Fort Myers - Feb 15-17

We left the Everglades and crossed the state west on Highway 41, the Tamiami Trail, which I thought sounded like an old Native American word until Russ decoded it for me as the “Tampa to Miami” trail. This road is also known as “Alligator Alley” and that name fits wells. The road runs through the sawgrass prairie that covers most of Southern Florida with a cutout channel paralleling the road for much of the crossing. This channel is full of Southern Florida critters and on this day most of them were out sunning themselves.  I lost count of the number of alligators I saw.  And there were lots and lots of turtles, herons, egrets, vultures and even a bald eagle.

This road must also be the world capital for airboat rides.  Every mile or so, there were signposts urging us to stop for an airboat ride, a gator show and authentic native food, including gator. I imagine if you took a plane ride over the area, you would see crisscrossing water channels and lots of small lakes, offering lots of fishing and full of airboats skittering about. We are going to have to come back some day and ride one of those airboats… I don’t know about the alligator sandwiches though.

We spent a very pleasant day at the Henry Ford and Thomas Edison Winter Estates.  Ford and Edison were close friends (Edison mentored Ford and helped him get his first factory up and running) and they spent many years vacationing together, first on camping trips in the Everglades and then in Fort Myers, where they bought adjoining homes on large properties. The two men spent a good part of their vacation developing research programs on rubber sources that could grow in the U.S. They changed their properties into a research park, full of experimental tropical plants. While they were never successful at finding a rubber source, they did create a beautiful botanical garden. I really enjoyed getting a look at what life was for the rich in the early 1900s.

Another day, we went south of Fort Myers to Sanibal Island which was billed as being a great place to find shells. While we found lots of shells, they were all alike and very tiny. Still, it was nice to spend an afternoon sitting on a very pretty beach. I made up for the puny shells by shopping at a very "Old Florida tourist" Shell Shop.

So far, I am impressed with the Gulf side of Florida. It feels like time has slowed down, the people seem to drive slower and conversations are even slower. I think it is a requirement to own a truck and a fishing boat. Housing seems to be bimodal; either large new houses in well landscaped developments or small 50’s cracker houses with large swamp coolers on the roof.

We continue north to Sarasota.

Edison bought an existing home and then added a second home to host the company that he invited down to Florida. The homes were adjoined by a breezeway.



I loved the architecture - it had many of the same features that are on our home which was built in 1935. All the home needed was a coat of yellow paint and I would have been ready to move in.



 

Ford's home was about the same size as Edison's. He actually bought the adjoining property and built the house. While Edison would spend the entire winter in Fort Myers, Edison usually only stayed two weeks a year.

 

A statue of Henry Ford.



There were several large banyan trees in the gardens. The tree sends out vines which plant themselves in the earth and form additional trunks. The trees can spread over several acres.

 

The properties border Tampa Bay with beautiful water views.





The gardens featured lots of orchids.




The houses were not mansions. At the time the houses were in use, it was difficult to get down to Fort Myers. The trains went only as far as Tampa and the roads were not in great shape. Everything had to be freighted in.




The Edison house was decorated as it was in the 1910s. They entertained a lot which is why they built the second adjoining house to provide guest rooms while retaining privacy for their family.

The Edison master bedroom.



Edison designed this light fixture as well as all the other light fixtures in the house.



The Ford house was decorated in the style of the 1930s. You could see the Mission style influence on the furniture.



The garage housed several Ford cars.



Sanibal Island has several beaches. We went to the one on the southern tip, called Lighthouse beach. Fort Myers is in the distance.

Russ is demonstrating the Sanibal crouch, very popular amongst those who are shelling.

I got high tech with a shell collector.  You can see how small the shells are.

Several dolphins spent quite a bit of time just offshore.  I wonder if they were watching us and were interested in what we were doing.