Downtown * Blog 13

“When you’re alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go…downtown.” –Petula Clark

Yes, I can honestly say that I just typed up that sentence without having to look it up. That song has been one of my favorites for a long while before I hopped onto the Dolphin (our bus). It’s definitely a great song.

Before that day, I had only been to downtown Ft. Myers by accident last October. My mom and I decided to get tattoos spontaneously (kind of). I had been wanting one for a couple years, but that’s beside the point. We first went to this place on 41 who didn’t have any openings for walk-ins, so they referred us to a place downtown.

My mom, my aunt, my cousin and I all went down there, and three out of the four of us got some ink done. My cousin and I decided to walk around after eating some pizza on the road. We watched the roads get blocked off for an antique car parade.

Anyway, I found our trip to downtown Ft. Myers the most interesting field trip we have been on. The weather was perfect for walking around the park near the water and then throughout the streets for the historic Ft. Myers area.
I found the story about how Edison, Firestone and Ford came down to this area to go camping and discuss the uses of rubber. The fountain with the three oversized statues portraying the great men showed what the area of Ft. Myers looked like during the time they were there. That was definitely something I have never heard of in all of my high school history classes.

Learning about the history of the buildings was fascinating. The whole awning thing covering the sidewalks for shade story was pretty obvious, but I had no idea that the buildings like the arcade and the post office had breezeways branching out to other shops. When I saw the “Arcade” sign I really thought it was a video game arcade. I wonder if it ever was a nickelodeon or old school video game arcade.

It was unbelievable to hear that the Caloosahatchee River used to be where a park and two roads now lie. The reason why the river was dredged and narrowed is understandable because it was necessary for economic purpose; however, the changes as to what is built now seem almost unrealistic.

By far, it was the coolest trip this past semester—and there wasn’t even lemonade or cookies. It could be a good idea, for future reference, to possibly stop for lunch at one of the local cafes.