Day Trip ... Wauchula to Sarasota

Today was a nice day.

My first stop took me to Lake Placid to see the Murals.  More cities are starting to get into having the murals to draw tourist dollars, but Lake Placid was the first.  I enjoyed my walk around and some of the murals are beautiful.  It is hard to pick just a few to show you ...

This one is called Town of Murals - How it All Began

The Scrub Jay's World

Our Citrus Heritage

Our Citrus Heritage continued

Bassin'

Birding

The Talk of the Town

I stopped at the local Mexican market for some pan to eat while walking around (my breakfast) and amused the locals with my broken Spanish.  I'm definitely out of practice!

They also have artistic trash containers .... here are four .... the picture does not do them justice as to how cute they were.

The Chamber of Commerce gives out bags of Caladiums bulbs from the area .... looking forward to planting mine!

And they have a Clown School ....

Then I drove all the way back to Wauchula to head for Ona and Solomon's Castle.  This was a fun tour and then had lunch at the Boat in the Moat.  Well worth a stop when in the area.  Solomon's Castle was built by the artist and sculptor, Howard Solomon and features beautiful architecture and even prettier art galleries. Enjoy the beautiful, yet bizarre castle filled with Solomon's works and unique, eccentric art....and each piece has a story.  The entire castle and all the art is made from trash!

On to Sarasota and the Mote Marine Aquarium - an aquarium filled with hands-on marine life exhibits and over 100 different species of sea creatures. The Mote Marine Aquarium displays native and exotic marine animals in a fun, educational environment.

 

A couple of cute mailboxes along the road ....

I drove all the way back to the statue on my way home to get this picture!

Alas, things were closed and it was getting dark .... saving more in Sarasota for another day ... or two.

Before turning into my campground I drove over to the Escapees campground (about 2 miles from here).  I was thinking of getting on the waiting list for a lot and wanted to check it out.  It is a very nice park ... paved roads and well-maintained rigs and park units.  The only problem is I don't want to live in this area ... so I'll pass on the wait list for now.

I'm thinking, if/when I decide to reside in Florida full-time, it will probably be in the Jacksonville area (if I like it when I drive through at the end of the month) as they have the best temps and lowest humidity in the state!  ha.  Anyway, hopefully, that's a long way off!

Tomorrow I drive back to Bushnell, my "home."   I'll be getting up about 5am to make the drive ....  as my lab work appointment is at 7:30am.