We left Sanibel yesterday (very reluctantly) and headed back to Tampa to pick up our RV at MacDill AFB. We took one more drive through the J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. We came upon a group of photographers taking pictures of something special with very fancy cameras. What could it be???
It turned out to be a huge flock of Roseate Spoonbills and an immature Wood Stork. It was an amazing site.
They were beautiful and fun to watch. The wood stork looked a little embarrassed to be surrounded by all those pink birds.
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| Claire and Mike |
Afterwards we drove to Fort Myers to have lunch with Claire and her son Mike. Claire was John's mothers (Lois) best friend. She gave us some great pictures of a trip they had taken together out west when they were teenagers. They visited many National Parks until their car broke down and had to be towed home. It was a great adventure for two young women.
Claire also had pictures of Lois as a Marine and her wedding. It was a nice visit and they treated us to a nice lunch. John and his sister used to come down with their parents and visit Claire and her husband in the 60's.
Today was a good day for a road trip. We decided to visit Solomon's Castle and it is a scenic 1 1/2 hour trip from Tampa. We went with another couple camping at MacDill AFB (Berkley & Karen). The castle was built by Howard Solomon, an artist from Russia. He purchased the land in the 70's and shortly later discovered that he owned a swamp. He was quite a craftsman and slowly built this castle complete with moat (swamp).
We had a nice lunch lat The Boat in a Moat restaurant located on the property You walk through a ship and eat under some pretty live oak trees. The food was very good and there were some great desserts too.
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| Lunch @ Boat in a Moat (John, Karen, & Berkley) |
We took the $10 tour afterwards of the castle. Solomon is a master at recycling all types of material to build his artwork and castle. Much of his work is humorous and certainly unique.
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| Lion built from oil drums |
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| There were many stained glass windows throughout the castle |
It certainly was a unique day trip.
neat little spot... on the list.
ReplyDeleteooooh, I so love those beautiful spoonbills! Truly special to see so many at once. thanks for the photos
ReplyDeleteCool castle. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWow, you sure look like you had an outstanding time on Sanibel. Isn’t J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge just amazing? I didn’t know about Soloman’s Castle so will have to keep it in mind when in the Tampa area.
ReplyDeleteJohn
relaxedrush.blogspot.com
A fun stop and a restaurant to boot!
ReplyDelete