Punta Gorda

Mary from Siesta Key drove me half way to meet Mary from Estero as my return plane ticket is out of Ft. Meyers. We met in Punta Gorda so Mary and I of course arrived a little early to pick up seven fast geocaches.

 As we entered Punta Gorda we came to one park after another and it seemed that each one contained a geocache. Here we were across the bay from Fisherman's Village where we would meet for lunch.

 We spent way too much time in this palm tree.  The cache should have been easy but we just could not spot it. Next thing we knew it was time to meet Mary for lunch and we would not be late!

 Just before we left we checked the next palm tree and there it was in plain sight! Only one cache in our few days of caching eluded us.

Fisherman's Village is where the old wharf once was. It is full of restaurants and shops for the snowbirds that fill this part of Florida every Jan, Feb, and March.

The Village Fish Market was a nice choice for lunch. We sat inside looking out over the bay.

Again I had seafood! I just can't seem to get enough.

After the suitcase swap Mary and I stopped by the park at the farmers' market.

 Groceries are much higher in Florida than what I am used to and the markets always seem to have much better prices.

At the market we learned about the murals painted on buildings throughout Punta Gorda. Well of course I insisted that we check out a couple of them. There are stories behind all of them and if I ever get a few minutes I will read about them.

 One building had several murals depicting old stores in Punta Gorda.

Many towns have murals as their claim to fame and I think it is a nice touch. I especially enjoyed this one of a cattle drive. It reminded me of us trying to go down the one way street in the wrong direction to find these murals. Thankfully someone honked and made us aware.