We had a little more leisurely morning....breakfast and then Mass with Father Jonathan in Port Clinton. And another inspiring homily.
We left around 10 and enjoyed a much shorter day to travel. Around Wauchula, we saw the first signs of downed trees and kept getting worse the further south we went - Arcadia was hit really hard. We stopped at Publix to get a few groceries and arrived at CT around 1.
Overall, our park looks really good - the royal palms took a hit but as our neighbor said, they are looking much better already. The tiki huts took a real beating so lots of repair work coming. And several sections of fence are gone. Our neighbors, Liz, Dave and Dick welcomed us back and I sprayed down the driveway pavers before Mark backed Flo in to avoid all the tire marks.
Late afternoon we drove downtown and oh my....so heartbreaking with just mind-boggling devastation. The debris (from all the vegetation) is EVERYWHRE and piled high along with furniture, appliances and one of the small hotels had all their mattresses stacked up by the curb. Many many signs are down, blown away or partially missing. One of the hotels had a bunch of pick-up trucks with building supplies in the back (hope they are safe). That hotel roof was covered in blue tarp as were many other homes and businesses. Several of our favorite restaurants are closed....a few are open including Publix. The former Sunoco canopy over the gas pumps is now a big heap of metal on the ground.
We've seen so many pictures on TV and the internet of this damage (and of course, this is very mild compared to FMB, Sanibel, Cape Coral, etc.) but so many boats piled on top of one another on the ground was just crazy.....beautiful big yachts now in a pile of rubble, turned on their side, pushed against buildings, trees, etc.
The beautiful pale yellow Heitman House (wedding venue) on Palm Beach Blvd. which backs up to the Caloosahatchee River looks like a war zone with huge piles out front. Bennett's Donuts had windows blown out - looks in bad shape. Love those donuts...
Mark and I wondered why we were not getting our books thru the library (on-line Libby system) and now we know the library is closed indefinitely
And on and on it goes - I feel so for the folks cleaning up where they have no power and working in this heat. As our friend Beth said, it's been over 2 weeks so imagine how it looked right after Ian hit? And it's going to take a long time to make our beautiful downtown beautiful again......but again, NO comparison to Fort Myers Beach, Sanibel, etc.
We start in tomorrow - she shed is really filthy outside. My bougainvillea is broke off at the base and sprawled on the ground. I'll call Kevin (landscaper) and see if he can save it? That plant has been thru so much - this is 3rd time we thought we lost it, but always comes back. Liz said the royal palms already look much better than at first. Apparently somewhere in the park, 2 of these beauties were lost.
We are very thankful and grateful to the staff and camp workers here at Cypress Trail - before Ian even hit, they were on top of this and have done a great job of keeping us informed thru it all and with the cleanup.
We have several doctor appts. coming up this week.
Ten on sibling zoom tonight - lots to discuss with the hurricane, today is Theresa's birthday, Jim and Lydia are leaving for FL tomorrow with some stops along the way, Tom and Beth are in Italy (they were not on zoom), Darrell and Sharon celebrated their anniversary in Destin last week, etc., etc.
Enjoy your week!
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