Mark and Vicki Hills Great Loop Adventure Blog: Ft Myers and Legacy Harbour Marina (one month)

Merry Christmas
From Ft Myers
Daisy, Mark and Vicki

We traveled up the Caloosahatchee River to Ft Myers and Legacy Harbour Marina. This is still on the ICW.

Vicki doing her Street gig.

View of Legacy Harbour Marina Ft Myers

When we arrived at Legacy Harbour, I was put in a slip next to larger vessels than Blue Willow. I instantly thought we were on 'Wall Street' as the boats were significantly larger. On our port side we have Donnie, a super guy who cannot provide enough information to us to have a better time at Legacy and beyond (Bahamas). The other side we have a 59ft Marquis that is being worked on (read a lot of dust). The other semi permanent folks are awesome, and welcomed us in many ways, including cocktails. One fellow dock mate is 'Marv' of Dee Light, who puts out an everyday email on buoy conditions around the area. Nice guy. Other boats range from 46' Carvers and several 65'ers. A personal favorite boat of mine is a Fleming, and I have to walk past two of them each day. They are so cool. Legacy is located near 'old' Ft Myers. We can walk downtown easily, and there are nice restaurants and stores. There is also a nice riverside park system to walk Daisy.

Shortly after we arrived, brother Robin loaned us his Lexus SUV for our use while at Legacy (4 weeks total). WOW.... How nice. He also brought along a coconut, Christmas lights, and a couple of plants to decorate our boat. How cool is that?!!! (Thanks Robin). Other than driving defensively with white knuckles to avoid messing up Robins SUV, it was great to have a car to see some sights.

Anything wrong here?

Just Us... Great View

Time for a Beer and Grouper sandwich

Ft Myers Beach (FMB)
We visited FMB five times. What a great time, place, and talk about RnR. We typically would be there around 11AM or so and stay until 4PM. Vicki and I went by ourselves once, we then asked Dave and Michele from Just Us to join us for four times, and we than had our grandson with us one time. Simply stated, if you are a beach kinda person you know what it was like to see the sights, (all of them). Having a cold beer on beach, while in the sun on a light breeze kinda day is truly relaxing. Have another beer and things simply meld together, and it is all good. we typical went for a sandwich, and I fell in love with Blackened Grouper.

Ferris Profs, Speirs, Carney, and Hill
Is that Batman trying to fly on the left?

Beach Crew, with Ferris friends

While at FMB one day Bob Speirs and Jeff Carney (former colleagues from Ferris State University) made arrangements to join us. What a great time. When I retired, I wondered who would be the first person to make contact while on the loop or shortly thereafter. Now I know, and I was happy to see them, they are truly great guys, and well respected Professors of their disciplines.

Jr. and GrandPa on 'Jet Ski'

When my grandson visited us we had a great time relaxing. But the hit of that day was I rented a 'Jet Ski' for an hour. My grandson was excited, and he should have been. We rented a decently powered two seater Yamaha. What fun for him and me. We went all over the place doing what a 13 year old would do with a watercraft. The Yamaha went 80 MPH. I was surprised that they would rent one that went that fast. Great watercraft, smooth, fast, quiet. They have changed so much over the years.

Check out the
Ringling and Barnum
Poster
one of hundreds

This is one miniature display
Total pieces exceeded 44,000

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Ringling Brothers MuseumWe made a day trip to the Ringling Brothers Museum in Sarasota. First, if you have the time, take the time and effort to see this jewel of a museum. The museum is divided into several areas on the museum grounds. First stop for us was the 44,000 piece miniature circus. This creation was so very impressive. It is difficult to explain but it contains all facets of a circus. From arriving at a town with train cars, to every detail to make the show go. Awesome detail, color, and presentation. Next was an older part of the first circus museum. This area housed many larger artifacts, like John Ringlings personal train car, human cannon vehicle, carving area, and several circus wagons. Next on the waters, was "Ca' d'Zan" meaning 'House of John' in the dialect of Venice. This place was impressive, in its opulence. Another area is John Ringlings multi million dollar art collection. Vicki likes fine art and she was wowed at this exhibit. On the grounds there are many sculpture gardens. The place was a great visit.

Mark Rides a Horse Bareback
WITH sandals on.

Vicki rides bareback...Kinda

Vicki Looking Great

Greeting Room Ceiling

Main Entertainment room
Transom Ceiling

First time I have seen a
stained glass transom ceiling

Dining room ceiling detail.
This is only a small portion

Some stuff I do not like
But Vicki does

Ca' d'Zan
The House of John (Ringling)

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Jr with Charlie. Both slept well that night.

L-R Blue Willow, Ocean Breeze, Just Us

Visiting Friends
We were able to visit a couple of Looper friends. Ocean Breeze, Average Looper, and Navigator.
We were near the end of FMB on a boat so we kinda found Navigator, and Average Looper. We simply said hi and talked for a few moments. We took Dave and Michele (Just US) and our grandson to see Todd and Paula from Ocean Breeze. We had a great time in the pool with their dog Charlie

Shopping
It was so nice to travel easily to a store with the use of a car. From Engine Oil for oil changes to food to repair items, it was so nice (Thanks again Robin).

Grandson Travels
There will be a separate blog post on my Grandsons visit.

At Legacy Harbour, there was a Thanksgiving Dinner Potluck, with Legacy providing a ham. What a great time, and great food too. Near the end there was 'entertainment'. All the women in attendance were invited to stand in front of the group and sing "Sister Sister" Click for Video

Ft Myers has a couple of cool restaurants Al Capones, and
Ford Garage, and they serve great tasting food. Here are some pics to describe the place: