Cape Coral #6

It was extremely windy today, but with temperatures reaching the low 80’s, we were able to “tolerate” it.

 

 

We went geocaching in Cape Coral for the 6^th time this winter. The area we visited today was obviously where the tornado passed through a few weeks ago. We saw several homes with blue tarps on their roofs. I have never seen the aftermath of a tornado and it impressed me to see homes that were damaged while others weren’t even touched. We also saw some areas of fallen trees. I am glad I did not have first hand knowledge of this damage when we were under the tornado watches and warnings at our condo.

 

 

We ate lunch at the Star Light Diner which we found last week while looking for a geocache that was placed there.

 

 

We were seated in the Elvis Corner which brought back my memories as a teenager who was crazy over him. Oldies were the only music being played.

 

 

This time, Cordell got to have his photo taken with Marilyn Monroe.

 

 

A sign in the ladies room advising to wash hands was quite different from what I have normally seen in other rest rooms.

 

 

Cordell saw this sign in the men’s room where John Wayne is quoted as saying, “A man’s got to do what a man’s got do”.

 

 

We stopped by a Walmart where Cordell saw a woman riding on a man’s lap while he was seated in a motorized wheel chair.

 

 

This super Walmart is so huge and motorized wheel chairs are a nice convenience. Sometimes, I am so tired that I almost wish I could use one, too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Venturing out a bit.

Since I was feeling a little better, we made a couple more geocaching trips to Cape Coral on Saturday and Monday. Founded in 1957 and developed as a master-planned, pre-platted community, it is known as a "Waterfront Wonderland", with over 400 miles of navigable waterways and it has more miles of canals than any other city in the world. Twenty percent of the population is seasonal residents.

 

 

Our caching adventures have taken us to some places that still look like old Florida even though they are smack in the middle of developed areas.

 

 

 

I really liked these cacti plants that were growing in the wild.

 

 

Sometimes, we find the strangest things left at caching sites. Today, it was this mailbox with an address still on it. I felt sure the geocache was inside it, but after wandering around in the woods a while, Cordell found the cache hidden in the moss beside the tree.

 

 

Another cache took us to a large banyan tree.

 

 

This is not the largest banyan tree we have seen in Florida, but the roots are still very impressive to me.

 

 

When we had lunch at Chick-fil-A, I noticed that they have tiny containers of cheerios on their condiment bar. I think this is a good idea that would be very popular in all their restaurants.

 

 

 

I met Elvis at the Starlight Diner. Unfortunately, we had already eaten lunch, but I am pretty sure we will return another day. Marilyn Monroe is inside the diner.

 

 

 

It was a bit unusual for me to see this lilac and white colored fire hydrant rather than one that is painted red or yellow.

 

 

We drove past a construction site where Cordell spotted a worker crouched high on the top of a building. We were not sure just what his job was, but it might have been interesting to stick around and see what he did.

 

 

I had put a pot roast in the crock pot early Friday morning and it was nice to have dinner ready to eat shortly after we got back home.

 

 

 

 We enjoyed a short walk through the neighborhood after dinner

 

 

 

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Sunday morning we had a very pretty sunrise. Most days it has either been too cloudy or too foggy to see the sun until closer to 10:00 a.m. when it is higher in the sky.

 

 

 

In the afternoon, we left straight from church and drove to Naples. We spent some time at Freedom Park while looking for a difficult geocache that was placed just off the trail.

 

 

 

Before I made the awesome discovery, we saw a black snake near the cache site.

 

 

While reviewing wildlife sightings posted at the Nature Center, I noticed that someone else had already posted the black snake. Had I viewed this board before we took our hike and saw the alligator sighting posted, I would probably have been a bit more cautious.

 

 

Cordell isn’t often daunted while looking for a well hidden geocache. It took a long time to find this one which was a tube glued on the back side of a tiny seashell and placed inside a recess of this boulder. It is one of the most difficult hides we have ever found and I know I never would have gone to the effort needed to retrieve it.

 

 

 

On Tuesday, if Punxsutawney Phil had been in Southwest Florida, he would have easily seen his shadow for we had a beautiful sunshiny day. The highest temp I noticed was 86°. We met our local friend, Brian, and the three of us spent almost the entire day finding 40 geocaches in Lehigh Acres.

 

 

 

 

We had as much fun together as a barrel of monkeys.

 

 

 

We learned that this area received a record setting 12+ inches of rain during this past January when the average is under 2 inches. We know that it interfered with a lot of our fun. I sure am glad that we have 3 months here and feel very sorry for the folks who only had one week of vacation during some of those wet and chilly days.

 

Today, Wednesday, we were able to eat our breakfast on the lanai.

 

 

 

The scenery and warm temperature makes my medicine go down better!

 

 

Cordell spent some time planning more caching adventures for us and for our friends, Barb and Jim who will be joining us here later in the month.