Date January 29 - February 19, 2012
Day 236
Departure No travel today
Arrival Legacy Harbour Marina, Ft. Myers, FL
Miles 0.0
Cumulative 4043.6
We closed on our new home on February 13th and have been shopping since! We plan to move some items from Connecticut to Florida, but decided to decorate with some new things too. This past weekend was the busiest we have been since arriving in Ft. Myers, with the exception of our visit with my mom and sister. Friends Jill and Glen on "Last Dance" arrived, along with friends Barbara and Ken on " Loop Dreams". We spent some time catching up with them. We hadn't seen Jill and Glen since Thanksgiving and Barbara and Ken since just before Christmas. That is what is so great about this trip, you meet folks, travel with them for awhile, and them meet up with them again further along the way.
Bob and I, along with our dogs, Tucker and Willow, spent most of Friday at our new home-waiting for deliveries. You know how deliveries work, they promise early in the day and finally by mid-afternoon they arrive! First the patio table and chairs arrived. While Bob proceeded to assemble the chairs, UPS arrived with our new Select Comfort Mattress!
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| Bolt "A" goes into slot "B" |
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| Oh my gosh, so many boxes!! | |
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Then the doorbell rings again, and the bedroom furniture arrived! Fortunately, the delivery men brought in the three pieces and set them up, so we continued working on the patio furniture.
Here's the new bedroom, doesn't it look great?
Now we have a place to sit, since we don't have a couch or kitchen table yet!
Another friend of Lynda's (formerly from Connecticut, now in Florida!) came for a short visit on Saturday. Barbara Fackelman and her husband, David live in Mt. Dora. Barbara is a former co-worker and housemate of Lynda's and they hadn't seen each other for over fifteen years. We enjoyed their short afternoon visit and they headed off to Estero to celebrate their 15th wedding anniversary. We hope to visit with them more often as we will be in Florida more frequently now!!
The weekend is the celebration of the "Edison Festival of Light". Just after dark on Saturday evening we enjoyed a fireworks celebration from the flybridge of our boat with Barbara and Ken from "Loop Dreams". We were so close, the percussion was outstanding!
After the fireworks, we walked into town and enjoyed the nighttime parade.
On Sunday, we again walked into town to enjoy the craft fair and car show which was also a part of the festival celebration
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| OH NO!!! |
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| Looks so real, but only an imitation!!! |
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| Nicely restored Studebaker |
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| Remember when? |
After the car show, we visited the Edison and Ford Winter Estates. Within walking distance of the marina is the winter homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. Thomas Edison purchased his property in 1885. Edison's friend, Henry Ford, purchased the house next door in 1916,
providing him the opportunity to vacation with his good friend Thomas.
The good friends and their families enjoyed exploring southwest Florida,
fishing, boating and square dancing during their trips to Ft. Myers. The Edison family enjoyed stays here until 1947, when Mina Edison (Thomas' wife) deeded "Seminole Lodge" to the City of Ft. Myers for $1.
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| Edison's Home |
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| Living Room |
Edison's friend, Harvey Firestone, gave a four foot banyan tree to Thomas in 1925. Edison, Ford and Firestone were working on research in pursuit of a domestic source of natural rubber. This type of tree,
Ficus benghalenis, produces a white milky sap (latex) that can be used to create rubber. This amazing tree is now about an acre in diameter and is understood to be the largest in the continental United States!
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| Bob and Lynda with Mr. Edison in front of the enormous tree. (it is all ONE tree about an acre in diameter) |
Not to be forgotten, today is our 30th wedding anniversary. I guess you could say we had a day long celebration!. We hope to enjoy many more in this wonderfully warm winter climate!!!
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| HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US |
