Edison Ford Winter Estates(02-23-13)

On the west coast of Florida, Ft.Myers was the winter home  of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.  Being a Ford retiree, they were high on Paul’s list of things to see, here in the Ft. Myers area. 

Believe it or not, all of the tree trunks in this picture belong to a single Banyan Tree. Covering almost one acre, it’s one of the largest Banyan trees in the world.  It was given to Edison by Harvey Firestone.

We started the day a little later than we should have, and could have used more time.  We elected to take the boat tour  to get a different perspective of the estate. It included lunch at the adjacent yacht club.  Apparently we were supposed to eat in one specific room, but we didn’t know that and took a seat outside.  They were nice enough to let us stay, and enjoy the view.





Anyway, Thomas Edison started visiting Ft. Myers in the 1880s, when the population was just 349.  He liked the area for not only for his ability to relax near the water and fish, but also because of the variety of plants, which he needed to conduct his botanical experiments.  He spent the last few years of his life trying to find a domestic source for rubber. Although he was technically successful in that endeavor, he never found an affordable, abundant source, and his research was discontinued a few years after his death.

After their first meeting in 1896, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison became great friends, and in 1916, Edison convinced Ford to purchase the house next door, and both families spent time here every winter, although Henry usually only stayed a few weeks and Edison spent most winters working here.

The museum was a wealth of information about Thomas Edison.  Somehow there is always too much information in most museums to take it all in, and this  one was no exception, but I did learn so many things that I became in awe of the things that Edison, as well as so many others of his time, like Harvey Firestone, and Henry Ford accomplished.

Born in 1847, in Ohio, his family soon moved to Port Huron, MI.  As a youngster, Edison did so poorly in school that his teacher thought he was “addled”, and his mother pulled him out just months after he started. From that point on, he was home schooled and self taught. He became hard of hearing very early in life, which is a little ironic, since he invented the phonograph (he also invented the first movie camera).  Later in life he would listen by biting the wood casing of the phonograph to feel the vibration. He taught his second  wife Morse code so they could communicate without her having to yell in public.  He proposed to her by tapping the words onto her hand.

By the age of 18, Edison had been working for years as a telegraph operator. He already considered himself to be an inventor, and some of his earliest inventions were improvements to the telegraph system. Although we associate Edison with the light bulb, he didn’t invent it.  What he did invent was the first commercially practical incandescent bulb. He went on to patent an electricity distribution system, to further solidify the practical use for the light bulb. As of 1890 all of his business interests had been combined to create Edison General Electric Company.  Two years later, he and one of his adversaries pooled resources in order to ensure the commercial success of electricity, and the word Edison was dropped from the company name, leaving it as General Electric Company. He soon moved on to new projects and left other inventors to work on products that would make use of this electricity.  Some of the earliest inventions included the fan, the iron, the electric coffee pot, and the sewing machine motor.

Edison was so prolific, he was awarded 1093 U.S. patents, and received at least one patent every year for over 60 years.

Recovering from Keys Disease (02-16-13)

Our leaving the Florida Keys coincided with a cold front that arrived.  Both events served as a “wake up” call to me. I literally felt like I was coming out of daze that had gripped me for the 6 weeks that we were in the Keys. Life in the keys is slow, warm, sunny and revolves around eating, drinking, and the water.  Low temperatures at night were in the 70s, so putting on pants and a jacket were a fairly rare occurrence. When we left, the temperature at night dropped into the 40s, with a high in the mid 50s the next day.  What a difference!

Luckily, before that all happened, we were able to squeeze in a few fun outings.  We took a snorkel trip out to Sombrero Lighthouse one day.  It’s a half hour boat trip out to the reef, and I enjoyed every minute of the trip.

   Not everyone did, however, because by the time we got to the reef, the seas were a bit rough and a few people weren’t feeling very well.  I had a little trepidation about heading into the water with 2-3 swells, and Paul could tell I was a little nervous.  I put on a BC vest to keep me more buoyant, even though he and I had both opted for full wetsuits. The water was pretty warm, but any water can feel cold  when you’re in it for an hour.



  I was completely surprised by the whole snorkel experience.  First, the water roughness wasn’t much of an issue. It was “swelly” but it wasn’t too “choppy”.  Secondly, having snorkeled in awesome snorkel locations all over the Caribbean, I wasn’t expecting Florida to measure up.  I was pleased and surprised by the quantity and variety of fish we saw. 

   We had dinner out another couple of times, taking advantage of the warm weather and all restaurants on the water. 

We also enjoyed the wildlife that came to visit while we were eating our $.25 shrimp at Sparky’s Landing. Actually, Paul ate the shrimp- he said they were great.  I don’t like shrimp.

 

So, immediately after leaving the Keys, life snapped somewhat back to normal.  At least, what we consider to be normal for us.  One of the perks of the cooler weather was that we could sit by the campfire.  The weather actually felt nice, kind of like “Fall” was in the air.

We  took advantage of being near Everglades National Park to hike several of the nearby trails.  The 2 mile long Marsh Trail took us past a flock of Roseate Spoonbills, beautiful pink and white birds.... 

 ...

 and a small meadow full of butterflies.


 

  Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk is a mile long walk through a swampy area.   In addition to the turtles, alligators and exotic birds, we saw a young Bald Eagle.  Unfortunately, neither of the parents were around, but it was still neat to see the eaglet.

