Fort Myers, Florida (Part 1) We're Here!

For those of you who don't already know, I'm in Fort Myers with my mom and my sister, Diane on a short vacation to visit my mom's sister, Alice. Unfortunately, it's after midnight here and we have a busy day planned tomorrow (and most every day that we're here), so this has to be short and sweet.

I just couldn't wait to post a couple of pictures of some of the things that we saw tonight when we went downtown to their First Friday Art Walk. Yes, they have one too. We'll talk more about that later.

Right now you can admire this awesome art installation with words shining all over the sidewalk, building, pedestrians and ...

...even on the trees!

I just LOVE it!  Alice didn't really know the story behind the choice of the various words.  Some of them are definitely real words, but others look to be either made up or another language.  I haven't had time to research it.  Let me know if you know anything about it.

Anyway, this is at the Sidney and Berne Davis Art Center in downtown Fort Myers.

Here's a close up of the words below as well.

Later we went into this gallery that had some gorgeous textiles!

I found this beautiful hand-dyed silk green scarf for only $15!  What a fun souvenir to bring home as a reminder of the wonderful time that we've already had...and it's only the first day here!







We also enjoyed some amazing music tonight, but that will have to be a post for another time.  In the meantime, do any of you know what a theremin is?  I can give you a hint.  It's a musical instrument and we got to hear one tonight!  More on that to come so stay tuned...

Chinese Food Tradition at the End of Vacation

We seem to have established a tradition on our last day of vacation before going back to work. We order Chinese take out for dinner, usually from Dragon Palace at 13825 N. 32nd Street (just north of Thunderbird).

After being away from home, we generally don't have a lot of food in the house and don't feel like cooking or shopping, so take-out is the perfect solution.

Some of our favorites at Dragon Palace are Sauteed Happy Family, BBQ Pork Appetizer. The Moo Shu Pork is also very good.

Here's a quick review that I did on Yelp.

Day 8 - Rocky Mountain National Park

On Friday we drove about an hour and a half to the western entrance of Rocky Mountain National Park, near Grand Lake.

If you've never been there, it's a gorgeous huge (415 square mile) park with Trail Ridge road slicing thru it's mid-section. Trail Ridge is the highest continuous paved road in the U.S. climbing to over 12,000 feet in elevation. That's above the tree line, which could explain why we saw snow in August.
While at the park we were so excited to see lots of wildlife! A herd of elk, a couple of deer, a coyote, and even an adorable chipmunk.
After we stopped for a quick lunch in Estes Park,
we took a drive to one of our favorite spots - Bear Lake. We followed the path around the lake and stopped for a few photo ops. (I'm not sure what was going on with my hair. I don't remember it being windy. Oh well.)

That noisy little Chickaree (squirrel) wasn't too happy that we were in his space and thought he might be able to chase us away. It was so cute.

Bear Lake is such a gorgeous peaceful place. We make a point to go there every time we visit the park.

Afterward we discovered a sweet lake nearby called Sprague Lake. We also came upon a family of (what I think was) Mallard ducks. Check out all the ducklings!

The amazing thing about this park is that there is always something new to explore. It's so immense that you could spend weeks there exploring and enjoying God's awesome creation.

Day 7 - Mad Creek Trail
Thursday we found another trail close by and since it was Mad "Creek" trail we were hoping for a shady walk near a cool stream. Unfortunately, we discovered that for the most part, the trail "overlooked" the stream at quite a distance, so we could see it, but not enjoy it up close and personal until near the end of the trail.












We were pleasantly surprised when the path headed down closer to the stream and I was thrilled to be able to take my shoes off and slip my feet into the cool refreshing water. My dusty hot toes felt so much better after a good soak. It was like God's little spa treatment for me.
After we left the creek we continued on to Mad Creek Barn. It was this awesome restored barn that you could just walk inside and explore. As soon as I saw it, I thought about how much Amy would love it for a photo shoot. Imagine what it would be like in every season! Amazing! I did realize that I'd love to go back to that area in the Fall especially.
The first thing Kevin did was climb up in the hay loft and sit in the open loft window. I got a few good shots but could have stayed around there for hours taking pictures. There was so much texture and character inside and out.

Soon we had to head back toward the car. We managed to make one more quick stop by the creek, then hit the road. What a precious afternoon with two of my favorite guys.

Back to Day 6 - Weds - Fish Creek Falls
O.k., I realize that I've been sidetracked a bit from vacation for the last few posts, so now I'll try to get focused and cover Days 6, 7 and 8 over the next few days, hopefully.

On Weds of our vacation week we went to Fish Creek Falls. It's a short drive just outside of Steamboat Springs, so we decided to check it out. After the quick jaunt in the car, we had a short easy walk to the bridge at the base of the falls and decided it was a great spot for a photo op. Of course, Kevin hammed it up as usual.

You can see the beautiful falls in the background. Interestingly, when I was looking online for info about the falls, I came across a photo that was probably taken in the spring when the water flow is at it's peak. Take a look at the difference between what we saw and what it would look like with full flow.

Soon after we arrived Kevin and Randy decided to do some rock climbing up to the base of the falls. They wouldn't have been able to do it if the falls were full, but in late summer it was very manageable. Since Kevin just had flip flops on, he ended up going barefoot for his excursion. To give some perspective on the height of the falls, if you enlarge the 5th photo from the top you can see Randy and Kevin in the lower left corner of the picture. In the next photo you see Kev jumping from one rock to another (one of his favorite things to do).

Then back at the bridge I noticed this set of miniature clothes laying out on the rocks. Oops! Someone must have wandered a little too far into the creek...and here is the guilty party. Isn't he cute and not phased a bit.

After our hike, I asked Kevin to hold the camera. Guess which pictures he took? Linda and I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine.

Then just before we left Randy, Linda, Kevin and Terry started playing a game that Linda called "Water Bottle Smack Down". She explains the game on her blog post here. You have to enlarge the pic to see the water bottles flying thru the air.

Sadly this was our last full day with Randy & Linda. They left early Thursday morning to do the 14 hour drive all the way to Phoenix in one day. We had a great time with them! What a blessing to have friends that we've known for over 30 years and have so much in common with. We hope to do it again soon.

You can visit Linda's blog to see more about their trip too.