Another pretty day and we were off to Ave Maria, FL - new area about 35 miles northwest of Naples (in the middle of nowhere) that was the brainchild of Tom Monaghan (owner of Domino's Pizza and the Detroit Tigers). With Tom's vision, Ave Maria University is now up and going (the 1st new Catholic university in over 40 years in the US). Together with other developers, the area began in 2002 and the university which now has 600+ students opened in 2007. Surrounding the church in the middle of the town square is a variety of shops, restaurants, and offices. There are several vacant spots, so hopefully, new businesses will be coming in. The new Publix opened recently and it's a beauty! In the outlying areas are subdivisions along with a parochial school K-12.
Ave Maria Church, Ave Maria, Florida
We went to 10:00 Mass in the beautiful church - it was very impressive with many parts in Latin and almost completely full. Quite a unique experience seeing this town/village sprouting up from nothing - would be interesting to return in another 5-10 years.
Back to Naples, stopped for ice cream and then to Daisy - off on our bikes and had planned to eat ribs at Michelbob's (just up the road), but they are closed on Sundays! Darn....had sandwiches/salads and hunkered down with good books and our laptops. Maybe ribs tomorrow night?
We are right across the road from the Naples airport - it is very busy with small and larger planes coming and going constantly! Had the trains in Hollywood and now the planes here, but we've gotten used to them, so no biggie!
Yesterday I had picture of the tall, skinny evergreen on the blog.....our friend, Sandy from TN wrote that it's called a "monkey" tree which has sharp needle-like leaves and even a monkey can't climb them? Actually, while biking today, we came across another one! So...now you know the "rest of the story" - thanks Sandy!
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