Have you ever been in an airport’s control tower? It’s an amazing experience! You’re perched high above the world with an incredible view of the sky in all directions. Well, that’s what we bought in Naples, Florida.

Not a control tower, exactly, but something even better. A 6th floor end-unit condo overlooking the forest and Little Hickory Bay, with views to the east, south and west.

Sunrise to sunset views.

And, even better than a control tower, it had three bedrooms, a fridge and a stove.

Oh, and a lanai with two of the most comfortable easy chairs.

So heres, the story. The last time we posted about our home in Naples (Winter Cottage by the Sea), we were living in a double-wide trailer.

Our objective was to live there 6 months during the winter and perhaps travel the other six months, or live in Sequim, WA in our fifth wheel during the summers. Then we found Florida to be so delightful, we decided to stay year round and enjoy it. However, the idea of living full-time in a 50-year old double wide — in hurricane country, just didn’t add up for us.

What to do? Time to go on a hunt, which we did. We had a great time exploring Naples, trying to figure out what would tickle our happy button enough to motivate us to part with a big chunk of money. And that’s what happened when we found Bay Forest, a gated community at the very far north end of Naples. We chose a 6th floor condo overlooking the slash pine and mangrove forest, with the beautiful bay and Gulf views in the distance.

Bay Forest backs up to a 500 acre nature preserve with daily glimpses of snowy egrets, great blue herons, tortoise, raptors, and even the occasional bobcat, alligator or dolphin.

The big seller for us was the 2 1/2 mile nature trail which includes a boardwalk out into the bay.

And what a fantastic place to hole up during the pandemic! We closed on the property just as the Covid was getting underway in March, 2020. Oh, did I mention we bought it Turnkey, meaning a place that is not only furnished, but it includes all the pots & pans, silverware, linens, etc. that is required to move in with nothing but suitcases full of your clothes. This is quite common in Florida.

It also had a garage to protect the car from storms, and we added hurricane impact windows. Now, we were safe, secure and so very content living in our Naples control tower.

But we also got an added bonus: our son Jesse, wife Terri and grandkids, Eric (10) and Hazel (8) came back from Mexico to live with us when the world shut down at the beginning of Covid-19.

It was a wonderful five months having them tucked in with us, as they homeschooled, rode bikes, played in the pool, and swam in the Gulf.

Jesse is a digital nomad, so working from home was no problem. Terri is an amazing cook, and introduced us to the Instant Pot and tuna rice on romaine lettuce wraps with Tajin seasoning. Yum.

Naples seemed like it would be our forever home . . . but . . . then we got this really crazy idea last July, even for us . . .