The Bonita Springs Christmas Boat Parade

Saturday December 13th

I ventured out last night to see the Bonita Springs Christmas boat parade.  Seems that these boat parades are happening in almost every town during the Christmas season.   It was cold......a Florida cold that is....but it was fun to watch the boats from my viewing point of the Rt 41 bridge.   There were 17 boats in all and when it was done I was glad to get back to my nice warm car.  I only had shorts, a short sleeve T-shirt and a light coat to cover myself so warmth was good.

The photos did not come out that great but it was the best I could do with an IPhone camera.

Merry Christmas to all!

One Speed Ride

Saturday December 13, 2014

I thought for sure with the colder temperatures....yes 48 degrees with a windchill of 44 degrees is a colder ride here....would slow these guys down.   After all....there are more clothes to wear, colder air to breath, etc etc.   However, that is not the case!   I felt that my lungs were going to be frozen at the end of the ride!  There were nine eager faces this morning ready to ride despite those temps and put the hammer down on the pedals. 

We did the normal route of 36 miles but 3 miles into the ride they were going at 21 mph and over into a headwind.   What???  I did my normal amount of cursing until I said that I was going to drop the ride.  One of my good buddies who was behind me said that he would stay with me.   Felt like my lungs were going to freeze and I couldn't breath because my nostrils were full of junk!  The front guy must have heard me cursing and asked me if the pace was ok at one of the stop lights.  Hell no I answered and he took the ride down 2 mph.   I was pretty much able to keep up at 19 mph until the break.

I talked with one of the fast boys and explained that in NJ in the winter months we would take it down a notch and have a little more fun with the ride.  He wasn't buying it for the FL group and kept going!

As usual....on the way back there was a fast group and a slower group.  We finally had a tailwind to help us back.   The slow group was still fast and I was able to keep up with them until the last three miles heading back to The Second Cup....the final stop that has coffee and where we can relax.   They took off like you know what and I decided that I had enough and just took my time coming back those last miles.  For me on today's ride I averaged 18 mph for 36 miles.  Even with all the cursing....and wasting breath...I still came in with a decent average.

When we got back to The Second Cup there was a classic car show going on in the retail shopping center part.  Some very nice Porsches and Corvettes and some older cars.   It was a nice way to finish the ride and put a smile on my face.  I didn't take any photos because I needed to get home but I am sure that there will be many more of these classic car events and I will take a few photos next time.

Iron Joe Turkey Ride

Sunday November 30th

I have to say I was a bit nervous about doing a 62 mile ride with the group today.   I haven't ridden that far since I left NJ.  The speed was another concern.

Well my concerns were founded.   The group rode at a pace of 19.1 mph for the 61 mile ride.  Ouch.  I was able to hang on but not without some cursing.....isn't that my style these days.....when I could barely hang on.

Several things I will say about the ride.  The first is that the rest stop was 32 miles into the ride and Tom Hammell knows quite well how I look for that rest stop at 25 miles....or less.   The second thing is that when I got to the rest stop...there were Oreo cookies covered with peanut butter and a slice of banana as well as some water.  That's it???  Very poor nutrition for riding that far at a fast pace.   Needless to say I was very disappointed.  I finally asked one of the serving people to give me a half of a banana with peanut butter and skip the cookie.   He cheerfully obliged thank goodness!

There was a crash in the faster group....yes a faster group....which I was not in...thank goodness.  One cyclist hit the front guy and the gal behind him crashed into him.  He was obviously in a lot of pain as I found out later he broke his collarbone.  The gal, who also went down....well her carbon bike broke apart near the back wheel.  I feel for her as the bike was totally trashed.

Photos the group I rode with today.

 
The second photo is Natalia who inadvertently was left out of the first photo.  She has only been riding about five months and she is already riding strong!


Here is a little history about Ave Maria which is where the rest stop was located.

http://www.wired.com/2014/04/rawfile_0404_ave-maria/

And Then There Were Lights

Saturday November 29th

My neighbors, Marci and Jen, and Jen's two girls helped with the decorating.  It's the first time I have decorated in so long.

Yes this is my new home now complete with lights!

Ft. Myers Beach Sand Sculptures

November 24th

Two of my neighbors and I went to the annual Ft. Myers Beach Sandsculpting competition.  The photos speak for themselves and there are many.   There may be too many but I wanted to make sure that you get to see all of the ones I found interesting.

As the week continues they build more.  The event is only in its third day so there will be many more.

Enjoy!!

 

Here are some of the scultptors in action

 

Nothing Needs to Be Said About this Post

Friday November 1st

Gelato at Norman Love's Chocolate shop.    I had just finished a big lunch but my friend Marci indulged.

Happenings in and Around Bonita Springs

Sunday November 23rd

It has been quiet for me these past few weeks since I have been working with four other neighbors getting bids for a "cage" for my patio. What that means is nothing more than putting a screen enclosure over my concrete patio.  We have interviewed several different companies over the past few weeks and are about to make our decision.  It has left little time for exploring.  I did spend some time with family here to celebrate my brother's birthday on November 17th.  It was fun and I will leave those photos out of the blog.

I decided to get back out there and find some new things to explore in and around the area.  The last day or two were definite winners.  My niece and her two children were in visiting for the holidays and we managed to play miniature golf with her, her two children and my brother and his wife.  Now it has been ages since I played last but I did ok.  We played at Congo River Miniature Golf  as a last minute thing..  This place was pretty big and had small alligators in a pond at the end of the game.   Go figure.  Alligators....small or large give me the shivers.  I can't seem to get away from those creatures!

