AVA Walk #4 Fort Myers

Well, unfortunately, not ALL AVA walks are created equal. On Wednesday, I went for my 4th walk of the trip, this one in downtown Fort Myers. But I didn't end up doing the whole thing. I actually found myself feeling somewhat uncomfortable walking alone in some of the neighborhoods. And I'm smart enough to just turn back when I get to a certain level of discomfort. I would probably have gone on if I hadn't been doing the walk alone. The other thing is-downtown Fort Myers is just not very attractive. The walk route didn't seem to take me to any attractive parks, or past any interesting outdoor sculptures, or anything very nice at all. I probably got in the majority of the 10K but I honestly would not recommend this specific walk to anyone else. I don't really mind THAT much when I occasionally get disappointed by one of the AVA walks, since the majority of them are really, really nice-and I certainly get a pretty good picture of what a town is like, even if the overall impression is negative. So-I don't have any pictures to post from this walk, because there just wasn't anything I felt like taking a picture OF.

So my pictures this time are primarily of Scott and Deb's house. They left on Monday for a few days in Key West-I think they're coming back today but then leaving tomorrow to go up to the Tampa area to spend Christmas with Deb's son. They invited us to make ourselves at home while they were gone and showed us where the spare key is kept. Dave was anxious to try fishing off their wall so we went over there on Tuesday and then he went back on Wednesday, while I did my walk. It was very hospitable of them to open their house to us like this, and we really appreciated it. They have a great winter home here, right on the channel-no grass, very easy upkeep, with a nice patio, their pontoon boat, a fish-cleaning station, a little screened-in gazebo - everything you need for living the good life! Plus they have two very cute cats! I took a few pictures of their place and am posting them.

On Monday, we went to another basketball game at FGCU (Florida Gulf Coast University). It was a double header, with both the women and men's teams playing - we really do enjoy that. And they were running a special-for one additional dollar over the normal price of admission, you got a ticket good for three games between that night and January 15th. One of the three was the one we went to, but we'll definitely be going again on January 7th and January 9th. What a bargain!

Today is Friday, the day before Christmas Eve, and it is SO strange to try to actually BELIEVE that! It is in the mid-80's - as it has been every day since we got here - and the sun is shining like crazy. Dave is out in his kayak fishing right now, and I spent most of the afternoon at the pool. THAT got a little weird too, because there are a few children here now (probably because they're on Christmas vacation from school) and there were a couple of kids playing in the pool-not naughty or anything, but just kind of jumping and splashing a little-and some old lady got all bent out of shape and started in on the parents about the children being "respectful" to the old people who live in the park. It actually got a little unpleasant, and one of the guys from the park office had to step in and he ended up basically threatening to close the pool down if they couldn't reach an agreement. Yikes! I was embarassed for her because she was WAY out of line-the kids really weren't being that bad-and I felt she was giving the rest of us "old people" a bad name. I hope I never get to be that type of a grumpy old thing!!!!! (But would I even know it if I was???? Hmmm....)

So it's been kind of a quiet week-very laid back-very, very warm (low80's-but I'm not complaining!). Plus there are a few pretty nice little bars down here, and we drop in to one of them every couple of days or so. I'm posting a couple pix of our favorite one-the Low Key Tiki Bar. It's kind of neat, because it's under this thatched roof and is totally open to the outside-very "Florida"! Later on this evening, we're be heading over to the American Legion for supper, and I think we'll be going back there on Christmas Day for the potluck-there are probably quite a few people like us who are away from our homes and our family, so it'll probably be kind of nice to at least be with other people on Christmas Day. Plus I'm looking forward to calling my kids and my mom that afternoon. I'm sure my next post won't be until after Christmas, so I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL day and a very merry Christmas. Love to all.....