Wednesday February 5th - Blessed with another beautiful day.

 

The day started off with Andy making French toast for breakfast while Sue prepared sausage. Again we enjoyed eating on the Lanai. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We spent a good part of the day at Lakes Park, which is owned by the county and is near our condo. Among other things, it has boardwalks, nature trails, bicycle and water craft rentals, two water features for children, playgrounds, picnic tables and shelters, botanic gardens and interesting statues.

 

 

This was the first cluster palm that we have seen up close and personal.

 

 

We took a  picnic lunch with us and thought about friends and family at home who were dealing with ice and rain.

 

 

 

There is a restored train engine on display along with a museum which explains the importance that railroads played in the development of this region of Florida. In the past, there were huge timber operations in the state and trains were used to transport the wood.

We took a small rail train ride through part of the park. This 1/8th scale railroad travels through the north end of Lakes Park into areas only accessible by rail.

 

 

 

The train is operated by a non-profit group and is maintained by volunteers. The 1 1/2 mile loop passes through villages, towns, scenes, lakes, woods, and goes over bridges and through tunnels.  Along the way, miniature exhibits show cities and towns in southwest Florida during that time in history.

 

 
 
 
 
 



 

 

 

Our engineer, Jerry, used a vanity mirror to keep an eye on things behind him.

 

 

 

From 1908 to 1940 catalog homes were produced in Sears, Florida, and delivered all over the U.S. These kits included all the materials needed to build a house. Many of these houses were assembled by the new homeowner and friends, relatives, and neighbors, in a fashion similar to the traditional barn-raisings of farming families. We have a friend whose present home was one of these kits, it but has been almost completely remodeled.

Of course, there are geocaches here. We found one and worked on solving another puzzle cache. 

 

 

 

On our way back to the condo we stopped to pick some vine ripe tomatoes.

 

 

 

 

We were able to drive our car into the tomato field close enough that Andy was almost able to pick one from inside the car.

We got our laptop back from the geek shop and are happy that it is back up and running. 

 

After our naps, we went to dinner. We wanted Andy and his family to experience Skip One Seafood Restaurant, which we found last week and enjoyed very much.

 

 

Janelle ordered the Sea Monster Combo which included clam, snow crab, mussels, shrimp and craw dads. Cordell was the only one who ate the craw dads.

 

Before coming back "home", we stopped and played a round of miniature golf. 

 

 

 

 

 

 Janelle fed some baby alligators that live in a pond on the course.