Snowbird Living – The Second 30 Days

It’s February and we’ve now been living as snowbirds for about 2 months.  All our fellow snowbirds settled in during January and the RV park has been packed full of RV’s.  The time has sure flown by fast.  In this post, I’ll summarize what’s been happening down in Fort Myers Beach for the past month.

The Weather

The hot weather we had in December finally broke and we had more seasonable weather in January.  There were plenty of sunny days with low humidity.  Day time temps have been in the mid 70’s.  Evenings have been cool which has been great for sleeping.  The AC unit got a much-needed break in January.

Where December’s weather headline was – Hot and Humid, January’s headline was – Rain, Wind, and High water.  We had multiple spates of rainy weather come through that dumped several inches of water each time.  There were a few tornado warnings issued with a couple of touch downs in neighboring towns.  Luckily, we had no damage.  The heavy rains brought some localized flooding.  Some of the low areas and a couple of buildings in the RV park flooded a few times.  When you get 3-4 inches a rain in a few hours at high tide there’s no place for all that water to go.

But, I’ll take the rain over snow any day.  The big storm that dumped a couple feet of snow on the mid Atlantic states was just rain for us.

Visiting Public Parks

I began venturing further our on my bike and exploring more of Estero Island.  I found a couple more public parks that I didn’t know existed.  I found the Mound House HIstorical Site which is a lovely bayside park that preserves one of Fort Myers Beaches oldest structures.  The house, which is now a museum, is built on an ancient Calusa Indian shell mound.  The grounds are beautiful with walkways, exotic plants, and a nice bayside observation pier.

The Matanzas Pass Preserve is a large undeveloped piece of land behind the Public Library.  It has a boardwalk and hiking trails through bayside mangroves.  It’s a nice quiet place to take a stroll.

At the south end of Estero Island is Lovers Key State Park.  I visited the park last year to go to the beach, which is lovely.  But this year I rode my bike down (7 miles) and got to experience the biking and hiking trails in the park.  There’s over 5 miles of trails that are great for off-road biking.

And, I found a little hidden gem of a beach park midway down the island.  Newton Park is a former beach front residence that was acquired by the town and turned into a nice little beach front access park.  There’s a small parking lot, restroom, and some nice shaded canopies right off the beach.  It’s easy to drive right by and miss this park.  But I like it because it’s at a less busy section of the beach and is a nice place to hang out by the water and get some shade.

Eating My Way Through Fort Myers Beach

I continue to enjoy the eateries down on the beach.  I still have my favorites – The Salty Crab, Ray’s Pizza, and Plaka.  During January, I found a couple of new favorites.  The Dog House is a great place for a quick and inexpensive hot dog lunch.  They also serve up custom-made sandwiches.

Mom’s bakery has the best cinnamon rolls on earth.  Helen makes them fresh each day and they are way better than Cinnabon.

Enjoying RV Park Living

We’ve enjoyed RV park living.  We’re surrounded by some great people.  It’s been fun meeting new people, socializing, and participating in activities.  I enjoy these encounters.  Everyone has a story and I’ve learned some new things.

The Mrs. and I continued playing in the weekly corn hole tournament on Wednesdays.  She started taking lessons from our neighbor Mike, who is a corn hole Jedi Master.  It’s helped out.  She began winning a few games and won the one match where we were paired opposite each other.

It took me awhile to get my throw dialed in and I finally won a couple of games this past month.  It’s a fun social activity that many in the park participate in.

That’s about it.  Both the Mrs. and I came down with colds in January, but they passed quickly with lots of rest.  My colitis seems to really settle down when I’m it Florida.  Not sure if it’s the warm climate, the water, or perhaps just the stress free / simple living.  Whatever it is, it’s nice be close to normal.

I continue to ride my bike everywhere and hang out at the beach on good days.  It’s a great way to spend the winter.

 

PS:  You can read about my first 30 days at this link:  My Snowbird Lifestyle – The First 30 Days