Estero – Page 2

#TravelThursday continues, and in this edition we visit Florida’s Tamiami Trail.

If you read #SundayScripture and #Top10Monday last weekend then you’ll know that I’ve returned from another Florida road-trip. I drove 563 miles in just under 50 hours.

Last Thursday I drove to Tampa where I saw MercyMe, Micah Tyler, and Sam Wesley LIVE in concert at the Amalie Arena downtown within the Channelside district. It looks like they are making that area from Port Tampa Bay westward past the Aquarium and the shopping, dining, and entertainment area to the Arena more pedestrian-friendly with less vehicular traffic, the use of streetcars, safer and more visible crosswalks, and wider sidewalks. The area is heavily under construction, and it will be so for another year or two. It should look really nice once it’s all done. I like that area a lot. It’s actually fun to attend an event at the Amalie Arena and walk around and sightsee along the way. You can spend all day #Channelside.

The next morning (Friday) I got on Florida’s historic Tamiami Trail (U.S. 41 between Tampa and Miami). (Tamiami is pronounced “TAM-ee-AM-ee”.) It’s the preferred alternative highway for me along Florida’s Gulf Coast – mostly because I-75 is frightening.

I made a pitstop at a friend’s house in North Port at the southern edge of the Greater Tampa Bay area. He retired and moved there a little over a year ago. When he told me that he and his wife were settling in North Port I had never heard of it. Of course now (due to recent real world events) much of the world now knows about North Port. It’s a rapidly-growing city about 85 miles south of downtown Tampa. Its population has more than tripled since 2000, so people are flocking to this expanding corner of Southwest Florida.

I continued on further south along the Tamiami Trail into the Fort Myers area. My pitstop for Friday night was Estero – a newly-created incorporated village about halfway between Fort Myers and Naples. It is home to the worldwide headquarters of the Hertz Corporation, and it is also home to the Hertz Arena – home of many shows, concerts, and sporting events year-round. (That’s where I saw Casting Crowns and Matthew West LIVE in concert.) I’ve attended 11 events at that arena over the past 11½ years. It is my favorite arena.

The next morning (Saturday) I continued along the Tamiami Trail through Naples, and then eastward through the Everglades to the other side of the state. It intersects with Florida State Road 997 near the eastern edge of the Everglades. (We know it locally as Krome Avenue.) Krome takes me due south – back home into Homestead.

Join me next #TravelThursday as we visit another location on the face of this earth.

They keep you safe on your way, and your feet will not stumble. You can go to bed without fear. You will lie down and sleep soundly. You need not be afraid of sudden disaster or the destruction that comes upon the wicked, for the LORD is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap. (Proverbs 3:23-26 NLT)

This past U.S. holiday weekend I enjoyed a 3-day / 3-county / 360-mile Florida road-trip to and from Fort Myers. It was my first visit to the region since last July. I always enjoy visiting Southwest Florida (Collier and Lee County). Usually I venture over there to see a concert at the Hertz Arena, and this trip was no exception.

My first stop though after crossing the Everglades via the Tamiami Trail was the flagship branch of the multi-site Collier County Museum in East Naples. It was my first visit since June 2012. Back then I thought it was my first visit ever – until I saw some of the exhibits outside – and then I realized that I had been there years earlier.

At the end of my 90-minute visit I picked-up a brochure for a nearby place that I never knew existed – the Naples Museum Of Military History – at the main terminal of the Naples Airport. So I went there, and I immersed myself in all of the awesome displays there. They were overflowing at the seams in the two rooms that they occupy there. They need more space, and hopefully they get it.

After that I took a ride out to the country and into the woods for another first-time visit ever – the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary. What a wonderful and beautiful place this was – especially on a sunny and coolish day. I’m sure that it would be a miserable place to be during our 9-month bug season and especially our 5-month rainy season, but that was truly a great day to be outdoors strolling the 2.25-mile elevated boardwalk absorbing nature’s beauty – created by my Almighty God.

By the way all of the above was Day 1 of my road-trip ! Day 2 started in Fort Myers at probably their # 1 tourist attraction – the Edison & Ford Winter Estates. It was my first visit since April 2011. I love this place. I could work and have fun at this place after I retire from my military / civil service career. I took the 1-hour and 15-minute guided tour which was a lot of fun (even though I had done it before). I’d do it again !

On Sunday night I went to the Hertz Arena to see Franklin Graham conclude his recent tour of Florida. He led us in prayer for our nation and our leaders, and then he preached a classic Billy Graham Crusade sermon on Repentance & Salvation. That’s a topic that I’m quite familiar with, as many of my sermons are about the same. Jeremy Camp opened and closed for Franklin, as he performed 7 of his greatest hits. I’ll be seeing Jeremy Camp perform again at this very same arena in 6 weeks, as he opens for MercyMe.

Day 3 of 3 started back in East Naples at the Naples Botanical Garden – yet another first-time visit. I walked well over 3 miles for 2 hours at this fun place on a chilly and overcast morning.

I’ve got over 80 photos of this fun road-trip to and from Southwest Florida – also known as Florida’s Paradise Coast. At least 60 of those 80 photos will probably be uploaded and captioned on my Flickr site over the next few weeks. But I’ll close this blog post with a sneak-peek. It’s a photo of the chalkboard at the start of the boardwalk at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary where visitors can write-down what they’ve seen along their walk on the boardwalk. A little less than 90 minutes later – there were more sightings documented on the chalkboard.