Road Trip to One BIG Lake - Lake Okeechobee

Lake Okeechobee, FL (92 degrees, blue skies, brief rain showers)

We decided to check out a BIG lake in Florida over the 4th of July weekend.  Lake Okeechobee encompasses five counties in Florida and is the second largest lake in the continental U.S (Lake Michigan is #1).  A bike trail runs around the 110 miles perimeter , however, it only offers  occasional views of the lake.  

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Recently it has been in the news due to the controversial opening of the flood locks.  The picture above shows the lake water rushing out of the lock and emptying it's nutrient fresh water into the marine ecosystems.  This sudden rush of fresh water overwhelms the delicate estuary systems.   It is thought this practice may have contributed to the recent red tide in the Ft. Myers/Sanibel area which killed hundreds of manatees and fish this winter.  The dike system constructed by the Corp of Engineers in the 1920's succeeded in preventing flooding in the area.  It's a very complicated man versus nature issue with no easy solutions.  

The drive around the lake was interesting.  There were acres and acres of tropical farms raising palm trees and ornamental plants.  For the first time we saw extensive sugar cane fields.  The small towns interspersed around the lake seemed down on their luck.  It was an enjoyable road trip and a chance to see some of the beautiful farm country in central Florida.

Earlier in the weekend we attended the Sanibel 4th of July Parade.  It was fun filled, festive, and lots of treats were thrown out to the bystanders.  Just about every business had a float or car in the parade.  It was a little slice of Americana.

This was the first time we have seen boats in a parade.  In Indiana it would have been John Deere tractors.

Jimmy loves parades!

J.N. Ding Darling Float (our friends Tony and Sara)

We hope you had a great holiday weekend too.  Thanks for stopping by and say thanks to the  service men and women in your lives.  

One Great Advantage of Fulltiming For Our Friends & Us

Sanibel, FL (92 degrees, hot & humid and at times buggy)

One of the best fulltiming benefits is having a great place for your family and friends to come to for a visit.  We had a great time showing our visitors are new back yard.   

We started off the month with a visit from our daughter.  She LOVES the beach and spent as much time as possible exploring some of the beaches. Her visit started off a little slow due to a tropical depression.  However, on day three she found this amazing Horse Conch.  It"s very easy to become addicted to shelling after a find such as this one. 

The two education interns (Sara & Jeremy) at J.N. Ding Darling also hung out with us during some of her visit.  The beach and nature walks are even more fun with a naturalist along to show you all kinds of creatures. We also went kayaking together at Tarpon Bay and used dip nets to bring up a few which were gently returned after admiring.  One evening we took a nice sunset cruise out to the rookery islands to see the birds nest at night.  

We reluctantly had to take her back to the airport after a week  It was a great visit and I didn't have much time to feel sad at all because we picked up our friend Debbie from Indianapolis at the airport as we were dropping off Jen to fly home.  Debbie and I used to work together and she has visited us several times since we started fulltiming.  She is also a big beach lover and I don't think she stopped smiling all week.  

Debbie has a great SLR camera and photographed some beautiful sunsets during her visit.  Her boyfriend Dave arrived a couple of days later.  We had not met him and after a through grilling decided   we like him.  LOL!

We spent one day in Ft. Myers visiting the very interesting Edison & Ford Winter Estates Museum.  There are many options for touring the houses, museum, and beautiful gardens.  We decided on the self guide audio tour ($20/person)  The summer homes are beautifully preserved and we could have spent hours in the museum alone.  It was interesting to hear about what Ft. Myers was like when Edison decided to make this his winter home.  It was only accessible by boat at the time and very remote.  Their homes were a respite from their very hectic lives and they often went on off road trips (elaborate camping trips) to Big Cypress.  We'd highly recommend this tour if you are in the Ft. Myers area.  

Debbie's birthday was a couple days after her visit with us.  It only seemed appropriate to have a pre-birthday beach party.  We planned a fun picnic along the causeway bridge beach.  John packed up with roadside grill and cooked some delicious cedar plank salmon and asparagus.  Celebrating with Debbie would not be complete without champagne being involved.  It was a perfect evening and once again the sunset cooperated.  

Our next visit was about a week later.  Jackie and her daughter Kenzie came to visit us.  They have also been to see us three times now since we started full timing and we always look forward to their visit.  This time Jackie invited her sister Jill to come along to join in the fun too.  Kenzie sure has grown and she loves the outdoors and has such a happy out going personality.   Her favorite "place" this time was the pool at the condominium where they were staying.  

We went on a trail hike with Ranger Jeremy down the Indigo Trail and even saw an alligator and a cool spider.  They learned all about the three types of mangroves in the refuge and Jeremy taught us a funny rhythm to help remember the differences.  

Lots of time was spent on the beach and of coarse the pool.  John had to do most of the entertaining for a few days because I got a wicked flu bug and certainly didn't want them to catch that while on vacation.  So now they have visited us at Mt. Rushmore (Black Hills), Watkins Glen, NY (Finger Lakes), and now Sanibel.  They decided the beach has been their best vacation so far.  Walking along the beach sure can be relaxing and Kenzie loved all the shells.  

We sure are glad everyone came to visit us.  It was so much fun and so great to see our dear friends.  

We love you too!  Come back and visit us again soon!