 | |  | |  | |  |
problem. So, this afternoon I started west. I wanted to go to the Florida Everglades and go on an airboat ride.
Once on the road, my “Check Engine” light came back on. I was not happy.
I stopped at an airboat tour company. This was my first time on an airboat. It was pretty fun, skimming on
top of the water. But, those airboats are loud. We saw alligators in their natural habitat – another first for me.
We also encountered many exotic species of birds, including a snowy egret and a shiny colored navy blue bird,
which happened to land right in front of me on the windshield of the boat. We became fast friends – ha. We came
across a few turtles, which our guide kept pointing out. But, I only got a glimpse of one. After cruising the
Everglades, our group headed back to land for an alligator show. The man conducting the performance fed the
alligators by hand and showed that they could be trained to listen to some basic commands. He also gave some
general information about these interesting creatures. I kept driving down Route 41, the Tamiami Trail, into
Naples, Florida. I found accommodations and sacked out for the night.
Tuesday, March 30: I took the trolley tour of Naples. Naples is a beautiful mid-size city on the Gulf of
Mexico. It has miles of soft, white sand beaches, much upscale shopping, very nice homes, condos and hotels.
There is a retiree population as to be expected. But, there has been a large influx of families over the past 10 years
as well. Naples is one of the fastest growing cities in America and for good reason – great climate, clean and
nice. This town is a little too homogeneous and white bread for me. I had lunch on 5th Avenue, the main upscale
shopping street in Naples, then checked out a couple of beaches, including Vanderbilt Beach and the beach along
Gulf shore Drive. From here I drove north to Captiva Island. It was sunset when I crossed the bridge from Ft.
Meyers to Sanibel Island. The views were beautiful with many shades of red, orange and blue on the horizon.
From Sanibel, I crossed to Captiva Island. I was fortunate to find accommodations in the center of Captiva.
Right next door I had a very good Seafood Fajita dinner accompanied by a solo singer on guitar. After dinner, I
looked around for some nightlife, which wasn’t happening on this laid back family oriented island.
Wednesday, March 31: Complimentary breakfast with the room. The pancakes and eggs benedict were both
excellent. I checked out the beaches on Captiva and Sanibel Islands. They have very nice sand and fairly calm
dark turquoise water. Most of the people are elderly or families. On Sanibel Island there is a National Wildlife
Refuge called J.N. “Ding” Darling. Here I saw many types of beautiful birds, a raccoon, a crocodile, a manatee,
mangroves and lakes. From there, I went and checked out Ft. Meyer Beach. This area is much more
commercial. The beach here was much more crowded with families and Spring Breakers.
I drove into downtown Ft. Meyer, where I stopped to check out the Edison-Ford Winter Estates. In Edison's
latter years he spent three months every winter here and Ford spent three weeks. Edison planted tropical plants
from all over the world here, including a Banyan tree, which is now the third largest (diameter) in the world. I
especially liked the bromeliads and orchids living symbiotically with their host trees. Here he attempted to cultivate
a plant which could give the U.S. a domestic supply of rubber. This was very important during the world wars.
By the time he found the plant within a couple of years synthetic rubber was discovered. Edison and Ford’s
homes/estates are immediately next to one another along the Caloosahatchee River. Edison produced over 1,000
patents during his lifetime, the most of anyone ever. From here I drove up Route 75 to Sarasota, FL. I drove
along the water and along their Main Street, where I found an outdoor Restaurant/Bar, Mattison’s City Grille, for
dinner. The food was pretty good. I found a Comfort Inn to crash for the night.
the widest beach with pure white, soft sand that I had ever been to – very beautiful setting. The beach was pretty
busy, considering it was a little chilly to be sun bathing. Most of the people were families or young Spring
Breakers. From here, I drove to a Starbucks to surf the net and exchange e-mails. Then I went to the Ringling
Museum. I toured the estate of John & Mable Ringling, including their “Rose Garden” – the oldest in the U.S.,
Ca'd’Zan Mansion – their home, the Circus Museum – the history of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum Baily
Circus, and the Museum of Art – mostly European Art (I missed this one). From here, I drove through Bradenton
on my way to St. Petersburg, FL. The central part of west Florida is still pretty chilly for this time of the year.
