View of the Harbor from our Table

Ft. Myers: Much cooler today—mid-70s. Cold front came through during the night. We went for a walk, did some laundry, and then drove up to Punta Gorda. We saw a sign on I75 on the way down indicating a historic district. Well, there wasn’t much of a historic district, but Punta Gorda is a cute town with a small town feel. We stopped at Fisherman’s Village—bunch of shops and restaurants—and had lunch at a seafood restaurant. Sat outside on the deck overlooking the harbor. We both had grilled grouper. After lunch we hit some of the shops and bought $70 worth of books at a book store—some really good books. Not sure where we’re going to put them all, but looking forward to reading them. On the way home we stopped at No. Ft. Myers and caught the 4:30 showing of “American Gangster” with Denzel Washington. Good movie. Back home. Really cool this evening. Supposed to be pretty cold tonight.

A spectacular day. Went for a walk this morning. Mike slept in because he was up half the night playing with the Topo program my brother Ron loaded on our computer. A really neat program—shows hiking trails (they call them foot paths) and everything. Sat outside most of the day reading my book and watching the buzzards making lazy circles in the thermals—some of them so high up they were little specs. I went for another walk. Later we drove into No. Ft. Myers and I got my prescriptions filled and then we went to a movie. Saw “The Hit Man”. A so-so movie. Before we went back to the campground we drove through the fancy subdivision and checked out all the beautiful Christmas decorations.

Our Campsite at W. P. Franklin

Went for a walk this morning. Ron and Jan came over and hung out for a while. Had burgers for dinner. A beautiful day—mid-80s again. A huge cigarette boat came up the river by the campground. After Ron and Jan left, sat outside until the sun set. A beautiful evening.

Ft. Myers, FL: Left Land-O-Lakes at 10:30 this morning. My turn to drive. Arrived at W. P. Franklin Corps of Engineers Campground at about 1:00 and got set up. I backed it into the site—a little crooked. This is a really pretty campground on the Caloosahatchee River and in a beautiful area with large estates and beautiful homes. Went for a walk after we got set up and later we met Ron and Jan for dinner at Pastabilities. Back home and watched the Missouri football game.. Ron and Jan coming over tomorrow. There’s an eagle hanging out in the area. Very warm—low 80s. YES!

Land-o-Lakes, FL: We didn’t get together with Sandy and Dan today because we had some maintenance chores to do before we leave tomorrow for Ft. Myers. Sandy wrote 7 articles for her Master Gardener certification. She’s also volunteering all day Saturday at some function in Dade. Sounds like she was busy. I walked up to the CVS and bought a pedometer for the hell of it so I can keep tract of how much I walk. That should be interesting. So far today I walked about 2000 steps.

Casita

La Setima

(the main street of the historic district)

Land-o-Lakes, FL: Sandy and Dan picked us up this morning and we drove over to Ybor City. What a neat place! It was founded by Vincente Martinez Ybor (e-bor) who immigrated to Cuba from Spain and started a cigar factory. He then moved it to Key West and after having labor problems purchased a tract of land north of Tampa and built a brand new cigar factory there in 1884. Along with the cigar factory he built stores and restaurants and then built little houses (casitas) for the workers. The workers could buy the house for $400 interest free. They could walk to work. The work force consisted of Spanish, Cuban, and Italian immigrants. The workers hired lectors who would read to them all day. First he would read the newspaper—and always in Spanish. Then he would read novels. The workers decided what they wanted the lector to read and each worker paid him 25 cents a week. They became very educated and the Italians learned to speak Spanish to boot. Each ethnic group had their own social clubs—beautiful buildings—where they could socialize, receive cheap medical care and other help. This is a really neat place with red brick buildings, wrought iron balconies and narrow brick streets which give it an old world charm. We had lunch at the Columbia Restaurant. A beautiful building with Spanish architecture and really good food.

The Lani and Pool

Tue, 11/27/07

Land-o-Lakes, FL: Hung out on the lanai again today. Ate more turkey. Played Spades. Another warm day, but cloudy.