Fort Myers, Florida - Family & Friends + Koreshan State Park

Hi all --

Dianne here. We've actually been in Ft. Myers, Florida for over a week and a half, but we're still getting caught up on blog time. There should be two more in quick succession as we're working on three at a time.

We met up with our friends, Chuck & Cindy, outside Ocala, FL and then caravanned to our destination for the next two weeks, Shady Acres RV Resort in Ft. Myers.

The

first order of business was, of course, to see our daughter, Amanda, and granddaughter, Kaia, who we had not seen since last August, when they moved to Florida. I managed to get a photo of Jasper when he first saw Kaia.

He was so excited!

Jasper and Kaia grew up together; we got him when she was two years old. Back then I babysat Kaia every day so that Amanda could finish college and then work. Jasper and Kaia have always been very, very close.

While my girls are at work and school every day, we have lots of time to spend with Chuck and Cindy and, of course, Sophie Ann, the luckiest dog in Fishers, Indiana.

Our first excursion was to Sanibel Island

to Lighthouse Beach, one of the few beaches in the area where dogs are allowed. The weather was absolutely perfect, and we had a great day.

Of course, we stopped at our favorite ice cream shop, Pinocchio's, before we left Sanibel.

Our next excursion was to pack a picnic lunch and visit Koreshan State Park. Koreshan State Park includes historical buildings

which were built in the late 1800s by a group who actually believed that the universe as we know it was inside the planet earth! They were a celibate group which, of course, died out over the years until the last surviving member donated the land and buildings to the State of Florida. To my cousins: One of the photos of the group labeled one woman as Elizabeth Robison. Hard to imagine one of our clan belonging to a cult! (Oh, sorry, the docent who gave the tour of the buildings prefers the term "utopian society"!

After we toured the buildings, we took a hike

with all three dogs on a lovely nature trail that winds along the Estero River.

We passed by large stands of bamboo which, since the wind

was blowing, sounded like wind chimes made of bamboo. It was such a pretty walk that we right then

and there decided to come back with our kayaks, which we did. (There will be a separate blog for that).

After the hike, we found a very pretty picnic spot and ate our lunch.

As we were leaving the park, Sophie was on high alert

and found this gopher turtle "holed up" so to speak. We also saw another gopher turtle crossing the drive as we walked to the parking lot.

We made it back to the campground in time for Amanda and Kaia to join us for happy hour and dinner. (Kaia's happy hour consisted of caffeine-free coke and Hanna Montana on the TV!) Mandy and Kaia are coming to eat supper with us every night. Since Cindy and I are taking turns with dinner duty, we've all been eating quite well. I quipped to Mandy that she hit the jackpot - she has two moms cooking for her these two weeks!