Zack's Website
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The Burns Florida Connection
Why document all this? Well, mostly for historical and future reference. You never know...a little history first....
My parents first started coming down to Cape Coral, Florida in the very early 2000's. It all started with staying with some friends they purchased some Ohio Real-Estate from,
and the love of the area just blossomed. They eventually purchased a condo in Downtown Cape Coral off of Del-Prado Blvd. They visited it a few times in the Winter months
and enjoyed the area and all it had to offer. The West Coast of Florida is a much quiter area than the East Coast of Florida (Miami, Miami Beach, West Palm, Ft. Lauderdale, etc)
You'd think there isn't much to do, but it has a large following. Mostly "SnowBirds" so the summer months can be quiet, but the Winter Months can be awesome. There
are bands that come down south to play at the local bars, Bike Week, and great food. It's a fun place to be. Easy if you want to go out on the town, grab an Uber and not
worry about anything. Come back from partying and crash in the pool. Really a unique experience.
Anyway, as the Ohio businesses grew, they sold the Condo and purchased a house right on the canal from an old German couple. This location was great. You can literally hop
out of your pool, onto your boat and be in the Gulf of Mexico in less than 20 minutes.
The house was a great place to go anytime from September to March. The weather was perfect and as the rest of the city was being built up, if you wanted to go out for dinner or
over to Fort Myers Beach, it was always a great time to go. Playing cards on the patio, or sitting in the pool with a beer, I always thought of them as my best vacations.
Very relaxing. Sometimes it was even fun to sit on the dock and see what I could catch!
Well in early-2022, they began construction of their new house and it was finished late-2022. In the meantime the canal house sold, but the memories remain!
A while went buy and Mom and Dad were going down to startup the new house for the fall/winter/sping 2023 season over Labor Day Weekend. I saw cheap plane tickets, so I
said, "Hey, how about I fly on down and hang with you guys for a few days?" They were excited to see me again as we kept clashing on our Ohio schedules. Why not? They
were always welcoming and said anytime you wanted to come down with/without them it was never an issue.
The first thing I did was hop on the Internet, grab a cheap flight for Labor Day weekend, pack a backpack of nothing but t-shirts, shorts and a bathing suit and I was off. I
hate travelling Spirit airlines...but it literally costs nothing. I'd rather fly Delta or American when I can. Spirit is like riding a dirty city bus - it's gross. I'd rather
spend the extra money and relax with civilized people. Mom sent me her itinerary and I sent her mine - it all sync'd up....so was excited and ready to go.
Anyway, I arrived and Mom is always a gracious host and puts out food, and wants to make sure Dad and I are fed so we don't get "grumpy". Hah! So after a quick lunch,
I hopped in the pool and tested out the hot tub. Yep - this is the life. The builder did an excellent job on the entire house and the 6-car garage that Dad plans on
using at some point for the classic cars.
It was a quick weekend, so Dad drove me around and showed me the hurricane damage to Pine Island and the huge condos going up in Downtown Cape Coral near the Dixie Roadhouse
Country Bar, etc. So the city is growing and the property values are skyrocketing! The new house has a dock, but no boat or jet skis yet....give it time. The weather had a
little breeze to it, so Mom didn't want to hit the Kayak with me - said it was a little too rough. Next time!
Here's a few pics of the kitchen, family room and pool area just so you get a feel of the size increase. It's a beautiful house! They're still not sure if they want to sell
the Ohio house yet. That's still a beautiful piece of property also and they love the summers up there. So that connection stays with the family also.
