Jen’s Journal – April 25, 2020

Day 301: Bokeelia, FL

Initially cool, then quickly cloudy, humid, hot.

Today was a Pokémon Go event day, so we drove 11 miles to Matlacha (pronounced Matt LaShay) to play the game.

On our way we stopped at this fruit stand which advertises tropical fruits. Two people told us that they sell unusual foods there, like bezel nuts. When I got there, there was a sign that said they only had one thing left, which I hadn’t heard of, something like sopapillas, and I had to wait for someone to escort me in. Since no one showed up after 10 seconds, I left.

Matlacha is a small island town between the mainland (Cape Coral) and Pine Island (Bokeelia). Back in the GOOD OLD DAYS Matlacha was a traffic cog when driving out to Pine Island. It was difficult to find parking in town, if not impossible, the buildings are close to the road, and there are no sidewalks, so people are walking or staggering every which way. It is a colorful town and on the artsy fartsy side, with some good restaurants and bars.

Nowadays it’s pretty easy to drive through town, find parking, turn around, whatever you want to do. We were sorry to see the shops and some of the restaurants closed, but we were able to stop at Olde Fish House for a snapper basket, which we took to the park. We sat on our soccer chairs at the park and waved away flies as we enjoyed the snapper.

The whole time the sky looked threatening, there was no wind, and it was hot and humid.

But we finally got to explore Matlacha, which does indeed seem fun.