On Thursday, Feb. 2nd we drove over to the West Coast, No. Ft. Myers to visit with Carolyn and Sid.
On our morning walk the next day, we started picking up flyers on Homes for Sale and were amazed at how reasonably priced the homes were in their gated community of Herons Glen.
After breakfast we headed Northeast on Route 27 to Ona and then onto Lake Placid.
This is the Town of Murals....where you are invited to walk through the historic outdoor art gallery with over 40 beautiful larger-than-life murals. Some of these murals have sound, while most of them have hidden items. We spent quite a bit of time going from picture to picture trying to find the hidden items described in the tour guide brochure.
Some where easy to find, others were not so easy, if not impossible (at least for us) to spot.
Outside the Chamber of Commerce where we started our little treasure hunt.
this one especially caught my eye, what a beautiful quilt!
Also, you will find 17 unique trash containers, 45 bird plaques and so much more.....
certainly a good incentive to throw away your trash..
There's a reason you'll find clowns everywhere...the town is home to Toby's American Clown Museum and School. More than 1500 clowns have graduated from Toby's schools and are now clowning around in Lake Placid or their own home town. Sadly the museum was closed the day we visited....
a few clowns you might recognize!
From Lake Placid we headed over to Ona where we visited Solomon's Castle. If you are ever in that neck of the woods, it is well worth the $12.00 to stop and visit Howard Solomon and his art.
Howard came to Hardee County, Fl in Jan, of 1972. Finding swampland affordable, he was able to purchase 40 acres, a mile of Horse Creek with a white sandy beach and marshland.
He set up quarters in a mobile home on his land while deciding what type of permanent home to build.
A man's home is his castle? Then a castle it would be!
After building his home, one day while reading the local newspaper, Howard saw an ad for used printing plates..."good for patching a roof or a chicken coop" and suddenly he had a vision of a shiny castle!
Howard stamped out a yellow brick road using a sponge mop and leftover pain from other projects.
From the leftover parts and pieces of the concrete wall, Howard built the concrete horse.
The building of the bell tower turned into a family project.
The nursery rhyme window patterns were designed by his sister, Billie.
Standing guard at the entrance, stands a Knight in shiny armor (recycled materials)...Howard never threw anything away, he used everything available to create art, some of it quite humorous.
The Boat in the Moat is a restaurant run by Howard's daughter Alane and her husband Dean. It serves all homemade food and caters to parties, weddings and Luaus.
We decided to have lunch there and it was delicious!
Some of Howard's art....made of wire coat hangers.
Much of his art is humorous and the tour guide that took us around had a delightful sense of humor also...it was such a fun time to go around the property and see what someone could do with literally nothing....
this was sitting next to his workshop...a bike made of wicker...how clever:)
Howard went on vacation to Texas and just happened to see the Alamo and thought that a replica of the Alamo would make a wonderful addition to his accomplishments. So in Sept. of 2007, he cleared the ground for the "ALASHMO" (he doesn't plagiarize)
barn door he created...
We saw Howard all around the property, stopping and speaking to visitors, thoroughly enjoying people enjoying his art.
It was such a fun day and to end it, Sid was gracious enough to find a "Sweet Tomatoes" for us to have dinner at. Sweet Tomatoes is a southern chain and ever since I visited one last year in Orlando, I wanted to eat there again. The salad bar is endless..along with pizza, fresh homemade cooked soups and chowders, bread, rolls, pasta and unbelievable deserts.....Yummy
Saturday Guy met Eddie Jensen and then went to a Bull Session sponsered by the Tin Can Sailors Assoc. I understand they had a wonderful time....
Sid golfed while Carolyn and I did a little shopping and then visited a couple of the Open Houses...Guy and I saw a couple that we were really interested in....we'll see .....
Sunday we left so Guy could watch the Super Bowl at the Clubhouse....
I will not comment on the game....nothing left to say, except Maybe next year???
The new launch date is for next week, so it will give us all a chance to recover ...
Kay is the one who is always willing to jump down and clean underneath the
Sometimes the trip back up is a challenge!
Met the resident turtle on our way back up from the beach....
When we got back to the Condo, Larry and Diane, friends from Madison, Maine stopped by to visit. They are staying at a resort just down the road from us...our schedules finally allowed us to get together for a short visit.
After they left, the "march of the ships" began.
We took these from our balcony....look at the perception of the ships behind the buildings.....they are so huge a couple of them tower over the condos.
We took these from our balcony....look at the perception of the ships behind the buildings.....they are so huge a couple of them tower over the condos.
