Sunday the 18th we met up with Pam and drove up to Punta Gorda.  We visited the Peace River Wildlife Center - a small but amazing center filled with birds.  They take in injured wildlife, fix them if they can, and return them to the wild if possible.  They have quite a lot of birds that are not able to return to the wild safely, and they are their permanent residents.  They have two bald eagles, each has lost a wing.  One of the eagles tried to fly and did a fabulous summersault landing perfectly on his feet!  Just amusing the visitors I suppose.

 This is the Pelican area, the only area that is not closed in at the top.  Right now there are many pelicans that don't actually live there - but they know when feeding time is!  At night, you can see a large cage in the back left of the photo - they put all the residents in protective custody at night.  Since the residents cannot fly or defend themselves, this protects them from their predators.

Ok, I have no idea who these people are, but it does show the end of the Fisherman's Village and the restaurant at the end.  The tables are all around the edge of the restaurant and what a beautiful view of the Gulf!

The next photo is inside the Fisherman's Village - lots of fun shops with local artists represented.

Being here a month, we've become curmudgeons when it comes to crowds!  But over the MLK holiday we did bike over to the beach.  The first photo is from the bridge to the island, one of my favorite view of Ft Myers.  We walked along the beach, but was it crowded!

 We saw two beautiful great danes, a breed of dog we've never seen down here!  We see a LOT of teeny tiny dogs, and lots of poodle varieties.  The owners tell me the poodles are so popular because they don't shed!