We rolled in to the campsite around 16:30. The Oscar Scherer State Recreation Area is located right off a fairly busy highway / city road. The guidebook instructed us that it was a very quiet haven off of a busy road. That is exactly what we found. After checking in we found ourselves driving into a Florida backwoods that looked like a great spot for all sorts of wildlife .. even gators (though we didn't spot any in the park):
We set up our trailer (we are getting pretty good at it by now) and the extra 'Add-A-Room' and unpacked everything. This was only to be a two night stay, with the one day in Sarasota getting the royal tour with David's Aunt and Uncle (who are Florida residents .. living there seven months of the year). The first night of our stay, Heather Lynn took the opportunity to do some bedtime reading to the boys:
The night was quite cold (about 40 degrees) and we did not have a heater, a situation I later remedied.
We started the next day meeting Margaret and George at the John and Mable Ringling Art Museum:
This is a spectacular building, built specifically for all the art John and Mable Ringling collected. The museum was willed to the state of Florida upon John Ringling's death in 1936 (Mable died about seven years before he did). We toured gallery after gallery of art (much of it very old .. Renaissance period) including one interesting contemporary exhibit (the state of Florida puts on special exhibits periodically and we got to see a very contemporary one). The kids seemed to like this exhibit the best. Mind you it was full of some very bizarre 'art'. One of the exhibits had an overturned couch and a 'person' lying down with a projector creating the image of a pillow-like 'head'. This person was saying things like 'what are you looking at' and 'get away from me'. There were many other strange and intriguing art exhibits here.
While in the art museum we got a sneak preview of the Medieval Fair actors preparing for their show (it was to start Feb. 25 at the museum). It was quite interesting to see them practicing for the fight scenes in slow motion:
Next we went to lunch on the site. At lunch David got a taste of authentic Key Lime Pie. This was particularly neat since we had just come from Key West on the previous leg of our trip.
After lunch we visited the Ringling Brothers circus museum. It was really amazing to think that the circus was such a huge production (the Greatest Show on Earth) and was so popular in its time. The Sigler Four children have never seen a circus and it is unclear that they will ever get to see one. The following picture, while it looks very realistic, is actually a miniature (about 12 feet from end to end) of a real circus.
The time of the circus, at least for now, seems to have disappeared. Mind you, some of what was in the circus would certainly not be politically correct these days (bearded lady, cruelty to animals, etc.), however, the circus is not completely gone - there is still a travelling troup that headquarters in Tampa.
Our next Sarasota visit was the Mote Marine Laboratory and Aquarium. This was the original shark research site with some of the best marine biologists studying how to keep our salt water environment well preserved. It was neat to see the outdoor shark tank. You could view it from above or through a side window. The tank housed a number of interesting fish - who did not seem to be disturbed at all by the presence of a large number of sharks. Actually, sharks have gotten an undeserved bad reputation (probably 'helped' by the Jaws movies). More people die from lightning strikes than from sharks. It turns out that sharks actually don't like people, there is a reasonably large number of cases of shark attacks, that generally do not end in death. It appears that the shark 'tastes' the human (a particular deterrent being our hard bones) and quickly releases and departs for more tasty prey. We also got to see the Lager Head Turtles. They had two that were about 300 pounds. These turtles do not reach full maturity until they are between 25 and 50 years old.
After the aquarium we headed back to Margaret and George's place. We had some pre-dinner snacks, got a tour of the house, and looked at some old pictures of their family (David's cousins). George and Margaret also showed us pictures of their recent cruise through the Panama canal. Afterwards, on to a very nice buffet dinner at their 'club'. They live in a planned community (they appear to have a lot of these in Florida), complete with several golf courses. We had a delightful time. Before departing Heather Lynn and Reba were able to share a song (May I Learn to be Silent).
That evening we were all pretty tired out when we got back to our campsite. David and Heather Lynn did have time to notice a creature scooting in front of them on the way back from the bathroom. This was the moment when a new creature was invented - the very ferocious and terrifying BOBGATOR. Heather Lynn was able to draw a picture of it the next day. It is a cross between an alligator and a bobcat. You definitely don't want to meet one of these in your travels as we have done!
Well, it's on to our next stop - DISNEY WORLD! And on the way, we get to near the end of the 8th CD (of 9) in our Lord of the Rings travelling family story. Unfortunately, the latter part of the 8th CD is wrecked. Now we have to decide what we will do ... will we skip to the 9th CD or something else .. and just at one of the most climactic points in the whole story!