Edison-Ford Winter Estates - Fort Myers, Florida

So you’re toiling away in your New Jersey laboratory inventing light bulbs and phonographs and motion pictures, etc. All this productivity has left you with plenty of cash and you think, “Hey, I don’t have to spend the winters in cold weather anymore!”

Apparently that's just what Thomas Edison was thinking when he arrived in Fort Myers in 1885. He bought twenty acres, part of a former cattle ranch fronting on the wide Caloosahatchee River, and set about building his own tropical paradise, naming it Seminole Lodge. Edison and his family spent winters there for the rest of his life - over forty years. They built two rambling houses, various out buildings and laboratories, and transformed the barren ranch land with lush landscaping dotted with palm and banyan trees.

In 1915, Edison’s close friend and fellow innovator Henry Ford bought the property next door, and the Edisons and Fords shared their winters in this tropical retreat. In the late 1920s up to the time of his death in 1931, Edison spent much of his time in Fort Myers looking for new sources of rubber. Crude rubber had to be imported and was becoming increasingly expensive. At the behest of Ford and tire magnate Harvey Firestone, Edison investigated thousands of plants and trees seeking new sources of latex, the sap from which natural rubber is refined. At one point, Firestone presented Edison with a small banyan tree he'd brought back from India. The hope was that banyans would produce plentiful latex. Edison planted the tree at Seminole Lodge. Today it covers almost an acre and is the third largest known banyan in the world. It was the first banyan tree planted in the U.S.

We spent a morning strolling through the garden-like grounds and peering through windows and doors into the Edison houses and "The Mangoes," the Ford home.

One of the two Edison homes ...


The Ford home. Considering the wealth and eminence of these gentlemen, these winter "estates" seem fairly modest and comfortably homey ...


The Edison living room ...


Porches ...




Mrs. Edison's "Moonlight Garden" ...


Huge banyan tree given to Edison by Harvey Firestone ...


Walking among the vegetation was not without some danger ...

Up the West Coast

After leaving the Flamingo campground in the Everglades, we crossed south Florida on Highway 41 (the Tamiami Trail). This road through the Everglades and the Big Cypress Swamp runs parallel to a canal. The shore of the canal opposite the highway is apparently a favored resting spot for alligators. We saw dozens, probably hundreds, of these big leathery reptiles - five feet and longer - sunning themselves and probably waiting for lunch to pass by. As I kept the RV going in a straight line, Tracey gawked at the gators.

We spent the night at a campground near Naples and did some overdue laundry and made use of the swimming pool. Then we moved on up Florida's west coast to Sanibel Island. You get to Sanibel by crossing the San Carlos Bay over a high bridge and a causeway from Fort Myers. Once you're on the island, you realize right away that you've arrived at the essence of laid-back. Drive up Periwinkle Way, the main street, and restaurants and cafes call out with names like The Island Cow, Lazy Flamingo, The Bubble Room, Sweet Melissa's, and Red Fish Blue Fish. There's a casual, down-home, uncomplicated feel about the place.




Sanibel Island is probably best known for the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service website, the refuge is part of the largest undeveloped mangrove ecosystem in the United States. It is world famous for its spectacular migratory bird populations. We spent part of a morning driving through the refuge, stopping at various spots to observe the birds in their watery habitats.




We stayed at Periwinkle Park, a place even more down-home than the rest of Sanibel. Apparently the only RV park on the island, it's laced with gravel lanes and has it's own sanctuary of exotic birds and a duck pond. We really enjoyed our stay at Periwinkle Park and would gladly go back.

Sanibel is full of great bike trails and there's much to see. While riding on a path adjacent to Periwinkle Way one day, my rear tire went flat. As I considered my options, I looked up to see a sign that read "Billy's Bike Shop." The nice folks at Billy's had me back on the road with a new inner tube in about ten minutes.

If seashells are your thing, Sanibel is the place to be. With over 400 species of shells, Sanibel beaches are considered the best shelling beaches in North America. Because the island runs east to west rather than north/south, its beaches easily capture shells carried by the currents coming up the Florida coast.

Looking for shells ...


Sanibel Lighthouse ...

Everglades

Flamingo Campground, January 10, 11


The Flamingo Campground lies at the southern tip of mainland Florida. It's a fairly remote place at the end of a lonely, 38-mile road through the Everglades. It's one of those locations where electronic communications cease. No cell phone calls, no internet, no TV. It's a place of peaceful serenity.

This serenity theme seems to be following us around - or we're following it. On earlier visits to the Everglades we zipped through swamps in air boats and watched people wrestle alligators. That's not on the agenda these days. Maybe it's our "demographic" (um, age) that has put us on a quest for quiet places where not a lot is going on. That's certainly the case out here at Flamingo where you wake up in the mornings to an utter stillness that can be disarming.

The campground is flat and grassy with lots of mature trees. Lying on the Bay of Florida (between the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico), it's the southernmost campground on the US mainland. We had been warned that there might be lots of bugs here, but that wasn't the case. The weather was excellent except for a brief afternoon storm. We rode the bike trails and looked at the sky full of stars at night.

Daybreak Wednesday ...

Sunset Wednesday ...

The tent area near the water ...

We were parked next to a sculptor from Washington state. He's on a tour of the US exhibiting his artwork. The sculptures are bolted to the trailer lest they dance off on the highway.

Morikami Japanese Gardens

Delray Beach, January 10 - After leaving John Prince Park last Tuesday, we spent the morning at the Morikami Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach. Here on the former farm of George Morikama, who originally came from Japan, six separate gardens have been created representing different eras of Japanese horticultural history. The gardens are interconnected by trails and bridges and are laced with ponds. To move along the paths among the exotic plants and settings is to remove yourself from the hectic nature of daily life and settle into peaceful serenity.

We found it interesting that there had been a Japanese colony in nearby Boca Raton in the early 1900s. In 1903, Jo Sakai, a resident of Miyazu, Japan who had just graduated from New York University, founded a small agricultural colony here in south Florida and recruted Japanese countrymen to join the effort. The project thrived for only a few years and most of the residents returned to Japan. By the 1970s, the only remaining Yamato Colony member still living in the area was George Morikama. He donated his Delray Beach farm to Palm Beach County to be preserved as a park and to honor the memory of the Yamato Colony. The gardens and accompanying Japanese museum were constructed after his death in 1976.

John Prince Park

LAKE WORTH, January 7, 8, 9 - On Saturday, we pulled into John Prince Park, an Eden-like oasis set in the middle of suburbia in Lake Worth, near West Palm Beach. We had been here two years ago and were amazed at this peaceful 700-plus acre refuge. About fifty acres are devoted to the RV park, and the rest is like one big garden. A bonus is that the park lies along the shores of Lake Osborne, and our campsite backs right on to the lake. Here's the view out our back window ...



Sunrises Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday ...



There's a paved path around the lake for walking, bike riding, and bird watching. We biked around the lake for about nine miles and took pictures of the many different birds. We plan to learn their names, but right now it's limited to "ones with long beaks," "long-legged ones," "ducks," etc. ...








Our feathered friends ...







This couple apparently resides at our campsite. They've been padding around, probably looking for a handout. We named them Herbert and Maude.



The stay at John Prince Park has been great but it's time to move on. This morning we head south to the Everglades.

Loggerhead Marinelife Center

Before leaving Juno Beach, we stopped by the Loggerhead Marinelife Center, a sanctuary for injured sea turtles. The facility takes in turtles that have been harmed by boat propellers, fishing lines and nets, shark attacks, and other means. There is an on-site veterinary hospital that attends to the turtles' injuries and outdoor tanks where they can recuperate. The center also provides educational programs for children and adults which stress the need for conservation and protection for the turtles as their habitat is gradually taken away by development. It is staffed largely by volunteers who all are enthusiastic about the mission of the center.




This is "Kahuna" peering through the window in his recovery tank. The sign below explains what they think happened to him and what they have done to help him.




The "Adopt Me Today!" slogan is really an encouragement to donate to the center. No, you can't take one of these big boys home with you.

It's interesting that all of the dozens of turtles currently at the center have been named. We asked about this and were told that the staff names each turtle as it arrives and that they do not re-use names. It certainly helps to create a personal connection to each individual turtle.

Most of the turtles are released back into the sea once their injuries have healed. But some of the injuries are so severe that the turtles must live out the rest of their lives at the center where they are sure to receive excellent care.

Florida Sampler

When we planned to travel to Florida, we decided to sample various parts of it over a few weeks. We'd make mental notes for future travels. First and foremost was to be in warm weather. It's a safe bet that you have to be about halfway down the Florida peninsula to be warm, and there's no guarantee even then. Our plan is to kind of circumnavigate the state - down the east coast and up the west.

JUNO BEACH - Yesterday we arrived at our first nearly summerlike destination, right on the Atlantic Ocean at Juno Beach. Mid-70s and bright sunshine. We're staying at an RV resort called Juno Beach Walk. It's the kind of tightly-packed sort of place we'd normally avoid if it weren't for its pristine aura (I'm thinking they must vacuum the streets), lush tropical landscaping, heated swimming pool, hot tub, and easy walk to the beach. And the people here are so nice--they have included us in everything and talk to us like we're old friends. We could easily see ourselves settling into a place like this for several weeks.





The ocean is a gorgeous blue here ...




Someone was made rudely aware of that wave about a half second later ...



Tomorrow we push on southward for some more sampling.

Southbound

The newly-annointed Co-Pilot sits in her favorite spot in the RV and peruses gifts from her wonderful co-workers at Nutricia North America. The book is full of pictures of Tracey and her workmates and is inscribed with personal notes and rememberances.

We pulled out of our driveway in Derwood, Maryland, late in the afternoon of January 1. Even though it was a later start than we'd envisioned, we still met our goal of beginning this new chapter on the first day of the new year.

We also left just as a stinging cold front was descending over the East Coast. It followed us south, although we escaped the bitter temperatures that numbed our home state.

Along the way, we stopped in Richmond to visit with my Aunt Mildred, who celebrated her 102nd birthday in December. She's a remarkable woman in many ways, not the least of which is the ability to clearly remember incidents that took place in Richmond during World War I, such as the practice parades of militia troops up and down Stonewall Ave. in front of her childhood home. She remembers many of the significant events of the 20th century first hand.



As we made our way south, we overnighted at spots in Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia before crossing the Florida state line yesterday afternoon. After downing cups of the obligatory free--and delicious--orange juice at the Florida welcome center, we made our way to Blue Springs State Park in Orange City, just northeast of Orlando. We'd been here before and we wanted to return to check out the manatees that winter in the relatively warm waters of the spring. These huge acquatic mammals live during warmer weather in the nearby St. John's River, a wide body of fresh water. But they can't tolerate temperatures below sixty degrees. So each November they make their way up a side stream to Blue Spring where the water remains a steady 72 degrees year round. We like seeing these majestic, slow moving animals glide through the clear water, many of them in family groupings.





We also enjoy the tropical vegetation that surrounds the spring. The sunny 70-ish weather didn't hurt, either, as we made our way along the boardwalk that skirts the spring and winds through the woods.




The Co-Pilot is still coming to grips with not having the benefit of a regularly- scheduled day ...