December in Legacy Harbor and on to Naples

Well it has been a while since I posted and I am sorry but we have been pretty busy waiting for happy hours and sunsets each day. Seriously, we have done quite a bit and we have connected with several people from the North. You might remember that our daughter and my sister came for a visit and it was way to short but we have good memories. We visited the Thomas Edison winter retreat in Fort Myers. The whole estate was donated to Florida and they have done a great job of keeping it up and showing it to the public for a reasonable cost. My cousin Dave let us use his car for several days so we were able to drive around the area and do some shopping and dining.

Bill and Susie from our yacht club on Lake Erie picked us up for a great dinner at the Fort Myers Royal Palms Yacht Club. Len and Judy Assante, who are friends from Columbus have a place in Fort Myers and they were so generous to visit us several times and show us the sights. They took us to a wonderful place called the Turtle Club for dinner and they took us out on their pontoon boat all the way to Sanibel for a beautiful day of swimming and lunch.

Christmas was a little sad because we weren't home with family but we had a good dinner on the boat, saw a great sunset and a rainbow so it was not all bad. Many of the people in the marina went home for the Holidays so it was not very busy. Bob and Lynda from Erica Lyn stayed on their boat so we visited with them many times. Mike and Gail on Happy Hours V docked at the city marina on the 28th so we got to spend some quality time with them.

We were scheduled to leave Fort Myers on the 29th so we could be in Marathon by the 1st but we stayed until January 2 because we had two surprise visits. When we were in Michigan we met Mike and Marge and they called and said they were going to be in Orlando for a wedding on the 30th and said they could come down to Fort Myers on New Years Eve. They drove down in the afternoon and we got caught up and then went downtown for the New Years Eve celebration in the streets of Fort Myers. The city does a great job of blocking off the streets, providing music and allowing people to roam the streets. We did not make it until midnight but we had a great time anyway. The next day on the first, Ginny's brother Fred and sister in law Lyndi from California came to see us for the day. They were in Miami on business and drove over to see us.

On January 2 we got up early and left Legacy Harbour after almost more than a month and headed for Naples. Naples was only 50 miles away but we left early because the weather was supposed to get very windy. Several people who we probably won't see for a very long time, if ever came to see us off. I am not the most social guy so it always amazes me how easy it is to make friends on the water. Some friendships are casual but many are forever which is really nice because I can use all the friends I can find. We are going to stay in Naples for two days and then head to the Everglades City before arriving in Marathon sometime this week.

Thomas Edison Statue

Edison's Study

The gardens and the grounds were very well maintained

Edison Laboratory

Stephanie and Cherie in front of Coconut Jacks

Cherie on her last night before going home to Columbus

Len and Judy at the Turtle Club

Even the sign was fancy

Swimming in the Gulf in December

It seems that Ginny is not the only female captain

Christmas Night Sunset

Christmas Day Rainbow

Me, Ginny, Gail, Lynda and Bob

Mike and Gail invited us to join them and their friends from Canada for lunch.

Farmers Markets every Thursday in Fort Myers

Marge and Mike from Michigan

Elvis on New Years Eve in Fort Myers

Ginny and her baby brother Fred

Friends saying goodbye

Fort Myers Beach from the water - Notice the bridge in the background

Cousin Dave watching for crab pots

Just one of the many nice homes in Naples