South-west Florida along the coast is almost one continuous city, totally populated between Naples to Clearwater
with Sanibel, Ft. Meyer, Venice, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, and Tampa in between. After crossing the bridge into
St. Petersburg, I drove the islands/keys off the coast until I came to a cluster of shops and restaurants along an inlet
to the ocean, where I stopped for dinner at _________ . They had a pretty good Reggae band playing, so I
belied up to the bar for some food, beer and entertainment.
Friday, April 2: Awoke at St. Pete’s Beach. I checked out the beaches here. They are ok. The sand is a little
rough with many broken up shells in it. There are mostly families around here. I drove north along this outer bank,
strip of land … many miles of beaches here. Then, I drove into St. Petersburg. I went to the Salvador Dali
museum. This museum has the largest collection of Dali art anywhere in the world. He is most famous for his
surrealistic art. This man was a true genius. This is self-evident just by viewing his incredible work. From here I
drove to downtown St. Petersburg. This area fronts on Tampa Bay. It is a pleasant, well laid-out area. I had
dinner at a local Thai Restaurant called the Bangkok Thai Restaurant. The food was pretty good. I drove to
downtown Tampa and found a hotel, the Holiday Inn.
Saturday, April 3: This was a day of R&R. I watched NCAA Final Four action. U. Conn. Beat Duke and
Georgia Tech beat Oklahoma State.
April 4 to April 10: Flight to DC for Passover with family, back to Tampa to hang out and explore - stayed with
my friend Darryl, and once more to DC for one of my best friend's, Brian Rudick, Bachelor Party.
Sunday, April 11: I packed, said my good byes, then Neal drove me to the airport. Flight back to Tampa,
where I was to meet Roxana (friend from Peru) to begin our travels together driving west. I met Roxana at the
Tampa Airport. We drove to Ybor City, the Old Latin Quarter. We went for a walk. It was very quiet here,
seeing that it was Easter Sunday. We decided to see a movie, The Girl Next Door. The movie was cute, no
Academy Award winner, but entertaining. It was raining when we got out of the movie, so we bought an umbrella
at a shop carrying items from around the world and headed back to the hotel. Since it continued to rain, we
decided to stay in and watch a movie, Lord of the Rings – Return of the King. It was very good but too long …
Roxana fell asleep half way through.
Monday, April 12: After lunch at a Greek Restaurant in Ybor City, we drove downtown to check out the
Aquarium. The line was very long, so we ended up going shopping instead. The mall next to the Aquarium didn’t
offer much, so we drove to International Mall. Roxana helped me pick out a pair of shoes and new jeans. We
walked to the department stores to find a facial moisturizer for Roxana, without much luck. We went back to our
hotel and changed for dinner.
Tuesday, April 13: Packed, had lunch, then headed out of town. We drove through St. Petersburg, then
Clearwater on our way north. Instead of going on the main highway, Rt. 75, via Gainesville, we chose to drive
along one of the smaller highways, Rt. 19, near the coast to Tallahassee. We drove through many small southern
towns on the way. Once in Tallahassee, we settled in quickly at our hotel, then drove to a nearby Indian
restaurant. The food was pretty good, if a little spicy. Back to the hotel, wrote in journal, sleep.
Wednesday, April 14: Packed, drove to a Cuban Restaurant for lunch. The food was mediocre at best. Next,
we drove through the historic district of Tallahassee. We saw their City Hall, which is very scenic from the
roadway leading up to it. We also saw the local graveyard and The Park Avenue Historic District – Tallahassee’s
oldest continuous green space.