Way Down South

Our adventure begins. We left Potter County on Friday morning. It was two degrees in Gold when I woke up that morning. There was a hard frost on top of the five inches of snow on the ground. We picked up Mr. Rigas in Coudersport and headed for the airport in Buffalo. Tosh drove us. We got a late start, but we made it in time to catch our flight. We flew to Baltimore and then on to Fort Myers. When we landed, we were disappointed to find that the 80 degree weather they'd been having was gone. It was in the low 60's, which was better than home, but not as warm as we wanted.

At home Friday morning.

We had a lot of luggage.

We drove to Naples to Mr. Rigas's sister's home. She lives on the 15th floor of a beautiful apartment building right on the beach. The view from her balcony is amazing. We had dinner with her and then drove to our airbnb, a short distance away and just a block from the beach.

The view from Catherine's balcony.

On Saturday morning I took a walk to get a look at the area. It was a chilly morning - 48 degrees - a lot better than the 12 degrees at home, but cooler than what I'd hoped for Florida. The flora here is pretty exotic. There are many different kinds of palm trees. I found a few mango trees in a yard up the street, but the fruit on it was small and green. There are lots of bromelliads, hibiscus, a few orchids and other interesting plants.

Our airbnb from the front.

Our airbnb from the back.

Our airbnb's dock on the canal.

I had my eye out for birds. Right away I saw lots of mockingbirds, several of them singing. I love to hear them. I also saw a snowy egret and some other birds I didn't know. There are little lizards running around everywhere.

Orchids in the front yard.

A mockingbird.

A flowering bush in the back yard.

A flowering bush in the back yard.

Later in the morning, Miriam and I took a walk along the beach. We walked for three miles. We saw pelicans, gulls, and ibises. The weather warmed into the 70s in the afternoon.

On our beach walk.

White ibises on the beach.

Stacey took Mr. Rigas to get a massage in the afternoon. Traveling took a toll on his 95 year old body. While they were there, Miriam and I went grocery shopping at the Whole Foods Market. It was like shopping on another planet. We don't have a Whole Foods Market near us in Potter county. There was a lot of strange food there, but the fresh produce was great.

In the evening, Mr. Rigas's sister Katherine treated us to pizza. She is an amazing woman. She is 91 years old and as sharp and spry as a woman half her age. After dinner she sat with Miriam and Stacey and talked Rigas family history. The Rigases are Greek - their parents came to America in the 1920's. Miriam showed Katherine a book written in Greek and she read it and translated parts of it.

This morning Katherine came and picked John up and took him to church with her. Stacey, Miriam and I went to the Vanderbilt Ward about twenty minutes away. We got there late and there was no place for us to sit, so we came back again. We'll know to time things better next week.

In the afternoon Stacey, Miriam and I went for a walk along the Gordon River Greenway. There was a long boardwalk and paths through mangrove forest and palmetto lands. We saw interesting trees and plants. We saw two gopher tortoises. It was warm and there was a nice breeze.

Our walk along the Gordon River.

A green lizard.

Stacey and a gopher tortoise.

A great egret.

Blooming airplants.

The Gordon River.

Palmetto land.

Happy hikers.

Now we are back at our place. We are thinking that later we might walk down to the beach to watch the sunset. We have plans for the week ahead - a visit to a bird sanctuary, a drive down to the Everglades, beach combing on Marco and Sanibel Islands. I'm really enjoying this adventure. I'm not homesick yet - maybe I won't be at all.