The 4th of July was meant to be a leisure day for us and we spent it that way. Good food, time by the pool and waiting for the rain to stop in the afternoon to early evening. We left the house at 8:30 pm with umbrellas as it was still raining. As we were so late we decided we didn’t need to carry any chairs with us in order to sit down and enjoy the fireworks. We found a parking space quite close to the area of the Red, White and Boom activities. While walking down the Cape Coral Parkway the rain stopped. Yippee, just in time for the fireworks. Chase Bryant was the act on stage and he sang till 9:45. We’re assuming that the rains delayed the fireworks as they were supposed to start at 9:30. I f I were an organizer of such an event I would have gotten on stage and told everyone that the fireworks will start a bit later. But before the fireworks could start: first came the national anthem.

I always tear up over any national anthem. But I also enjoy watching my surroundings. It is fascinating to watch young boys stand up, remove their base caps, place their hands over their hearts and sing along. Not quite common elsewhere in the world.

The fireworks were once again fabulous. A bit after ten it was all over and everyone headed back to their cars. We had such a great spot, so that we were out of the area quite quickly. Never before were we home so fast. Also good for our jetlag. The next morning we slept longer.

By sleeping longer we got off to a late start into the day. My plan for this vacation was and is to discover and explore nature and wildlife. I’ve been reading up and our visit on Thursday morning was at the 6 Mile Cypress Slough Preserve.

Information: slough is pronounced sloo or slew

The boardwalk is 1.2 miles long (approx. 1.93 km) and was severely damaged by Hurricane Irma last year, so there are many fallen trees and the boardwalk looks brand new in many areas. Because os Eric’s cold a shorter walk was ideal. We arrived at the slough at around 11 am, we weren’t the only ones. So I stopped complaining that we were so late. But the slough has a lot of shaded areas so it wasn’t that difficult to deal with the heat and humidity. The first bird sighting was a woodpecker. It was also nice to see how everyone stuck to the rules. No running, no loud speaking and no phones ringing. We also saw turtles, herons and anhingas as well as a black anole.

Friday we headed to our favorite beach: Lovers Key which is located near Bonita Springs. It’s about an hour from Cape Coral and at least for the past three years coming along the Estero Blvd. is a never ending construction site. On the way back we took the Route 41 which is much more pleasant to drive. The morning at the beach was well spent. It was fuller than usual but not as full as beaches in Mallorca. The water wasn’t as warm as it was last year. We took a long stroll and tried to save the lives of stranded Sand Dollars. This is what I love and hope for our future: to live near a beach and just spend time walking along or in the water.

In the evening we headed for downtown Fort Myers, the historic district. We’ve been coming to this area since September 2003, but we’ve never been to the River District. This Friday was the Art Walk and it was really nice. Only problem was that a thunderstorm was brewing. So we Stolle down the street and back again to head for our car and head back home.