Seminole Lodge, Edison's Winter House, Fort Myers, Florida

Thomas Edison and Henry Ford were very good friends.  Edison completed his winter house in 1887 and named it Seminole Lodge.  His friend bought the property next door off Robert Smith and is was called The Mangoes, a craftsmen style bungalow built in 1911.

See here Edison and Ford Winter Estates.

Edison had all the lumber transported down from the north, where as Ford's home was built from the local cedar wood which is bug resistant.  Edison's house always had problems with the wood work being eaten and Ford's did not.

These photos are of Thomas Edison's house.

Florida, Naples Beach Lovely, Parking Tickets, Atrocious

The beach at Naples, Florda is very nice, but the parking is not user friendly.  I read the parking sign over several times and felt that I was good to park where I did.  We bought a ticket to take us up to 6:00 PM after which time I thought the parking was free, wrong.  I think the only time there is free parking is between 1:00 AM to 2:00 AM.  why didn't they just say, pay anytime you park here, day or night.  So needless to say we received a parking fine.  In fact even the Moon guide book says Naples is not tourist friendly for parking, they should underline that and put it in red.  You can't contest it because you have to appear in person.  Now I'm going to fly back to Florida to contest it!

Other than that we spent a lovely afternoon on the beach.

This little boy took off and his older brother was in hot pursuit to get him back, they were so cute.

In contemplation, I'm not sure about what.

A swim, then a good read on the beach, what could be nicer.

Christy

Air Boat Ride In The Everglades

I wanted Rob to experience an air boat ride on the Everglades and he did enjoy it.  It's not actually in the National Park area, but was in the area of the Everglades owned by the Indians.  As you can see I already have water on my lens, from the fast ride the captain takes you on, just as starters.

These mangrove trees are named by the Indians "Walking Trees" and you can see why.

This is a big old gator called Bucket Head.  He has been relocated here because of causing trouble.  The captain kept moving away from him, he's not to be trusted and they can jump right out of the water.

Christy

Collier-Seminole State Park

Collier-Seminole State Park All the reports I read on this park were negative, and we only stayed here because we had to.  After the drive across the Everglades we needed to make camp, but as it turned out, it was the cheapest of all the state parks to stay and and the bathrooms were very clean, I think there were only three people camping in the entire park.  I liked the park, but of course mosquitoes are fierce and that's probably why people don't like it here.

We didn't get to see this area until the morning and then we were ready to get on out for the day, or else we might have spent a little time here in the evening.  You can go kayaking here, but I don't know if I'd fancy it, there are a lot of large alligators in this area especially, right on the edge of the Everglades.  Plus escaped Burmese pythons, I wouldn't fancy meeting one of those.

Christy

Driving The Everglades

Driving across the Florida Eveglades is a long, lonely, hot drive, which you either want to do early in the morning or later in the day or evening.  By the time we got there is was about 5:00 PM so just about the right time, because we did not want to drive it in the dark.  For us going at about 45 to 50 mph it is just around a two hour drive, a bit more if I remember rightly.

The road across is call the Tamiami Trail and is straight across the Everglades.

For us with no air conditioning windows are all wide open.  Thank goodness for old fashioned wing windows, do you remember those on the old cars?

A road crew working on the road.

Some spectacular skies.

The Everglades are sight worth seeing and is a National Park Area.

Christy

Cheese Le Chevrot, Comte and Zamorano

My second lot of cheeses came from my cheese of the month club.  A French Le Chevrot from the Loire River Valley in France.  A goat's milk cheese handmade near the province of Poitou, bordering on the Loire Valley to the southwest.  At first Mr B tried a piece and did not like it, and I wasn't sure if I did either.  But I must say the taste has totally grown on me and especially on a nice cracker.

Comte also a French cheese but from a totally different region, the Jura Mountains bordering Switzerland, the taste did remind me a little of Swiss cheeses. These dairy cows graze on the high pastures of the mountain plateaus.  It says that professional tasters can taste over 200 aromatic components in Comte.  My taste buds must not be so refined.  A nice tasting cheese.

Third and I think my favourite out of the three was a cheese from Spain, Zamorano.  From the province of Zamoran just over the Pyrenees from France.  It is made from the milk of Castilian and Churra breeds of sheep native to this province.  Mr B. liked this cheese best too.  He said our taste must be more peasant, than the aristocratic tastes of the Loire region.  Speak for yourself dear, we all have a little aristocracy in us.

Left the Comte, top the Zamorano and the round one obviously is the Le Chevrot.

I do enjoy my cheeses with a nice glass of my homemade wine.

Christy