Ft. Myers and elsewhere in Florida

So, after Titusville and the Space Coast Birding Festival, we traveled across the state and headed South to Fort Myers. Not having been to Florida before, we really didn't know what to expect and where the best places to go would be. I'm not sure Fort Myers in the winter is one of those places that I'd go to again. It is full of retirement trailer parks. The RV resort we stayed at was like that. Bill and I don't really fit in with a lot of the people who full-time RV. We're a tad younger than most of them. It's not even like being in a town full of my parents. It's like being in a town full of my grandparents. We're a generation to a generation and a half behind them. We really can't relate to anything they do or say. And let's not even talk about their driving.

We have, despite all of this, met some really nice people. The folks that were next to us while we were in Fort Myers are from Missouri. I'm glad we had such nice people next to us, especially since our doors practically opened on each other. Dave, Judy, Glen and their dog Lucy. And next to them were Jim and Joy and their dog Needleteeth (aka Needles), along with a cat (which we never saw) and a parakeet (on the back porch). Our Alaska license plate seems to bring a lot of people around. Most of them in Fort Myers brought up Sarah Palin. I am SO SICK of having to field questions about her. Sorry, lost my train of thought...

So, I thought when we went to Florida it would be full of Hispanic folks and there would be a lot of Spanish and Mexican food and all things Latino(a). Wrong. I was surprised at the number of Canadians in Florida. And all the French being spoken. I was expecting Spanish, not French. I guess if we were closer to Miami, then I'd have found a decent margarita. Not in Fort Myers. As a matter of fact, you were hard pressed to find any minorities there. It's funny. I grew up in an area where there were practically no "others." Then I went to Anchorage and it's diversity of race and ethnicity. And I like it. But in Fort Myers, the majority of the population is white, and retired. I found it very interesting. Just a thought.

Oh, and I have never seen so many churches, pharmacies, and grocery stores before. There was one on just about every block. As for the pharmacies, there are CVSs and Walgreens. And usually if you found one, the other was across the street. Next to a grocery store, which more likely than not, was a Publix. Not a bad market, actually. But every denomination of church (and some with no denomination), with the Baptists being the biggest. Some of their churches were enormous!

While we were in Fort Myers, we did a lot of outdoor stuff. We went to Sanibel Island a couple of times (beware: the bridge to Sanibel costs $6 to cross it. Pretty much if there's a bridge, it costs you to cross it.). But we spent a lot of time at the Bonita Springs Dog Beach. We apparently have 2 dogs that absolutely LOVE the water. If you doubt me, check out Bill's blog. We went to Lover's Key State Park and the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. When we were on Sanibel, Bill paddled around the place while I went to the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. I scored a Roseate Spoonbill there! I will publish my lists in a different posts so those that don't really care about my lists can move on. We did other things while there, but those are probably the most memorable. I think if we were to go back, we'd use the Timeshare and stay on Fort Myers Beach in a condo instead of a squishy RV park.

After spending way too much time in Fort Myers, we moved north to St. Petersburg/Tampa area. We checked out a couple of brewpubs in the area, so Bill was happy. And he took the kayak out every day since our rv site was about 20 feet from the kayak/canoe launch. We didn't have to haul the kayak some place so he could paddle. We stayed at the KOA there. KOA's have to be the BEST campgrounds. The sites have room, the people are nice and the amenities are great. We have a couple KOA's booked for this trip. St. Petersburg has some retired communities in it, but there are "real" people there too. Tampa seems to be a nice city. We drove past the downtown rather than go there. We did get to Ybor City. There's a brewpub there. We made it for Fiesta Day. A big, mostly Hispanic, street party. Kind of like a Hispanic Mardi Gras. It was fun.

From Fort Myers to Tallahassee. We hit Sam's Club in Tallahassee. And the mall. That's about it. The temperatures were definitely cooler. It actually went down to freezing at night, and one night it got below freezing. We stayed at another KOA about 15 miles outside Tallahassee, so we didn't get to see the place. Other than being the capital of Florida, it's home to FSU. That's about all I can say about the place.

And now we're in Lillian, Alabama. At yet another KOA. Technically, we're in Pensacola. Blue Angels land. Navy land. We went to the USS Alabama yesterday. It was cool. You can walk all over the ship (battleship) and then you can go to the USS Drum (a submarine) and walk through it. The sub was rather claustrophobic. I have some pictures that I took, and I'll post them later. We also went to a brewpub here too. It's called McGuire's. You'll have to check out Bill's blog on this one too. He'll no doubt talk about it.

We leave tomorrow for Lafayette, Louisiana. To stay at yet another KOA. (If you're heading out for a weekend camping, you REALLY need to check out these KOA campgrounds.) I'll expand on my bird lists for Florida and on the USS Alabama when we get to LA. Thanks for listening to the rambling.