Sanibel and Captiva Islands

One thing that is different about our camping trip this year is that we aren't camped right on the ocean — so we really hadn't spent any time at a beach yet. So today, we drove to Sanibel and Captiva Islands for some beach time.

We left our campsite at 9 am and got to Bowman Beach at about 10:15 am. (there is lots of traffic on the bridge and the main drag into Sanibel!) Our plan was to spend a couple of hours there and then have a late lunch — that way missing the hottest part of the day. The weather and beach were beautiful — we even got to see some dolphins swimming out a ways from where we were set up with our beach chairs!

After our time at the beach, we went to the Bubble Room on Captiva Island — it has been around for about 35 years and specializes in HUGE DESSERTS. We had dessert after having lunch . . . . . or what I'm calling "l'inner" — so full that we won't be eating dinner tonight!

 Dave and Betsy at the Bubble Room.

The Bubble Room is famous for its homemade potato chips served with ketchup and its large desserts!

Spring Training!

 Today we went to the Hammond Stadium, the Twins' spring training facility, to see the Twins play the Toronto Blue Jays.

Once again, an absolutely gorgeous day — perfect temperature, blue sky, and a cool breeze.

 We had really good seats behind home plate, so we could easily see all the action.

The stadium was packed! It seemed like equal amounts of Blue Jay and Twins fans — looks like both the Minnesotans and Canadians were anxious to get a little "taste of summer" at a spring training game.

Twins won 12 to 2! Hope that means they'll be having a good season. :-)

Seeing a Special Friend!

We woke up on Sunday morning to another beautiful day! In the early afternoon, my really good friend, Marilouise, came to visit. Marilouise lived in our Minnetonka neighborhood for a long time and we were walking buddies. She and her husband, Karl, now live in Naples. We had lots of fun catching up and then taking our kayak out for a spin on the Estero River. Greg and I are looking forward to going to their home in Naples next weekend for a visit.

After dinner, we enjoyed watching the Academy Awards!

Vintage Car Show on a Beautiful Day!

This photo says it all about the weather! We had a spectacular day enjoying this beautiful park. After doing some biking exploring the trails in the park and taking the tour of the Koreshan historic site, we headed up to the area on the park grounds that a vintage car show was being held. The cars were all beautiful — so colorful in the Florida sun!

We finished our day by having dinner at Dave and Betsy's new trailer — lots of fun discussions about the Koreshan Unity and other Utopian Societies.

A Historic Site of a Strange Utopian Community

Koreshan State Park is a historic site of the former "Koreshan Unity." The Koreshan Unity was “quite possibly one of the most bizarre” communal utopias developed in the nineteenth century.

Throughout its history, Florida has welcomed pioneers of all kinds. Cyrus Reed Teed was probably the most unusual, bringing followers to Estero in 1894 to build New Jerusalem for his new faith, Koreshanity. The colony, known as the Koreshan Unity, believed that the entire universe existed within a giant, hollow sphere (see model in photo).  

The chief beliefs of the Koreshans were cellular cosmogony, reincarnation and immortality, celibacy, communism, equality of women, and a belief in Teed's inspired leadership.The colony began fading after Teed´s death in 1908, and in 1961 the last four members deeded the land to the state.

We went on an excellent tour of the Koreshan historic site with a tour guide — it was fascinating!

Koreshan State Park

We arrived at Koreshan State Park on Friday afternoon and were pleasantly surprised with this beautiful "jewel" of a park near Fort Myers, Florida.

This camp ground is not on the ocean like so many of our previous Florida camp grounds; however, it is a really nice camp ground on the banks of Estero River that flows into the ocean. The sites have lots of vegetation between each site, so you definitely have a sense of privacy.

We spent the late afternoon getting set up in our site — Dave and Betsy's site isn't right "next door," but only a short walk away.

After getting the preliminaries set, we went into town to go grocery shopping and out to dinner at a grill.

Myakka State Park

Betsy Larsen and I woke up on Friday to our first morning in Florida to beautiful weather — unbelievable how quickly we left the winter weather woes behind! The plan was to travel to Koreshan State Park, but before we packed up, we did some biking in Myakka State Park. Myakka is know for a large bird santuary and we had fun viewing all kinds of birds with our binoculars.

After enjoying time at the bird sanctuary, we ate lunch and then got on the road by 1 pm.