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Places Visited: Florida: Sarasota Friday, February 28, 2003 We onlymoved a short way from Myakka River State Park to Sun-N-Fun RV-Resort in Sarasota Sun-N-Fun RV-Resort Sarasota. $38.05 per-night weekly rate with a discount because the man taking our money thought Joyce was cute or something. Full hookup 30-amps with every amenity imaginable available to park residents. In addition to moving day this was laundry and recuperation day. At least we recuperated until the sun went down then we headed to the park restaurant for dinner then stayed to dance to the entertainment that lasted until 10pm. Until tonight I thought that the $38 per-night cost was totally excessive. I have revaluated that opinion after spending a day in the park. These people are paying for a tremendous amount of amenities that each are using to the fullest. The Olympic size heated pool and hot tubs are full of people until mid-night. Gym and exercise equipment are in constant use. Individuals are playing all manner of outdoor games. The woodworking shop is busy day and night. Activities these individuals are engaged in are too numerous to list. That is why I have decided that the residents are getting entertainment and amenities for their dollar not just a parking spot. Joyce and I are tumbleweeds, not yet ready to settle down for a few months in one park. Other RV'ers are completely happy to spend three months escaping the frozen north in one place. Now I can see what attracts over 1,700 RV'ers to this park every winter. Did I mention that it was hot here today? The temperature was in the 80s and humid. We ran the air conditioner from 11am until dark. Saturday, March 1, 2003 Sun-N-Fun RV-Resort Sarasota. $38.05 per-night. Full hookup 30-amps with every amenity imaginable. Our son Jeff called today to see if his Dad knew the difference between circumference and diameter. It seems that when I wrote about the oak tree last week I said it had a 36' diameter instead of 36' circumference. With a mistake like that I need a fulltime editor. Most of us have been blessed with seeing the Royal Lipizzan Stallions of Austria perform at one time or another. The training farm for these beautiful animals is located just east of the RV-Park here in Sarasota. Daily training sessions are open to the public. We attended the 10:am training session along with several hundred others. In order to simulate arenas the horses will be performing in while on tour the training area has bleacher seating on both sides. Training is done with the music, loudspeaker and announcer that will accompany performances when they are on the road. We had a great time. After the training session we walked through the stable viewing each of the stallions then out to the area holding a mare with a young colt.
When General Patton and the Third Army rolled through Europe during WW II they rescued the Lipizzaner Stallions. Colonel Herrmann (the family patriarch) and his family assisted in the remarkable rescue made famous by Disney's movie, "Miracle of the White Stallions." Patton was so moved by the performance of these stallions that he suggested to Colonel Herrmann that he should create a show routine and tour the U. S. with them. That was the inspiration for putting together the show and moving the stallions to this country. Colonel Herrmann is the head trainer and announcer. Riders and other trainers are also Herrmann's. The show is truly a family affair. From the Lipizzaner Stallion show we headed to Mote Marine Aquarium on Lido Key. As it turned out the Mote Aquarium complex is on the order and magnitude of the Aquarium of the America's in New Orleans. We spent the whole afternoon viewing exhibits. Mote is a nonprofit marine science research and education center. With a staff of 50 plus scientist most of whom hold either MAs or PhDs, it blankets the field of marine research. It is one of the largest if not the largest marine research organization in the world. At any one time they are conducting dozens of research projects. One of the projects they were working on was biomedical development of skate embryos. Skates are stingray looking fish that resemble sharks in that they have cartilage not bones. Skates and shark are remarkable in that cancers do not grow on them. That is what the skate research is about. Some scientists are engaged in growing them while others are studying them for cancer research. We viewed magnificent shell collections depicting the complete life cycle of many conks and whelks. In addition to the myriad individual aquariums Motes operates a marine mammal rescue facility for sea turtles, whales, manatees and dolphins that is open for tours and viewing also. Mote has one of only 3 giant squid on display anywhere in the world (one of the others is in the Smithsonian Museum of natural history in Washington D.C.). The 30' squid is displayed in a long clear display case filled with alcohol.