We did go for a bite to eat afterwards to Culvers....Home of the Concrete Mixer.  What is that you ask?  It's nothing more than frozen custard with two blend ins.  I chose double peanut butter blended in with cookie dough custard.  Yum.

http://www.culvers.com/flavor-of-the-day/

On Sunday morning I was walking the dogs and ended up walking with a couple who spotted a five foot alligator on the banks of someone's back yard.  The owner had her dog with her and the couple I met quickly yelled that there was an alligator nearby....a five foot one!  He must have been looking for a snack.  The owner called across the pond a hearty Thank You and quickly put her four legged furry family member in the screened-in patio.  This couple said that they saw another one near their home and it was seven feet.  Yep...this must be the Everglades.  Alligators...sheesh....I just better get used to seeing them and sharing the area with them.

This afternoon I stopped by a local farmer's vegetable and fruit stand.  Yummy.  There were samples. Watermelon and cantaloupe.  I was a bit disappointed, though, when I heard that the U-Pick strawberries would not be ready for another week or two.  They needed more warm nights so I will return in a few weeks to pick some.

I picked up my purchases, got back in the car and headed over to the Taste of Bonita Springs. which was not far from the farm. This event was a lot of things besides food but local restaurants did provide their menu items for tasting .....for a price of course.  There were rows and rows of food vendors and in the end I settled for a Grilled Grouper slider from Little Hickory Island Grill and Marina Restaurant which is between Bonita Beach and Ft Myers Beach.  Well worth the price.  I will definitely look up this restaurant when I am near the beach again.

To my surprise there were many other things going on at the Taste of Bonita Springs.


Some classic.....and not so classic cars

Music with a female vocalist scantily clad.  She sang pretty good too!

And one of the best parts of the event.....the parrots.  This one is Max.   Star performer.   He even played dead when a little boy pretended to shoot Max with a (unloaded ) squirt gun.  Max just turned upside down, closed his eyes .......and waited for the applause....and the donations to the Everglades Park attraction which cares for these beautiful birds.

Here is Smurfie..

Can you guess why he's called that?  He is the largest Macau bird in the world....and very photogenic too! 

It was a hot afternoon....bright sun at a temp of 85 degrees.  I was starting to melt and after saying goodbye to Smurfie I headed back home.

Bonita Springs has a lot to offer that I haven't even begun to explore.  Stay tuned for more of those offerings!

Lovers Key State Park

Thursday November 6th

It's been fairly quiet over the last week or so for me.   Working on getting things done in and around the house so there was not much time for play.  However, with temps going up to 85 degrees, it was the perfect day to be outdoors. 

I was awoken this morning to the sound of "Fire" from the smoke detector at 5:30 AM!   I jumped out of bed to check the house and of course it was a malfunction of the detector.   Yet another call to the builder to have this thing checked out.  They couldn't come today but will be here on Friday so I decided to make today my fun and exploration day.

I went to the Thursday farmer's market and picked up some fresh veggies and a Maine crab cake.  Yum.  After lunch I headed to the beach area where there is a state park called Lovers Key.

Here is a map that I was able to download while hiking on the Black Island Trail in the park.

http://www.floridastateparks.org/loverskey/doc/additionalinformation/loverskeySPmap.pdf


As I entered the park of course there was an entry fee.  Lucky for me I was solo today and the fee was only $4.  Two or more is $8.   As I had only planned to be there for a few hours $4 was reasonable.

Here are some signs along the way.

The Black Trail is approximately 2.6 miles round trip and has several shortcuts so that you walk the trail part of the way and get back if you are short on time like me.  I also have plans to come back for a ranger led bike tour in a few weeks so I didn't want to spoil that.   On my way back I saw a Gopher Tortoise.  Look closely at the picture as the turtle is in the brush.

I had been looking for these turtles near the water but they are land turtles...at least some of the time.  I even heard this turtle munching on some dry grass.   Very cool to see one.   There is a lot to see and I am sure that I missed a lot of it so I am looking forward to going back in a few weeks! I continued on the trail and went back to the car.  Still more to explore in the park I drove to the beach area and parked in as shaded an area as I could find.

Yes....there is a beach that is in this nature preserve.   Surprise surprise.  It was more of a cove.  On one end they were working out replacing sand due to erosion.   On the other side of the cove the beach ended in the trees.

 Many beaches have boardwalks and trams that take you .....and you chair and umbrella....right to the beach!

 One end of the beach.  People had set up their chairs and umbrellas through those trees although they are hard to see.

I

It was very windy on the beach which caused this yellow flag to be posted.  The water was chilly so other than sticking my feet in the water for a very short time and there was no way I was putting any more of myself in that colder, choppy water.   I have gotten very spoiled since moving here and if the water in the Gulf is not warm I don't swim.

Here are some other sites throughout the park.  

This park reminded me of a mini Island Beach State Park.

 Here is a link to more park information.


 http://www.floridastateparks.org/loverskey/



One last thing that I thought would interest most of my fellow cyclists.  I have never seen tires so big....not even on a beach cruiser!  They were like mini car tires!  There were two ladies riding a bike like this but I was not quick enough to get a photo of them.

On my way home I couldn't resist taking a photo of this sign.

This dog beach is part of Bonita Springs.



I will continue to explore the area and hopefully find more gems like Lovers Key!