September 11: We watched the "Ground Zero" memorial services---touching, depressing.... one wonders....What have we learned? about the World? about Patriotism? about fighting and ideology NOT a country? about sticking our nose in where it doesn't belong? There is a LOT to ponder..................
We didn't do a blog as the day wasn't very touristy....unless you want the experience of watching Nancy enter "Scrapbook Fanatic"....or....an overview of a HUGE UPSCALE outlet mall (oxymoron?)...stores like Cole Hahn's, Neiman-Marcus,Saks 5th Avenue, Forragiano's (I can't even spell it!), etc. etc. etc. AND....a Crate and Barrel OUTLET. Now we could photograph that...or...Nancy smiling at the cash register! The entire Mall is at Sawgrass Mills on the western end of Sunrise Highway (our condo is at the eastern end...many miles away!). We really piddled around all day. Did the laundry (hurray!). Packed up our stuff for departure in the morning....really NOT very interesting to anybody else.
Part 2: Finished up packing the car which was fairly easy. 'Talked to Lee Anne and Carol. It is good to touch base along the way.
We decided to cross the Everglades as fast as possible as it really is not very interesting...so we did a couple of hours on I-75 (which lived down to our expectations). It was curious that the vegetation in Eastern Florida is quite low (looked like cattails) and the topography is 100% FLAT....contrasting to the Western Florida scene where you could see the standing water and dense groves of some slender trunked tree and lower shrub-like plants. Anyway, we buzzed along to Naples on the Gulf of Mexico side of the penninsula. Skies are gloriously blue. We picked up some information at the Visitor Center but it wasn't very helpful. We just went exploring on our own. The city isn't too big...and with the waterfront, you just can't "go wrong". The "historic area" is very nice. The shopping and the restaurants are definitely upscale and the nearby houses are McMansions. Some are under construction and some appear to have been around for decades. (One account that I just read said that "historic" meant before 1960!) Many are secluded behind beautiful plantscapes. The Naples Pier is long and public and extends across a beautiful white sand beach....which goes on for miles and miles. I never knew there were so many varieties of palm trees! We had crabcakes (fantastic!) at the "Old Naples Pub". I'd recommend this one. We did some more exploring and went to a very upscale retail area called "The Village on Venetian Bay". It was really lovely.....made yesterday's adventure seem low as it went into the stratosphere. The whole complex straddles a water element.....but it does NOT look like Venice....although it is most elegant in an understated way. Very few recognizeable shop names (maybe because this isn't in my "shopping neighborhood"!).
We are now "planted" in a very nice Hampton Inn. Thank God we have wireless service in our room! Time to regroup and make plans for tomorrow...if we don't freeze to death with the air conditioner! For some reason, hotels seem to think that they are doing you a favor to set the thermostat at 64F ....or lower!
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