Joyce and I were interested in Mote Marine because our son Jeff tagged hundreds of fish for Mote Marine research when he was a teenager. Some of Jeff's tagged fish are still swimming in the Gulf of Mexico waiting to be recaptured. When one is recaptured Mote still sends us information. We looked but did not see any display concerning research involved with tagging fish. Sunday, March 2, 2003 Sun-N-Fun RV-Resort Sarasota. $38.05 per-night. Full hookup 30-amps with every amenity imaginable. We attended an interdenominational church service in the Fun-N-Sun auditorium this morning. They were having a 20th Anniversary celebration. Ten individuals were recognized as original organizers of the church back in 1983. Over 350 individuals were in attendance today and 450 last week. Songs being sung were old standbys like "Sweet Hour of Prayer" that must be common among a wide variety of Christian faiths. This church congregation consists of representatives from almost every state east of the Mississippi plus all the eastern providences of Canada. I have not mentioned it yet but there are so many automobiles in the park with Ontario tags that the park flies the Canadian flag on a pole next to the American Flag. Lunch/brunch in the park restaurant included live music. As if that was not enough the pool area featured a Jimmy Buffet wanna-be that entertained all afternoon. There is so much going on in the park it is impossible to partake in even a small fraction of it. Monday, March 3, 2003 Sun-N-Fun RV-Resort Sarasota. $38.05 per-night. Full hookup 30-amps with every amenity imaginable. Joyce had several attractions on our schedule today but we only made the Ringling Museum of Art. We both thought we were going to stroll through an art museum then take off on another adventure. That is not the way it turned out. First there is an Art Museum then a truly magnificent Mansion and finally the Ringling Circus Museum. Each are spectacular stand-alone attractions in themselves. Overlooking the beautiful waters of Sarasota Bay, the 66-acre estate is the legacy of John Ringling (1866-1936), one of the greatest business tycoons and culture barons of his day.
A partner in the famous Ringling Bros. And Barnum & Bailey Circus, he bequeathed his art collection, Museum of Art, Venetian-style mansion, gardens, and grounds to the state of Florida. That preserved for generations to come the exuberant lifestyle of America's spectacular "Roaring Twenties". Ringling died broke with creditors at his door. By passing the estate to the state of Florida it kept the art collection in tack and away from creditors that would have sold it off. Internationally recognized, the Ringling Museum of Art features significant holdings in European and American art, with masterpieces from the 17th-century Baroque period. The art in the museum is certainly impressive. The building housing the art is equally if not more impressive. As a full-fledged redneck even I could tell we were looking at some truly impressive pieces of art. However, it was the building and grounds that totally captivated me. Ca d Zan, (all Mansions have to have an impressive cognomen) is Ringlings' magnificent, 32-room Venetian-Gothic mansion. Over time it had fallen into despicable disrepair but was reopened in 2002 after a 15-million-dollar restoration. John and Mable Ringling completed the mansion in 1928 just before the stock market crash. The Mansion is constructed mostly of stone. To give you an idea of how ostentatious the mansion and interior appointments are; a giant chandelier in the entertaining room came from the Waldorf Astoria, when it was being demolished, to make way for the Empire State Building. John and Mable toured Europe extensively looking for circus acts. They both fell in love with Venetian style buildings. That is how they came to selecting the motif of this magnificent structure on the shores of Sarasota Bay. Mable died in 1929 at the age of 54. She hardly had time to enjoy the mansion. The Circus Museum, displayed memorabilia and artifacts from the long and eventful history of the Ringling Bros. Circus. Did you know that it took a crew of 150 just to keep the circus crew & performers fed? It was nearly 5pm when we could stand no longer and started looking for a place to eat. Back at Fun-N-Sun Karaoke was on schedule from 7 to 10pm. We did not arrive until a little after 7 and the place was packed (over 300) to overflowing with park residents. A nice couple saw our plight (no seat) and invited us to sit with them. Others arriving after us had to stand. No one was leaving. The talent level was awesome. One 62-year old performer had been the lead singer in several bands, toured with Elvis and Barbara Mandrel and several other great entertainers. He nailed several "Righteous Brother's" songs bringing the house down. It was obvious that the performers we were enjoying didn't just belt down a couple of beers and grab the microphone. They had obviously practiced the songs and were performing them with perfection. Many performers were so good with the audience they exhorted everyone to dance which