I've been in Bonita Springs, FL on business for a week or so now.  I'll be down here for another week so I figured I would get out and capture some of the nearby areas.  Naples is quite close to where I'm staying so it is first on the agenda.  Miami/South Beach will be coming shortly, as well as, Ft. Myers and possibly Tampa.  So enjoy some of South Florida's finest.

 

 

1.  The majority of these pictures are taken from Naples' main drag (S. 5th Avenue), but later we'll dabble with Naples' historic commercial district.

 

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7.  The beach!

 

8.  There were some VERY nice houses right near the beach...who would have guessed it?

 

9.  As you'll see...I love all the Palm trees.

 

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12.  Couple different frames here...

 

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14.  Very neat tree cover over this residential street off of S. Fifth Ave.

 

15.  And here's a shot to put it in perspective...

 

16.  Another very nice home...

 

17.  Some multi-unit stuff

 

18.  On my way back to the main drag

 

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20.  Water!!!  It was so freaking hot.

 

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24.  A closeup...

 

25.  Cute

 

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27.  Interesting

 

28.  I didn't like the way this one turned out, composition wise, so I decided to mess with it in Photoshop.

 

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30.  Yay, more Palm trees.

 

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32.  Now we're at the historic commercial district that is about 6 or so blocks South of where we were before.  Not as much activity here and not as big, but still very cute.

 

33.  Some new stuff

 

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36.  Expensive shopping was easy to come by.

 

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42.  And I'll leave you with one last Palm tree shot...

Nice Shots!    I wish they would incorporate some of those balconies into The Banks

Looks very nice & clean.  I like all of the lush greenery.

went to Naples when I was 20 on on spring break from East Coast city circa late 1980's. Watched too many sunsets. Returned to freezing sleet in April. Said "why not me?".  So right way moved to SW FL.  14 years in FL. at least I met by love. We moved to Cleveland "for maybe a year or two, you know, then we move on". That was 2002. Hard to leave now.

 

Back to pics. Not quite so much stucco when I was there. But oysters, sailing and beaches are nice

 

 

 

Very nice!

Nice! Naples is a nice little playground for the $$$.

 

14.  Very neat tree cover over this residential street off of S. Fifth Ave.

 

Royal Poinciana's are one of my favorite trees in Florida. Just a few weeks ago they were covered in flame red flowers. This time of the year they start shedding their flowers as seen in photo 14.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Poinciana

 

I'll be close to there labor day week. We have some property in lehigh acres. That's near Fort Meyers. LOTS of money there from all the people that retired down there. OH the beach stinks...lol Compared to the other side of Florida.

Holy Moley- Lehigh Acres... money?? I guess times changed. Back in the day (mid to late 90's) When the spouse worked there, it was had some bad news stories. Initially it was a more modest retiree type place. The Mr. worked at the highschool. There was all kinds of gang stuff (mostly NY imported) going on. The Ft Myers city kids were bussed in and clashed with the NY people that thought they were fleeing the gang life in the Bronx (Latin Kings). Mix that with county folk and pow! One of the riots made CNN before 24 your news even ruled.

 

I volunteered at  school events. I loved the prom. It was strait out of an ABC afterschool special. All the ethnic groups/rivalries came together at prom and dropped the anger and had the most diverse crownings in royal court. Granted I hated that crap in HS myself, but it was interesting to see in such a diverse environment.

 

Odd trivia factoid: Peabody and Mr. got married in a hot air balloon floating around. Lehigh Acres is listed on marriage certificate since it happened in that airspace.

good pictures. If you're headed in the direction of Tampa, make sure to stop in Sarasota, one of my favorite places. If you're just passing through, do not miss the Ringling Museum of Art--great Baroque art, courtesy of John Ringling, built (in the late 1920's) to house his personal collection and now part of Florida State Univ. It's located on his old estate on Sarasota Bay--which also includes his mansion. Just a suggestion.

No ..lol Not in Lehigh now. That place is strange. They have lots of streets laid out but nothing built on them. We have some property down there on one of the streets.  We check it out every few years. The last we were there. Utilities were 3 miles away.lol

 

There is lots of money in Naples. ;)

good pictures. If you're headed in the direction of Tampa, make sure to stop in Sarasota, one of my favorite places. If you're just passing through, do not miss the Ringling Museum of Art--great Baroque art, courtesy of John Ringling, built (in the late 1920's) to house his personal collection and now part of Florida State Univ. It's located on his old estate on Sarasota Bay--which also includes his mansion. Just a suggestion.

 

I actually hit up Ft. Myers, Tampa (Ybor City and Downtown), and St. Petersburg today.  Unfortunately the entire downtown of Ft. Myers was closed off for streetscape improvements...and Tampa sucked.  I did enjoy my time in St. Pete though.  Pictures will be coming in the next couple of days.

I definitely lean towards a grittier landscape, but great shots nevertheless.

I visited my parents in Naples in the mid-seventies. They wintered there a few years until it started getting priced out of their range, and then they built a house at Englewood.

 

The shops in Naples were $$$ even then, and in some areas there were quite a few Bentleys and Rolls Royces. I overheard a couple complaining about the quality of their accomodations. The woman was griping about something, and her husband said, "I know, but what can you expect for $375 a night?"

 

Remember, that was thirty years ago!

 

The palms are beautiful, but watch out for the coconuts. I was walking back from the beach one night and heard a rustling noise coming from above. Before I realized what it was, a coconut went BANG! on the hood of a car just a few feet from where I was walking. It made a dent.

 

I liked the beach because it didn't appeal to a party crowd. It was peaceful and a nice place to spend a day in the sun. The fishing pier was busy all day and into the evening, and it was Dad's favorite hangout. If he had never had anything to do with his life but fish, he would have been perfectly happy. Most days, he brought home supper, fresh caught and cleaned at the pier.