Gotta be outside!

 

The last 6 days have been so beautiful and warm and we decided that we should be outside as much as possible.
 

 

 

 

 

We stopped at a Post Office that is inside a mall which I like very much. I wish we had some of those closer to our home. I noticed that one of the restaurants had cucumber lemonade on their menu. That doesn’t sound like anything I would ever dare to taste.

 

 

 

It looked like someone had been into my candy box. Wonder who that was?
 

 

 

We spent a couple afternoons at the community swimming pool.

 

 

On Monday, we went back to Punta Gorda on another geocaching adventure. We really like this delightful town.

 

There are quite a few murals throughout town as we often see in southwest Florida.
 

 

 

 Even though we haven’t seen all of them yet, it was interesting to note that even the electrical transformer site had murals on the fence.

 

 

 

A bank building had murals along the side that depicted their history from 1893 through 1934.

 

 

We found a geocache at the Blanchard House and Museum of African American History. This house was built in 1925 and was the home of Joseph Blanchard, a Spanish American War veteran, steamboat pilot and fisherman who lived there with his mail order bride, Minnie.

 

 

The small museum has several interesting features on the surrounding grounds. A Memorial Garden has engraved bricks bearing the names of veterans.
 

A sculpture of Charles Philip Bailey, born and raised in Punta Gorda, is placed at the end of the brick walkway. At the age of 23, Charles enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was selected for one of the early classes of the Tuskegee Airmen.

 

 

Charles Bailey served in Italy and the European Theater and was one of only three African American pilots from Florida. Highly decorated, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, four Air Medals and a Presidential Unit Citation.

 

 

A stucco fence along the side of the yard has a mural that was painted by local children under the guidance of the Punta Gorda Garden Club.

 

 

Across the street from the museum is Bailey Brothers Park. All seven of the Bailey Brothers, which included Charles Bailey, served in at least one war.

 

 

This small park has made good use of limited space. There are physical fitness stations for exercising.

 

 

The picnic tables have chess/checker boards painted on top.

 

 

We have been participating in a weekly Bible study for several years. When our teacher moved to Texas, she offered to continue our study via video conferencing.
 

 

 

This has been a growing experience for her and most of the class as we learn how to use the Google Hangout. Some of our members meet at our church, one connects from Wisconsin, others from their homes in Maryland and Cordell and I join in from Florida.

 

 

On Tuesday, we hiked around in Rotary Park in Cape Coral. We have visited here in past years and will most likely return in the future. We were here today especially to look for a geocache that had been placed after we returned north last year.

 

 

I can say that we wandered down the “beaten path” because the only evidence of the trail was tall grass that had been trampled down.

 

 

Some of the terrain in the park consists of a boardwalk that meanders through mangrove wetlands. The rugged trail that we hiked passes through uplands and salt marshes. We found the cache at a lone pine tree.
 

 

 

When I saw these three convertibles parked, I was reminded of the words of a song my children watched on Sesame Street in the 70’s:  

 

“One of these things is not like the others,

One of these things just doesn't belong,

Can you tell which thing is not like the others

By the time I finish my song?”

 

 

It seems to me that the Florida sunshine is more intense. And so, we are aware that we need to be sure to use sunscreen every day.

 

 

When we set out on our adventure on Wednesday, we passed a workman’s truck in the neighborhood that was unlike anything we have ever seen. He obviously is a Christian who is not afraid to proclaim his faith and we liked the pictures on his vehicle.
 

 

 

We returned to Punta Gorda to look for some more geocaches and especially enjoyed one that took us to Indian Spring Cemetery. This burial ground was created in 1886 and several pioneers and leading citizens of the county are interred here.

 

 

In order to find the cache hidden here, we were required to stop at a few points throughout the cemetery and find information on specific headstones that was then used to determine the final coordinates of the cache location. Not only did we need to find the correct information, but we also had to make some mathematical calculations which is not always a given for our old math challenged brains!

 

 

Another cache took us to Charlotte Harbor Preserve. I am always careful anywhere around water here in Florida, but when I see signage that cautions us about alligators, I become even more watchful.

 

 

The cache we found had a different twist on a typical container that we found amusing. Ammunition boxes are frequently used by cache owners and especially in the forests. However, this one was unique in that it had a purse stuffed inside which contained the cache contents. Even though this is not a man purse, Cordell doesn’t look too bad with it!

 

 

Our last cache of the day took us to an area that even though it was close to a major highway, we had to bushwhack through thigh high grass, bushes and trees. Too often, it seems that we choose the hard way into a site and then find an easier way out, which was what we did here. Although the way back to our car was quite visible, I wanted Cordell to go before me even though a geotrail lead through trampled grass. It turned out to be the best decision I made all day, because he disturbed a black snake that was basking in the sun!

 

 

Many geocaches contain tradable items. When we take one of these items from a cache, we are to leave one of equal or greater value. When I spied this stuffed animal in a cache, I just knew it was meant for me to take it and I will put it in one of the Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes that I will be packing later in the year.

 

 

We made a quick stop in Walmart and I noticed that the garden herbs are being sold now.

 

 

There is a Ruby Tuesday’s very close to our condo and we frequently telephone and order our dinner for carryout. Cordell receives coupons on his phone app so we never pay full price.

 

 

 

 

We have found that we like the peace of eating at the condo while watching the sunset.