Preserving the Beauty – Florida Pics (Naples, Sunset: house, work, art)

[Judlea]

LOL you guys... Okay where are we going to meet???

Judlea

[Floridabound09]

Originally Posted by Judlea

LOL you guys... Okay where are we going to meet???

Judlea

On that island in your pictures, that will be a great start wouldn't it?

Wait a minute, how do I get to that island?..... lol......

[Judlea]

Originally Posted by Floridabound09

On that island in your pictures, that will be a great start wouldn't it?

Wait a minute, how do I get to that island?..... lol......

Well, if you are north, you have to head south!!! LOL

Have a wonderful evening all, and good night!!! It's been fun.

Bye the way, if Muggy shows up in the persona of Darth Vader, he was invited Some of you know who Muggy is... But I just can't stay up!! Later....

Judlea

[nomoresnow]

We could meet on the island or at Faithful Frank's place...remember? He's having that party! heh, heh, heh.

[Adream]

Originally Posted by Judlea

Oh yes Adream, these Dolphins were SO PLAYFUL and they were putting on quite a show. It was absolutely AMAZING to me that we got to watch them PLAY with this boat and all of us. They were having so much fun... We STILL talk about this, and for us, it was a once in a lifetime adventure...

This trip is over, but I still have hundreds of pictures to share!! What would you like to see next? I need to take a poll? Alligators - I have so MANY alligator pictures, the space center, Key West, our weekend in Naples (quite an event), the flight over the everglades, our vacation to St. Augustine...

Like most of you, we work a long, hard, grueling week and suffer from ALL the problems that most Floridians have - heck, that most Americans have. But we take advantage of our weekends... And that is the BEST thing about living in Florida... We CAN take advantage of our weekends to OFFSET the daily grind of dealing with the never-ending work and problems. We are REALLY looking forward to our retirement too... Judlea

A topic DH and I are discussing more and more these days! Judlea, I would LOVE to see more of your pix, ESPECIALLY Naples. We love Naples - we were there a couple of weeks ago and are already looking at the calendar to see when we can go back. Thanks again for sharing your AMAZING pictures!

[Judlea]

Originally Posted by nomoresnow

We could meet on the island or at Faithful Frank's place...remember? He's having that party! heh, heh, heh.

I think Faithful Frank's is too far north!!! Course he could come too, lol.

We ALWAYS see dolphins around Pine Island. The restaurant we went to was in Matlacha ( Mat-la-shay), considered the gateway to Pine Island. It's an old historic fishing village and artist community. The "fishing bridge" is considered the “World’s Fishingest Bridge” where fishermen hang out day and night fishing - and why the dolphins feed there in the evening. Lots of fish food.

(You can Google it - if my post doesn't already have it Googled!!)

We can all meet at the fishing bridge!!! - Bring a fishing pole and your camera!!!

Seriously though, nomoresnow, this is where we are going to take you and your hubby for a little "outing" when you move down here. It's only polite to show our new neighbors around!!!

Adream, I promised macguy pictures of St. Augustine next. Naples is definitely coming soon though - and the palm trees - and the ALLIGATORS...

But first...

We got this in an email from our son!!! SO FUNNY

BIRD FLU HITS SHORES IN U.S. - FLORIDA RESIDENTS IN A PANIC!


Judlea Next posts - St.Augustines

[Judlea]

Remember, this was just a vacation trip - I'm no expert here and can't answer any questions. If you DO have questions, maybe some other kind soul can answer them for you.

I CAN start with a Trolley Tour map. We took this tour and the map shows the routes


More tourist maps - two parts As you can see in part two, we took our trip in 2002



Here come the pictures!!! Oh wait SNUFFY FIRST

This little guy was hanging around outside of our motel room - our room was in the back, and we could see him every morning through the sliding glass doors We named him "Snuffy" because he ALWAYS had his nose to the ground, as most armadillos do. By the way he was a baby armadillo. Awwwww



Close-up

"Snuffy's Play Yard"


While you are busy studing the maps (did I mention there would be a test on this later) and admiring baby Snuffy, I'm off to get more pictures. BRB (Let me check behind me now - okay "coast is clear" - no more "incoming messages."

Judlea

[Judlea]

On the dolphin tour, the "Parts" kept getting me confused because I couldn't remember WHICH PART I WAS ON - so now it will be just NEXT CHAPTER... LOL

Okay, ready, set, FIRE...

The Fort
First Test Question - What Fort is This??? (Not a test for St. Augustine residents, cause they already know - cause this is their LANDMARK!!!)
















Yes, it was another day that was threatening rain - look at that sky

But just like our dolphin/sunset trip - it was a GREAT day for touring and taking pictures - September, cloudy, overcast - more great pictures of the sky. Okay, preview, check behind me, POST....

BRB Judlea

[Judlea]

Hmmm, pictures of me, hubby, skip, skip, skip.....


Ahh here comes some: fort, fort, fort...











I think the next picture is: Inside of a room in the fort looking at the ceiling??? - (not a fair test question - but probably something any resident of St. Augustine would know) Yep, that's what it is by seeing the "Preview."


The fort did have a MOAT - Glad it rained so we could see the moat.


Hey, a moat, and I see PALM TREES in just about every picture!! (Judlea is checking her Review Post now so (test question). You know what that means by now, don't you? lol



Next Chapter - We have LEFT the Fort

BRB Judlea

[CarolynB]

Originally Posted by Judlea

Lake Istokpoga is just about in the center of the state from west to east - between the cities of Sarasota on the west coast and Port St. Lucie on the east coast. Right in the middle of the state...

Major cities in Highlands County are Sebring to the north and Lake Placid to the south. Right up the I-27 corridor.

The history of Highlands County is fascinating. It is considered the spine or backbone of Florida because it is located on the Lake Wales Ridge. We did quite a bit of research about the area - because this is the area we have chosen for our retirement. Lots of rolling hills, hundreds of lakes, still warm

enough for us in the winter, centrally located so we can visit either coast (the coasts are the preferred destination by the majority of snow birds), small town atmosphere...

Oh darn.... Now there will be a major invasion of, or stampede to, Highlands County. Oh yeah, the bad news - they now have "impact fees" for new construction. Everything balances out!!!!


Judlea

Thank you for explaining the area and again for the beautiful pictures, we live in S Florida and are looking to move upnorth Florida, and that looks like a great place to live.