The Gateway to Southwest Florida, Ft. Myers, is located where the Caloosahatchee River flows into the Gulf of Mexico. A metropolitan area of more than 600,000, the city is the capitol and business center of Lee County. A community of modest homes, many of which are backed up to canals, offering boating access to the river and the Gulf, Ft. Myers was also the summer home of both Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, whose homes are now a local tourist attraction.
The Southwest Florida Regional Airport, just southeast of Ft. Myers, serves that city, Naples and the remainder of Southwest Florida as well. US Interstate 75 passes just to the east of the metropolitan area, carrying heavy motor traffic south for a few more miles before jogging eastwards to Miami.
The mild winter climate in Ft. Myers has long attracted Major League Baseball clubs for their Spring Training. Five clubs who have trained there have gone on to win the World Series. Currently there are training camps for both the Minnesota Twins and Boston Redsox.
The adjacent Caloosahatchee River and Gulf of Mexico are a big attraction to sports fishermen, drawn there by the abundance of sea life. Numerous boat launching ramps for private fishing vessels, as well as a number of commercial sports fishing ventures, offer access to great fishing.
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