Thursday, March 20th - Monday March 24th

Thursday

Well, when Cordell and Kurt got up this morning, their sunburned heads didn’t look any better. They call each other “sun brothers”.

 

 

Kurt and Ruthie made a trip to the Naples Zoo. Since Cordell and I have already been there twice this year, we decided to stay behind and do some geocaching.

 

Some new caches had been placed in old Fort Myers and we decided to check them out. One of them took us to Fort Myers Cemetery where we were directed to the grave of Edgar J. Watson who may have been the malicious killer who ambushed the Queen Outlaw Belle Starr.

 

 

This cemetery looked very different from the ones I usually visit because there are palm trees here. I usually associate palm trees with places to spend a vacation.

 

 

 

Other trees had Spanish moss hanging in them.

 

 

 

Even though it was a bit chilly until the sun burned off the clouds, we ate lunch at an outside restaurant.

 

 

I saw an especially colorful shrub that was in full bloom.
 

 

 

Cordell didn’t wear a hat today in an attempt to even out the sunburn on his forehead. He also took a nap in the sun on our lanai.

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped by the field on our way home so I could pick some more tomatoes. We are all enjoying these delicious vine ripened tomatoes and we are going to miss having them until they are ready back home.

 

 

 

 

Friday

 

We hung around the condo this morning and just took it easy.

 

After lunch, we went to the movies where we saw “God’s Not Dead”.  We all agreed that this was a very good movie and we recommend it. During one scene, the audience cheered and clapped when student Josh Wheaton asks his Professor Radisson how can he hate someone he doesn’t believe exists. A lot of the audience sang along with the Newsboys at the end of the movie.

 

 

When we left the theater, we took Kurt and Ruthie with us to find some more geocaches. A couple of them were at a park where manatees can often be seen. However, there weren’t any there for us today. During our walk through the park, we learned how much humans and manatees are alike. There was an exhibit that I compared the bones in a manatee’s flipper with those in my hand.

 

 

We have fully corrupted Kurt and Ruthie and they registered a geocaching account. This was the first official find for Penn54.

 

Saturday

 

We said farewell to Kurt and Ruthie this morning as they left us to go back home. We had a very enjoyable week with them and are grateful that we could spend this time together.

 

 

 

Cordell and I drove over to Cape Coral and onto Pine Island which is about a 30 minute drive from Fort Myers.  It is the largest island in the state of Florida measuring 17 miles long and 2 miles wide. It has no large beaches or traffic lights and retains a small town atmosphere.
 

 

 

We spent several hours looking for geocaches on the island and some of them took us into tropical woods. We did encounter some mosquitoes which we haven’t experienced a lot yet.

 

 

At one cache site I noticed a beautiful red bloom on a shrub that looked like it was dead. Upon closer inspection I did see some very small green leaf buds.

 

 

Sunday
 

Today we attended services at Peace Community Church which is about an 8 minute drive from our condo. It is a nondenominational church which meets in The Masonic Lodge.

 

One of our favorite storytellers, Kim Weitkamp was giving a concert there later in the afternoon, so we decided to check out the facility. Every Sunday, this church has a countdown to worship in which there is a period of singing songs before the actual service begins. To me, it seems to be a wonderful way to prepare one’s heart. The congregation was very warm and friendly.

 

 

We returned to listen to Kim’s stories and since it was a very small venue, we had time to chat with her before and after her concert. She resides in southwest Virginia so she was enjoying spending a few days in the warm sunshine too.

 

 

 

Monday

Shortly after we awoke this morning it began to rain a little. We were hopeful that the sky would clear when we saw a rainbow across the lake. It is the first rainbow we have seen during our time here this year.
 

 

 

So, what is there to do when the Sunshine State isn’t sunny? We went to the movies along with a lot of other snow birds. There was an extended line of people waiting to buy tickets when we arrived. I pulled out my smart phone and ordered tickets on line. I was able to receive a text message with a QR symbol that was scanned by the ticket taker and we bypassed all those people waiting in line. We saw The Monuments Men and enjoyed a bit of history along with the entertainment.