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| A slightly better picture of the dolphin fountain as we were pulling out of Marina Jack in Sarasota |
Since we were up late the night before visiting with Eric we slept in LATE this morning. Erik did not wake up until almost 6:30 am....crazy talk! We made a good breakfast to nourish our bodies for a long walk this morning. We were excited to go and see the Ringling Brothers Circus Museum. We decided to walk because we suspected that when we were done at the museum this afternoon we would want to take a Uber back to the marina.
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| Just outside of Marina Jack was this large statue 'Unconditional Surrender'. Nor sure if the plaque below is legible but the characters in the statue have a fun back story. |
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| May be able to read the plaque if you zoom in...if not look up the funny back story |
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| Renee posing in front of a seahorse along our walk to the Ringling Museum. This was a 'Museum & Art of Whimsy' |
It started out as a fairly comfortable walk since it had not gotten to the heat of the day yet. However, in short order the 4+ mile walk got pretty sweaty. Shortly before arriving at the museum and impressive grounds of the Ringling family we stopped into a Goodwill store where Erik made a $5 investment in a tacky Florida shirt; He is to much of a cheap ass to buy a high dollar one at the pricey Sarasota shops 😆. The night before Frankie had mentioned how much she loved the Goodwill stores here in Sarasota because of the high quality of stuff that people with WAY too much money donate (Erik wonders if his shirt came from the owners of the yacht 'Determination').
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| New haircut and New (to him!) shirt from Goodwill for Erik |
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| Also on our walk the the Ringling Museum. These were the only live alligators that we have seen since the one swimming in the TenTom River many miles back. These ones are less threatening when in captivity! |
When we got to the Ringling Estate and Museum we found out that there was a circus show about to start in a half hour in the historic theater on the grounds. Interestingly, the Ringling family is not only famous for their involvement in circus history but also for their love and support of all the arts. The grounds also houses an impressive art museum and theater that hosts all kinds of shows.
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| Small but very ornate and beautiful theater where we saw a 5 act circus performance |
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| The acts in the hour long show were entertaining and fun. This lady was the BOMB DIGITTY hoola hooper! |
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| We are always looking for balance in our lives.....this guy has found his balance |
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| But you can always use a little more balance 😜 |
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| If you cannot find balance, at least laugh! This pair of clowns were very funny and entertaining |
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| Final bow of the 5 acts |
After the circus performance show we ventured around on the 67 acre grounds of the estate. It is a very grand and impressive. The house itself is immense and is right on Sarasota bay. We did not take time to do the inside tour of the mansion but did walk around the exterior and peer into the beautiful stained glass windows.
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| Front of the Ringling mansion |
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| Rear marble patio of the mansion that led right up to the waterfront |
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| One of many statues in the very large and beautiful rose garden. The picture is actually of the lizard on his shoulder though. some of these small lizards like this one have red, colorful chin ornaments that puff out when approached |
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| Rose Garden |
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| One of many huge banyan trees throughout the grounds. These trees are so intriguing to look at. It is difficult to do them justice with a picture |
After walking around the massive estate grounds for an hour or so it was nice to go back into an air conditioned museum. The 'Main' museum was actually closed for renovations. However, the 'learning center' that was open was quite impressive. There were all sorts of circus memorabilia and history from posters to wagons to costumes. The most impressive part though was a huge gallery displaying a scale model of the circus and all the activities that surround it. It was quite interesting to read about the logistics and scale of what a circus involves. During the hay day of the shows in the late 1800's and early 1900's they would travel with over 1500 people including the acts and workers to set up. They had hundreds of animals to care for. The descriptions of the logistics on how the show was all set up, torn down, and moved to a new town approximately 180 times a year is quite overwhelming.
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| A small part of the enormous scale model of the circus that encompassed an entire wing of the museum. It has taken the guy who built the model over 50 years to complete |
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| The 'Big Top' portion of the model. Again, pics just cannot do it justice |
After touring the Ringling Museum and estate grounds we haled a Lyft driver and made it back to the marina at about 2pm. We got the boat ready for departure fairly quickly since 'check out' time from our slip was technically 11am....ooops. No one said anything to us. We departed Sarasota at 2:30pm to head towards our destination for the day of Casey Key Marina in Osprey. We were looking forward to visiting our new friends Jim and Kim aboard 'Happy Destiny' at their home marina. The trip to Casey Key was a short and quick 19 mile voyage. Kim stalked us on Nebo as we traveled and was sure to rib Erik on how fast he drives our looper vessel. Most loopers travel at a snails pace. Erik's pace is more like a snail but on crack! 😲
We were greeted by Kim at the docks who helped us to secure lines. This was the first covered slip that we have been in since we left Demopolis Alabama. They are very nice for shade in the hot Florida sun. After getting plugged in and the AC started to cool down the boat we went over and visited Kim in their already cool boat. Jim was still at work. He retired shortly before they started their loop last year. Since completing the loop he keeps himself busy in many ways, one of which is driving for Uber and Lyft. We were invited over to 'Happy Destiny' for dinner of burgers and then we headed out to an AA meeting in Osprey. Always nice to meet others trudging this road with us in other towns. The gentleman speaking had quite and interesting story.
Here we go again, pics of everything but the important people in our paths.....ugh! We will have to get some pics with Kim and Jim tomorrow before departing.
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| No pics of Jim and Kim today but we did get a shot of their great looper vessel 'Happy Destiny' |
Another grand and exciting day trudging the road (waters) of happy destiny!
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