The Sun and the Sea (02-08-13)

Our stay in the Florida Keys is drawing to a close.  We have one more week before we start the (very) slow trek northward.  Our month here has had a completely different feel to it than our everyday life. It’s really felt more like a vacation than anywhere else has felt.  I am sure it has a lot to do with the ocean, the warmth, and that sense of “island time”.  I would love to come back again next winter, but odds are, that’s not going to happen- for several reasons.  First, our Jell-o plan is to head across Canada, from east to west, dipping down into the U.S. whenever we want to, or feel we need to.  That will leave us on, or near the west coast next autumn.  Although I suppose we could run all the way back here, it doesn’t make any sense to do that.  When you add to that the cost of staying in the Keys, which is more than double the highest rate (for a month stay) that we’ve paid anywhere else, now it really makes no sense.  We knew when we came here that it was a treat that wouldn’t be repeated anytime soon. Unless we win the lottery, of course.  Anyway, although it’s been great, there is much more to do when we spend the winter Arizona.

I got my new camera back from Panasonic- it works perfect now, and was covered under warranty.  I haven’t used it much because most of my pictures have been taken out on the water, and although I bring my phone, for emergency purposes, I don’t bring a camera on the ocean.  It can get pretty rough, pretty fast, and  salt water doesn’t mix too well with electronics.

     We have finally gotten to put the dinghy in, and have spent 3 days out on the water, exploring different keys.  The only snorkeling I did was “cheater” snorkeling- sticking my mask and snorkel adorned head over the side of the dinghy.  Not graceful, by any means.

On nearby Duck Key numerous multi-million dollar homes line the beautiful canals that wind their way through the island. We had ridden our bikes all through this key, so it was interesting to see the homes from the water too.

Some of the homes face the bay, instead of the canal.  Prices start at 1.9 million.  Anyone interesting in splitting a house with us? Ha!

The keys aren’t known for their beaches, which became very evident when it took us three days to discover this tiny little beach.  By the time we did, it was late in the day and getting too cool to go for a swim.  Of course, when we get hot, we can just jump in the water, but “jumping” back in the boat is not that easy for me anymore!

For the last few days we’ve been following the Nor'easter that found it’s way to Boston. Anytime there is a snow storm of this magnitude, it reminds many New Englanders of the great “Blizzard of ‘78”.  That storm was one of those “moments in time” that everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing. 

These pictures of 1978 are of Rte 128, one of the major 4 lane highways outside of Boston.  I was on this road, driving home from college, less than 2 hours before this happened. A little later, and I wouldn’t have made it home for 3 days.  Thousands of people abandoned their cars, and sadly, hundreds of people died, sitting on the highway. waiting for help.  A call went out for anyone who had a snowmobile to ride to the highway and help rescue the stranded. 

  

Strangers opened their homes to those who were stuck and had no way to make it to their own homes.  Driving was banned for 3 days, and even after that, people were urged to drive only if necessary. On the first day we could drive, I drove 4 of the neighborhood moms (including my own) to the store so they could each get a few bags of groceries.

that's me, climbing around

Once the snow stopped falling,  the massive job of shoveling began.  It probably took a long time, because it sure was more fun playing in the snow, than it was shoveling it!



my dad, brother Ray and I work on the fort



After the work was done, we built the best snow fort ever. 












my cat explores the tunnel




We had two huge “snow rooms” with a 10 foot tunnel connecting them. It was a family project!

my brother Richie helps with the fort

I have great memories of that storm, but it doesn’t mean I am sad to have missed out on the Blizzard of 2013!

Interior Decorating (01-30-13)

A lot of people who live in motorhomes or 5th wheels put a lot of thought and effort into decorating it.  I don’t.  Of course, that’s not totally true but I figure that the trailer came “decorated” and I feel no need to replace the curtains, add wallpaper or do any other heavy duty decorating, so for the first year, we made very few changes or additions. Now that we’ve had the trailer a while, we have started to do more to make it “ours”.  When we had the Sticks and Bricks, our tastes leaned towards “Caribbeanesque”, from the wicker kitchen furniture to the framed charts in the family room.  I guess we are headed in that same direction now that we have started to personalize the trailer more. 


Our first decoration was put up soon after we bought the trailer and was one we brought from the house. It’s a pretty good symbol of our preferred lifestyle.

Fast forward a year, and we found this gem when we were hunting through our storage unit for something.  It’s not really in keeping with our Margaritaville theme, but the clock is a hubcap from a Thunderbird and was given to Paul by co-workers when he moved from MA to MI, so it has a lot of sentimental value.

We also found this guy in storage, and finally got him up on the wall.

I think part of our decorating frenzy is due to us being here in the Florida Keys, where the lifestyle fits us so well.  We found this the other day, and it’s already up on the wall.

Of course, we don’t too much wall space anyway, so we have to make sure that everything that goes on the wall matters to us.

I also finally finished a project that I had been working on, on and off, for about 7 years- my latest cross stitch project.

It’s a little big, but we did put it in the bathroom ( I originally bought it to hang in our bathroom in the house).  It feels good to have it finished, framed, and on the wall!

Other than that, we haven’t been too busy.   This is as close as we have gotten to putting the  boat in the water.  We have promised each other that we will make the supreme effort of actually putting it in the water tomorrow.  The wind hasn’t died down much, but if we don’t go out too far, it shouldn’t effect us.

While we were in Key Largo, someone told us about Key Largo Fisheries, where the fish you buy is fresh off the boats.  We bought stone crab for Paul and fresh Mahi for us for dinner.  It was SO good, we did the same thing we did in Flagstaff when we found the best Mexican food we’d ever had.  Instead of experimenting further, we went to the same place the next day.  We are enjoying taking advantage of all the terrific fresh fish down here.

With no hiking available, we’ve been trying to bike as much as possible, and since we have a decent pool here, I’ve been taking advantage of that.  They also have a daily aqua aerobics class, but I haven’t been motivated enough to join in.