Our fun filled winter in Ft. Myers, now, time to head home

March 11, 2002 - Our fun filled winter in Ft. Myers, now, time to head home

Dear Friends,

It's been awhile since I have written, so bear with me while I try to get revved up again. My the time does fly when you are having fun. It seems like we just got here and it is now time to leave Ft. Myers and start our trip home. We had a great winter here and managed to stay busy most of the time, with the kids visits, Doug's visit and MY SPRAINED FOOT, and catching up with all the St. Joe. friends who vacation in the area. I have to say that foot thing did slow me down quite a bit. That event happened the night before Doug arrived, so he got the chore, or pleasure(?),of pushing me around in the wheel chair. I have to say that I failed miserably with the crutches. Doug was a big help. He even had to help Bill put together a few meals while I soaked and put ice on the foot. It is better now, but it has been very slow in healing. When Doug was here we cruised over to Ft. Myers Beach for a couple of days to people watch. It was fun having Doug with us even though I was pretty laid up. We went down to Naples one day to the Bell's and spent the day with them, the Heth's and Suzy and Joe. The guys went for a boat ride and the girls visited. Fun. Bev and Tom arrived Feb. 1 and we played with them quite a bit. Golf, lots of tennis and, of course, shopping. Boy, that month really went fast. Mary Golf and sister Betty visited Bev and we did the flea market with them. Mary and John Pielemeier also visited them and it was fun to get together. Then Dave and Pam, Madelyn and Daniel arrived to spend a week on the boat.

GREAT FUN. We took them by boat over to Ft. Myers beach for a couple of days, and then cruised over to Sanibel and Bev and Tom met us to show us where to find the best shells. Ft. Myers Beach is about a 3 hour boat ride along the Caloosahatchee River, and Sanibel is not far from the beach. We saw lots of dolphins playing in our wake and the kids really got a kick out of them. Once we were in Ft. Myers Beach we could walk to the beaches and town, which was nice for the kids. It was such fun to have the kids here as we just don't get to see them enough and the week just flew by.

I think half of St. Joe is in this area this winter. The Bells and the Heth's are in Naples and then the Fowlers arrived and we hope to see them before we leave. Lynn and Dick Ward are in Bonita Springs and we went down there for dinner the other night and Bill and Dick played golf today and Lynn and I shopped a bit. Oh gosh, Bill played golf with Dick Bell too in Naples at his lovely club. Bill has been working on his golf game with little success - hope his navigation skills are better than his golf game. Speaking of golf, Bill played a number of times with John Chiviges', and Mar and I had fun exploring the shops. As you can see, we kept very busy. We even drove over to Sanibel and had lunch at Grandma Dots Restaurant with Arlene and Jack. AND another day we spent the afternoon with Joan and Keith Paul (our neighbor at West Basin) and had lunch at their lovely spot on Sanibel.

Well, enough of our social life. I'm sure I'll leave someone out of my report, but please forgive me.

We have met some lovely people here at the marina and maybe we'll run into some of them again as we all make our way around the waterways.

Now, for our plan. Weather permitting, of course.

On Thursday March 14th, we plan on leaving Ft. Myers and cruising to Naples where we will stay until Saturday the 16th when we will go to Marco Island. Suzy is planning on playing with us while we are in Naples, so that should be fun. Then when we get to Marco Island ,Carol and John Patton will be there and we will have dinner Saturday night with them.

Nancy and Chuck Worthington are there too and we hope to see them. We planned to see Patt and Bill Johnson there also, but I know you all know about the sadness in their family and I'm sure they won't be there. Then on Sunday, Jo and Ralph arrive to join us for our cruise to Key West on the 19and to spend time with us exploring Key West. The other half of St. Joe. is in Key West vacationing ( Haights, Maddocks, and the Edmunds) so I'm sure we'll get together to play. The Bells and Sinns are going to be there too for a few days.

We plan to leave Key West around April 1 and begin our adventure again into foreign waters. There will be lots to see and explore.

Stay tuned.