Ahhh Napoli

I officially love Naples, Florida. Dave and I have spent the past two days cruising around this unique little place. Before we moved down here we spent hours on the computer, researching all coastal areas of southwest Florida, from St Pete to Sarasota, Ft Myers and Naples. There is only so much you can gather from statistics and facts. The average age for most cities in southwest Florida is 65. Oh boy. But we are finding more young people than we thought. Plus it's almost like young people are so elusive that we all gravitate towards each other. In most cities I feel that it takes years to establish a circle of friends. Many people that have grown up and stayed in an area have their group bonded by the years, and it is almost impossible to break inside those barriers. Here, everyone is a transplant, and when you find another young couple with something slightly in common -boating, drinking beer, etc - you make every effort to do all those fun young people things together. Don't count on a rowdy party scene however, since the economy is almost entirely supported by the baby boomers and the bars and restaurants have locked their doors by 10pm. Oh well, if we want to stay up all night we can always go visit Buffalo.

The population of Naples is around 20,000, slightly bigger than Truckee, CA. It definitely has the feel of a beach version of Tahoe as well. It has a median income of $102,000, opposed to Ft Myers median income of $48,000. It is obvious as you drive south of the downtown that there is some money in this town. The homes go from modest Key West style 1920's homes, to outrageous McMasion estates with gated driveways on 2 acres of beach front property. The city has established vegetation, bougainvillea cascading over public walkways, and palm trees lining the streets. The smaller homes in the center of the city are vibrantly colored with tin roofs and well kept yards. The main strip, 5th Ave is host to excellent restaurants and boutique shops. On the west side of the downtown is a 10 mile strip of white sandy beach, accessible every few blocks by public walkways and a central city pier. On the east side of downtown is a protected waterway where you can find the City Dock and all the eclectic dive bars. Ft Myers has pumped a lot of money into their downtown renovation project and I wish them well, however the difference of driving through downtown Ft Myers and downtown Naples is like night and day. I have not once seen a more than 10 people on the streets of Ft Myers and the majority of the retail space sits vacant. In Naples, the streets are almost impassable on a sunny day, foot traffic causes cars to sit at a standstill.

I'm going to change the subject here, but this is kind of a cool story. The other night we had just gone to sleep, I think it was around 11pm. I woke with a start because it sounded like someone kicked the garage door. I sat up in bed - I am a light sleeper and wake to any strange noise. "Dave, what was that?" My heart was pounding. I didnt hear anything else. Dave stirred. "Do I have to get up?" he asked. Nothing. I guess maybe something just fell over or the neighbor was making a ruckus. Dave heard a few days later that the noise was the sonic boom as the space shuttle Endeavour reentered the earth's atmosphere. Here is the excerpt from the Naples News written prior to the event.

"The sonic boom from the space shuttle will be heard as the orbiter re-enters the planet's atmosphere traveling faster than the speed of sound. Because the shuttle's landing flight path takes it over Central America, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Naples area as it cuts across the Florida peninsula en route to Cape Canaveral, Collier residents will hear the sonic boom — two distinct claps less than a second apart — about 10 minutes before the shuttle's scheduled landing time.

I don't have a recipe for you today, I have been concentrating on studying for a job interview I have this afternoon. I will tell you more about it if I get the job, but for now I don't want to jinx it - this is a second interview so that is a good sign! Dave starts his solar energy class at the Florida Solar Energy Center on Monday and I am probably going to be going with him. We are planning on stopping by the boat in Indiantown and dropping off the bottom paint so they can work on it while Dave is in class. I will run around and get things ready to get underway and we will get back to it next Friday. It should take us 3 days or so to navigate the Okeechobee Waterway down to Ft Myers. One of the best deals we found was to park it at the City Dock in Naples (shown above). So we'll take it off shore into the Gulf of Mexico south to Naples. I cant wait to get back onboard! I miss that boat.