drove, but next day when we were headed to Cape Kennedy it was pouring. 

The history at the NASA complex can give you goosebumps.  The tour we took allowed us to enter the actual control center where launches took place and we were driven by the launch platform.  In the Control Room, they played a video of the last lauch of of the Space Shuttle last year.  http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/07/final-space-shuttle-launch/



Control Center

Saturn Rocket

Actual suits worn by astronauts

Launch pad

There is so much of history to see here.  Not only is there a display of many rockets, but you learn of all of the launches that successfully took place as well as those that were not.  The museums tell the story of the space race with Russia started by then President Kennedy who stated "we would put a man on the moon and return him safely to earth".  There are also references to the men and women who gave their lives in the pursuit of this dream.




Russian Sputnik

 On display you can see a replica of "Sputnik", Russia's first shot into space, to the space suits worn by the astronauts, a moon rock, an incredible IMAX movie about the Hubble telescope, to an actual Saturn rocket. 

 

Rockets on display

View of earth from
the launch ride

They have a'ride' where you can experience a rocket launch.
  The simulation of lift off gave us the effects of 3-G's.  The less than taunt skin on my face felt like it was flapping and I was afraid I would look like a hound dog when it was over.  During the ride, when the experience is as if you are floating in space (at 17,000mph) they open the top of the rocket and give you a view of earth..  It was amazing.

B-25 - Deane's dad was a
navigator in one of these during WWII

Saturday found us in New Smyrna Beach Florida. We were suppose to meet with my cousin and her
husband but she became ill and we found ourselves at an annual Air Show here in town.  It was a great find and we lucked out getting there just about 30 minutes before the show began.  We were awed
by the talent of the pilots, especially one woman pilot who made my heart stop when she would fly straight up and stall her engines then turn down and regain her loops and dives.

traffic signs on the beach

lobster roll...yummy

After the Air Show we headed to the Flagler district.  Found the beach and put our toes in the Atlantic Ocean.  It was
strange to see traffic signs on the beach.  For dinner we found a cute little shop that advertised lobster rolls, with a full lobster on each roll.  The lobsters were flown in from Bar Harbor Maine and each hoagie roll had an amount of lobster chucks (big chunks) equal to a full lobster tail.  We both yummed (is that really a word?) our way through the meal while we watched people and traffic go by our outside table.

Last day here.... headed further north to Jacksonville tomorrow.  Oh yea,  Deane fixed the door and the slide, all is well.