We stayed at Fort Meyers Beach Resort which sounds like it is on the beach – right?  Nope.  Actually, a ways away from the beach and the day we made the trek, it was cloudy, windy and all around not good beach weather.  So Plan B – finding something else to do – lead us to Calusa Nature Center.  Calusa is a 105 acre non-profit park that has a museum, miles of nature trails including a raised wooden walk over swamp lands, a Planetarium, and various birds and reptiles.

I have never been to a Planetarium before, so that was an interesting experience.  You sit back in chairs and look up to a domed ceiling where the stars, planets and galaxies are projected.  We watched a film about space exploration and it was a surprisingly educational experience.  However, we enjoyed the nature walk the most.  Being able to traverse an actual swamp over a raised walkway was really beautiful, especially all the cypress trees with their “knees” (part of their root system) sticking out (see pics below).

Now, for a swamp joke:

Two alligators are sitting on the edge of a swamp. The small one turns to the big one and says; I don’t understand how you can be so much bigger than me. We’re the same age, we were the same size as kids… I just don’t get it.”
“Well,” says the big alligator, “what have you been eating?”
“Lawyers, same as you,” replies the small alligator.
“Hmm. Well, where do you catch them?”
“Down at that law firm on the edge of the swamp.”
“Same here. How do you catch them?”
“Well, I crawl under a car and wait for someone to unlock the door. Then I jump out, bite’em, shake the s*** out of ’em, and eat’em!”
“Ah!” says the big alligator, “I think I see your problem. See, by the time you get done shakin’ the s*** out of a lawyer, there’s nothing left but lips and a briefcase…” 🐊🐊🐊