St. Petersburg, FL

"So much to see, so little time".  This is a big metropolis and I was hesitant to land here, but I'm glad I did.  Aside from the usual stops like the Florida Botanical Garden and Fort DeSoto, I encountered off-the-beaten-path places like the "Secret Garden" and the "Sunken Garden', aptly named.  I read about the Secret Garden online, but had to ask locals how to get there from the beach after my GS landed me in a parking lot with no garden in sight.  It was well worth the trip.  The Sunken Garden was made into a garden after the owner converted a sinkhole 15' below street level into an oasis of tropical plants and birds with pools and waterfalls circulating water throughout the garden  But the highlight of my trip to St. Pete was the Salvador Dali Museum.  I visited Dali's home in Figueres, Spain several years ago and thoroughly enjoyed seeing some of his early works; however this museum had many of his mid and late-career pieces that boggled the mind.  Huge paintings, 10'x15'', lined the outside walls, taking up the entire space--depicting many religious scenes, where Dali and his wife Gala appear as iconic figures.  The museum itself is an architectural marvel, with its spiral staircase and geodesic dome windows overlooking the garden.

Christopher Columbus landing in America

Sarasota, FL

Sarasota is famous as the winter headquarters of the Ringling Bros. Circus.  John Ringling and his wife built a beautiful home there and after their deaths, bequeathed the property: their winter home,   museums and their vast art collection to the state of Florida.  It's now a vast museum complex, unlike any I've visited and I thoroughly enjoyed my stay there.  There are two museums, one housing circus memorabilia, animal wagons and the train in which the Ringling's travelled cross country.  The other museum houses a miniature circus, just like it would have been set up in the day when the circus would roll into a town during the 30's.

The Ringling winter home

One of the highly decorative animal wagons

Human Cannon

Miniature scale circus from above 

Coral Castle, FL

Interior courtyard of castle full of furnishings and sculpture

While I was at the Everglades I visited this amazing place, a castle built in the 20's by a Latvian, Eduards Līdskalniņs.   It's built of local limestone blocks, some weighing 20 tons.  It's worth a look in Wikipedia to read about his amazing story.  What remains a mystery is how this 5' tall man, weighing 100 lbs was able to single-handedly build this amazing structure without the benefit of hydraulics.  What's even more remarkable is that he moved the castle, block by block from its original location in the Everglades to Florida City,  to be nearer to visitors driving down the to-be-built Hwy 1.  It includes limestone rocking chairs, a table pivots on a central axis, and a door that pivots as well.

Mega-ton obelisk

Ed's workshop

Ed's living quarters

One of many stone rocking chairs

Punta Gorda, FL

After leaving the Everglades, I headed back to the Gulf coast to check out some  areas less populated by 'snow birds'.  Punta Gorda is a smaller community and less developed than Fort Myers to the south. It's known for it's natural areas, over 40% of the county is preserved natural space.   It sits on a harbor with Port Charlotte to the north. There's a lovely harbor walk with many public parks along the way.   The highlight was a visit to the Peace River Botanical and Sculpture garden.  Started by a wealthy couple who had a vision of creating this park for the preservation of native plants and offering a place for local sculptors to display their creativity.

Charlotte Harbor

 Palm sculpture from the side

Palm sculpture head-on

Peace River--very aptly named

Everglades National Park

I was able to visit the Everglades National Park just after the moratorium on the government shutdown went into effect. I found out the park was still open thanks to the volunteers who manned the Visitor's Center and offered guided ranger talks.  Although winter is the dry season here, there was plenty of water nestled in the fields of sawgrass, not visible from the road, but there nevertheless.  The highlights of my time there were the 3-hour bike ride through the pine forest, sloughing in knee deep water through a cypress dome, and a visit to the old Nike missile site.

Up close and personal

The stick is to beat off alligators and snakes

Cypress Dome--deciduous conifers

Refurbished Nike missile--Cuban missile crisis era

Cudjoe Key in the Fkorida Keys

Our family had a reunion in the Keys and in spite of the rainy weather, we had a very relaxing time playing scrabble, reading, kayaking, taking walks and preparing meals for nine people.  The house we rented was very luxurious and slept all of us comfortably,  I had prepared a large chart showing our ancestral tree and had fun introducing everyone to our Latvian roots.  Hopefully, it won't be another five years before we're all together again.