day 9

March 13

We visited the winter home of Thomas Edison and viewed his
workshop and museum. Notice the picture
of one of his notebooks as he set up an experiment. I was glad that they showed some of his
scientific method and record keeping. He planted extensive gardens around the
home, he was trying to find an alternative plant to the rubber tree. The Banyan trees are the most
fascinating, as the branches grow they
will send down new roots from the branch and make a new trunk to support the
weight of the growing branches. Check
out the pictures

Mr. Barnes collected some Fossiliferous Limestone ( A
limestone that contains obvious and abundant fossils. These are normally shell
and skeletal fossils of the organisms that produced the limestone.) This is the
main type of stone you find in this part of Florida. It would have been nice to
be able to collect some Travertine ( A limestone that forms by evaporative
precipitation, often in a cave, to produce formations such as stalactites,
stalagmites and flowstone.) but that is usually not allowed and in some cases
illegal to collect. Travertine is what
we saw at Dixie Caverns, they gave us a chunk to hold to see how dense it is,
it is almost as dense as Basalt. It is denser than granite.

From Wikipedia:
West Orange and Fort Myers (1886–1931)


Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and Harvey Firestone,
respectively. Ft. Myers, Florida, February 11, 1929
Edison moved from Menlo Park after the death of Mary
Stilwell (his first wife) and purchased
a home known as "Glenmont" in 1886 as a wedding gift for Mina in
Llewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey. In 1885, Thomas Edison bought
property in Fort Myers, Florida, and built what was later called Seminole Lodge
as a winter retreat. Edison and his wife Mina spent many winters in Fort Myers
where they recreated and Edison tried to find a domestic source of natural
rubber.
Henry Ford, the automobile magnate, later lived a few
hundred feet away from Edison at his winter retreat in Fort Myers, Florida.
Edison even contributed technology to the automobile. They were friends until
Edison's death.
In 1928, Edison joined the Fort Myers Civitan Club. He
believed strongly in the organization, writing that "The Civitan Club is
doing things —big things— for the community, state, and nation, and I certainly
consider it an honor to be numbered in its ranks."He was an active member
in the club until his death, sometimes bringing Henry Ford to the club's
meetings.
End quote

We also went shopping for good hiking boots for Jane and
Anna. They need good boots for hiking in
the mountains out west. I figure they
will hike over a 150 miles by the time we are done touring the parks.