Florida in March 2009

In Huntsville, AL, we stopped at the Space Center to see various aspects of space history. We saw a number of rockets, the space shuttle as it was loaded on to a rocket and the blackbird plane which travels 2,000 miles per hour.

To get away from the long cold Michigan winter, we spent a week in Davenpot, Florida near Orlando with Mark, Kerri and the boys. We stayed at the Regal Palms Resort which allowed us to swim in the pool, go down the water slide, float in the lazy river and soak in the hot tub. A few days were very cold for Florida, but we made the best of them. A number of college soft ball teams were at the resort so Burke had a chance to make friends with a girls team entertaining them in the pool with his four year old antics.

On Thursday we drove to Lakeland to watch the Detroit Tigers play against the Washington Nationals. We were pleased that the Tigers won 10-2. After the game, the grandsons were able to get 10 autographs from the team members.

Denny and I drove to Fort Myers for a few more days in the warm south. We spent a few hours at the Edison - Ford estate along the Caloosahatchee River. Thomas purchased his home in 1885 and moved his new bride from New Jerseyonto the property in 1886. Henry Ford visited his friend, decided his liked the area so he purchased a home next door in 1916.

Henry Ford used the home as his summer residence whereas Edison continued to discover products in the laboratory in near his home. The worlds' second largest Banyan tree stands on the property and was used as a natural source of rubber along with Harvey Firestone.