Highlight of the day was visiting the winter houses of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, which are on adjoining properties on the other side of Ft Myers. The houses themselves were beautiful, and both have expansive gardens with hundreds of amazing trees which have been preserved. Edison's estate includes a pool, two labs and an office set in the middle of the gardens - wait till you see the photos! I also got my first Christmas tree decoration of the trip there.
After the Edison and Ford winter houses, Pop took Barb and I to lunch at a restaurant called Sweet Tomatoes. It's an all-vegetarian all-you-can-eat buffet and I can see why Barb loves it! Needless to say, we ate enough that we haven't really eaten since... Pop and I ended going back for second desserts after he showed me the nutritient-laden dish that is chocolate brownie covered in chocolate ice cream and hot chocolate fudge. We both decided that one is never enough!
I also went for a quick ride down to the local beach, which is about 2 mi away, to see the sunset. Not too spectacular, but still well worth the ride. The weather was perfect for a ride and I ended up going about 5 mi.
This evening Pop took me down to the hall at the resort to hear the resort band play. I now have a new appreciation for school bands after discovering what a group of elderly musicians who can't hear their fold back sounds like, playing for an audience who I'm not sure really heard them. I have to laugh at the man sitting a few rows back who repeatedly stuck his hand up pointing to the roof, indicating it should be louder. The result: If I didn't know what a mic'd-up accordion sounded
Iike before, I sure do now. Ouch. They got a huge turn out though, and (mixing aside), you really have to applaud them; I've certainly never heard a band with that many years of playing between them!
Pop also taught me to play pool, and although I'm beginning to understand it, he beat me four games to none. Still, it was good fun.
Tomorrow morning we make the 3 hour drive up to Orlando, then spend the rest of the day relaxing before we hit Disneyworld on Saturday morning.
Favorite "Only In America" Thing Today: I spent almost 10 minutes trawling the aisles of the local supermarket looking for Up-n-Gos before realizing that they're Australian. Oops. Hooray for Boost Perfect Balance drinks!
Sounds like a great day. I love the look of Sweet Tomatoes. Can we have one of the in Yarraville please? What ever you do don't start placing any bets on your pool games with Pop. My instinct tells me he would be a bit of a hustler and you could lose most of your spending money.
ReplyDeleteErin from ALIA very excited about your trip when I told her today. She lived in NYC for a while and said she only ever went to standing room only shows. She said a seated ticket would have been sheer luxury.