Friday, March 18, Day 14, Fort Meyers

Any of these pictures can be clicked on for a bigger look, I think you can also save and print them? Nice Seminole carving at the Chamber office in Port Charlotte.

There are a couple of neat houses on the way to the wildlife sanctuary we missed yesterday so we drove out to Ponce De Leon Park again as it was adjacent to it.

Yellow blossoms on the tree by a stylish house.

The color of azalaes are dramatic.

Turned out it is only open at 11, and we are at 9:30. Off toward Ft Meyers, with a stop at the much acclaimed sea shell museum. We found it with no problems, foreshadowing, parked and walked into the main entrance. What a big big sea shell store. We looked at a layout of the area and said lets go for our walk, well the map made it look much bigger than it was. We now get the feeling that we are at Wall Drug South Dakota. We look at some of the shells and notice they have place of origin, Philippines and other western Pacific areas. We were interested in the Nautilus shell it said they originated in the Philippines and Palau Island. There was a book of shells to look through. What was the last item in it – description of the mollusk, Nautilus? They all originate in the Pacific. Time to leave; make sure you scratch off this as a stop unless you want to wear out the kids.

We headed into downtown Ft. Meyers Shirleen found an interesting place to eat,

The Veranda restaurant, http://www.verandarestaurant.com/history.html. It is 32 years old and is mentioned as one of the best restaurants in southern Florida.

We asked to be seated outside. He said that there were no tables left with umbrellas. He said wait I’ll look, yes there was one under a beautiful tree. Enough shade for two too sit by. Gracious metal chairs and tables in a quaint southern feeling courtyard. When I read the menu and it said that evenings required “dressy casual” attire, I felt underdressed even for lunch. A waitress appeared quickly.

The Veranda's romantic setting in two turn-of-the-century homes, combined with our Southern Regional Cuisine. Shirleen by our table, my southern belle.

Nice menu and description of the area from the early 1850’s. The old house had been lived in, expanded and refurbished by a school teacher. In 1972 it was made into this fine dining restaurant. Shirleen was looking forward to a burger, a Courtyard Burger with American cheese, these made with sirloin, sliced onion, tomato and lettuce; I the chiefs special, four large spicy grilled shrimp resting atop flavorful chard and a mound of grits perfectly blended with Vermont cheddar cheese, tasted like five year aged – WOW what a hit.

The bread that accompanied it was a light sweet brown bun/loaf brushed lightly with honey, and big pads of butter. The tree shading us is a meiwa kumquat tree with golden orange sweet fruit, the waitress said try one they are the sweet variety. So we did, and it was sweet and a nut inside like a peach.

That is the orange colored fruit in and amongst the green leaves of the tree, not a forbidden fruit.

We tried to see the Burroughs house but only opened twice a week Wed and Fri at 11am. We thought it would be nice to see where we are going to stay and check how far from Hammond stadium, looked like 9 miles or so. We drove around for a while then went to the hotel. I worked on yesterdays blog and all of a sudden it is 6pm. I had seen a restaurant named Two Meatballs in the Kitchen, pizza and Italian foods. With a name like that how can I resist? It was off the main street, turned into the parking lot, found a spot but a little tight because of one of the cars. I went around the side and found a spot. We walked to the door that was close to the outside seating, but no one out there. I pulled on the doors and they were locked, we walked away, then someone opened them for us. Well we are at the bar, opposite end from the main door which would have been right by the first parking spot. The people at the bar grinned, I said, surprising how we could find here from Minnesota but not find the front door. Chuckles abound. Walked to the front wait staff, they looked at us as to why are they standing in front of us, aren’t they done eating? I said we snuck in the back door. The place is really set different, on the outside seating are tables made for two sitting across from each other. In the center are four squares, against the other wall are bigger tables. Brought to the table are small freshly baked hot bread buns with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top with a little red pepper flakes and basil.

 These sit in a metal basket with non porous paper with olive oil in the bottom drowning the buns, a different twist to the common way of doing things. We ordered wine Shirleen’s cab and a monteplcno wine from Abruzzi Italy for me, a little lighter than a merlot.

We ordered a Margherita pizza, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil on a medium crust and a side of marinara sauce. Good taste but not like Jake’s. picked up gas, it is $3.56 per gallon. jerr