they did. Tuesday, March 4, 2003 Sun-N-Fun RV-Resort Sarasota. $38.05 per-night. Full hookup 30-amps with every amenity imaginable. Joyce chose Marie Selby Botanical Gardens for our outing today. Actually it is a mini-mansion and 13-acre peninsula on Sarasota Bay turned into a botanical garden. The peninsula was originally the winter estate of two oil barons (Selby & Payne). Selby Oil merged with the Texas Company to become Texaco. Payne was a VP with Standard Oil of New Jersey. Sarasota was the place to be in the "Roaring Twenties". When Marie Selby died in 1971 she left the property to the community as a botanical garden "for the enjoyment of the general public." The appointed board of directors decided that the garden should specialize in epiphytic (a plant that derives its moisture and nutrients from the air and rain and grows usually on another plant) plants thus making it unique among the more than 200 botanical gardens in the country. The Tropical Display House contained a concentrated collection of bromeliads, orchids, and other epiphytic plants plus one of the most diverse collections of other tropical plants in the United States. The botanical garden walk featured giant banyan trees, eucalyptus trees from Australia, tropical ferns and palms, giant bamboo and elegant hibiscus. For us it was a chance to see the differences between white, red and black mangrove up close. I think both of us can tell the differences now. While in Sarasota we have been dining at different Amish restaurants each day. Sarasota is home to a large Amish & Mennonite community. Locals tell me the community swells during the winter and withers away during the summer. When people around here talk they speak of Amish Restaurants and the Mennonite community. At the restaurant today I got our waitress to help me understand what the difference was. It seems that they are essentially the same except Amish are more strict (wear plain clothes, women wear long solid color dresses while men have beards and wide brim hats, no electricity or telephones, they also do not drive automobiles the emphasis is on a simple life) than the Mennonites. Amish restaurants play Christian hymns as background music. The Mennonite community drive automobiles and does not have nearly so strict clothing requirements. In Sarasota the Amish community is clustered in an area where residents can reach common facilities via walking and bicycles. Mennonites on the other-hand live all over the city since they have automobiles. Amish that find they cannot adhere to the strict rules usually find themselves associating with the Mennonites.
All of the Amish restaurants are great. I would be hesitant to recommend one over the other. Now I have a question. You knew it was coming. How do the Amish get from the frozen northland and return home every year if they shun automobiles? Wednesday, March 5, 2003 Sun-N-Fun RV-Resort Sarasota. $38.05 per-night. Full hookup 30-amps with every amenity imaginable. Joyce had us scheduled to do some "sightseeing" plus a visit to "Pelican Man's Bird Refuge" on Lido Key. Our sightseeing consisted of cruising up and down the barrier islands (Lido Key, Longboat Key and Anna Maria Island) just west of Sarasota. Manicured tropical yards, waterfront lots with magnificent views, and grandiose homes are norm for bayside. The Gulf side generally consists of bodacious high-rise condominiums. High-end luxury living is par for these winter residents no matter which side of the highway they choose. The lush tropical foliage in each yard and common area requires an army of gardeners and landscapers. Pelican Man's Bird Refuge consist of several acres of birds predominantly pelicans and other large wading birds that have been injured and cannot survive in the wild. The sanctuary has constructed LARGE cages for permanently injured birds where they can spend the remainder of their lives safe and secure. An army of over 300 volunteers operates the facility. I heard one docent say it is the largest rehabilitation center in the country. Their rescue program is so successful that injured birds are actually breeding in captivity. The young of these permanently injured birds are released into the wild. Wild pelicans and herons nest on the property almost in a tame state. In addition to wading birds they also had raptor cages with permanently injured hawks, owls, eagles ospreys and vultures. Click here for more Florida travellogsUntil next time remember how good life is. More Florida AdventuresAdventures by State ** 2003 Travel Adventures
Mike & Joyce Hendrix
Mike & Joyce Hendrix who we are We hope you liked this page. If you do you might be interested in some of our other Travel Adventures: Mike & Joyce Hendrix's home page Travel Adventures by Year ** Travel Adventures by State ** Plants ** Marine-Boats ** Geology ** Exciting Drives ** Cute Signs ** RV Subjects ** Miscellaneous Subjects
We would love to hear from you......just put "info" in the place of "FAKE" in this address: FAKE@travellogs.us Until next time remember how good life is.
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