Ringling Circus Museum

Sarasota was the winter home for John and Mable Ringling, the owners of the Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus, the Greatest Show on Earth. By 1925 he was considered to be the richest man in America and he decided to build a grand home on his land in Sarasota. He loved the Venetian style of architecture so he designed his mansion around that style and called it Ca d'Zan ("home of John" in Venetian). This was the main entrance you would go through if you were visiting them.

He made his fortune building a small family entertainment troupe into the worlds largest circus. On the 66 acre estate are circus museums and one of the largest private art collections in America. This building houses the largest miniature circus in the world.

This miniature shows the layout of a fully operational circus. It includes everything from balloon sellers to the freak show to the crowds of people. Every person was hand created and unique and stands about 3" tall. The total display took over 50 years to finish and covers an area larger than the 3 rings of a full size circus. Zoom into these pictures if you can; the detail is incredible.

This picture shows the areas behind the tents where the public didn't go. Every detail of their day is shown. There are barbers working away, men showering in canvas tents, acts putting on their costumes and makeup and the men who worked all night putting up the tents are sleeping in workers tents. All of circus life is represented. All of the tents, vehicles, costumes and animals, like the people, are hand made.

Just to give you an idea of scale, the area at the top of this picture is the entrance that I showed in the first miniature shot. From there you would buy your tickets and then go to the tent at the top left of this shot. There you could see all the animals. Then you would leave that tent and go out the wide alleyway in the lower left corner toward the main circus tent at the bottom of the picture. No detail has been overlooked. The 2 square fenced areas off the main alley are the washrooms, men on the left and ladies on the right. It even shows men lined up at a urinal ditch dug in the ground. The big top is at the bottom of the picture but I couldn't fit it in. Inside it are bleachers and hundreds of portable seats, most of which have people sitting in them. The 3 rings are in full operation with trapeze artists, elephants and clowns performing. Its absolutely breathtaking.

After finally leaving the miniature display we went to the building housing actual circus items. Whenever a circus came to town, there would be a parade through town to create excitement and get the locals out to the circus. Colourful wagons carried animals, bands, clowns and lovely ladies like this one.

Dozens of these wagons along with acrobats and walking animals such as elephants and giraffes wending their way through town to the sounds of bands and circus music would be hard to resist.

The next stop is the mansion itself. At the end of a 1/2 mile drive is the front of the mansion.

With the mansion behind her, grammie is sitting and watching the waves of Sarasota Bay. This patio steps down to the waters edge. John used to have his yacht park just off the patio and the band would be on the upper deck playing music for his guests.

Isn't the design unique? The inside is beautiful but we couldn't take pictures. Perhaps they are worried we would build a copy.

All his life, John Ringling collected art and has hundreds of the old masters. Walking through, we saw Rembrands, Picassos, Gainsboroughs and dozens of other well known masters. He built this building to house his art collection. The building is U-shaped with the wings filled with beautiful art; again, no pictures.

The central courtyard is filled with statues and fountains they brought back from the old world. Notice along the upper wall, these statues are antiques from Italy and are placed along the full length of the 3 walls.

The central courtyard alone has more statues and fountains than most museums.

Also on the museum grounds is the beautiful historic Asolo theatre. It was originally built in Asolo Italy in 1798 and was transported to here after the original building started to crumble. It has been completely restored and is a gorgeous visual and auditory treat.

Of all the amazing and beautiful things to see here, Grammie was dazzled by Mable Ringling's rose garden. You can take the girl out of the garden but can't take the garden out of the girl. We spent as much time here as we did admiring the art. Hundreds of different types of roses in a myriad of colours and exotic scents did make it a lovely place to spend some quiet time.

The end of the story is kind of sad. Mabel died in 1929 at 54 and John lost his fortune during the depression. He refused to sell any of his art and pushed ahead to build the art museum. He died in 1936 and had only $311.00 in the bank. They had no children so he bequeathed his estate to the state of Florida. By doing that his home, lands and art have been saved from creditors and being broken up and sold. It is an amazing place to visit and it would have been a shame to be lost to condos and strip malls. We highly recommend it!

Christmas Parade

Just west of Sarasota, on Lido Key (a Key is an island just off the coast) sits a shopping area called St. Armands Circle. There is a giant traffic circle and around the perimeter sits about 200 shops and cafes. Very high end; we didn't buy much. Its a lovely place to walk around and is well decorated for Christmas.

There aren't many trees here shedding their leaves so when we found this one we were impressed. Leaves weren't falling, it was the flower petals falling so the ground was covered with soft aromatic petals. Paradise!

After spending most of the day wandering around not spending money, we met with some new friends from our park for the evening. We are sitting in a Tiki hut beside the marina in Sarasota. Here we had a few refreshments and something to eat before wandering over to see the Christmas parade.

Once darkness fell, the parade started. Now, you must remember where we are. Sleighs cutting through a soft blanket of snow just doesn't fit the climate so they do parades a bit differently. Over 30 boats of all sizes decorated for the season paraded past large crowds standing on the banks and sitting on boats in the marina.

Although it was a Christmas parade, some boats (yachts) had a theme as well. This was the Elvis boat with Elvis waving from the upper deck with Santa as his music blasted over the water. There was lots of clapping, cheering and singing as this one went by.

This beauty was about 50 feet long and I would say the best decorated. It has thrusters instead of regular propellers so it stopped and spun completely around in one spot as everyone cheered. Quite a display.

This little boat seemed to have the most fun. Lots of singing, waving and shouts let us know that the Christmas spirit was alive and well on this vessel. How much Christmas spirit was hard to tell, but it made them quite jolly. It was a lovely warm evening and walking back to the car past all the yachts amongst all the merrymakers made for the warmest and most unique Christmas parade we've ever been to.

Home Sweet Florida Home

Well, after many stops along the way, we have finally arrived at our winter destination, Bradenton Florida. Its only a couple miles from the beach and within 2 hours of Disney World. There seems to be lots to see around here so hopefully we won't be spending all our time just basking in the sun.

Housekeeping never goes away so its time to do the laundry and get some general cleaning done. Most RV resorts don't allow clothes lines so we were surprised that this one provides them. Its very handy and the clothes seem fresher off the line. A neighbour was kind enough to point out that the loose sand under the clothes line was caused by fire ant hills and that you need to keep moving as you hang up the clothes. I followed instructions with nary a problem; apparently I have a new job.

We are well and truly settled when Grammie drags out her craft material. I think its a surprise for Brad and Karen so don't tell them!

We have gotten the flea market bug and have been to the local one already. We are starting to get the Christmas spirit by buying an RV sized Nativity Scene. Grammie also has an Amaryllis she picked up earlier which has almost opened up. Any day now we will be setting up our other decorations for the season. A lot of RV's are really decked out with outside lights and lawn ornaments. We aren't that dedicated yet.

Even with all the work we've been doing, we have managed to get to the local beach and enjoy a bit of sun n fun. I hate to keep harping on the great beaches we see but, too bad, we're here and you're not.

The sand is white as snow and powdery like flour. But, you don't have to shovel it. The city in the background is Sarasota and I am standing on Longboat Key. What more could you ask for on the 1st of December?

We have made a few new friends at the campground and one of them suggested supper out at Pasta and Pipes. Its not a fine dining experience but quite unique. In the background as you eat, an entertainer plays a huge pipe organ. Its hard to describe, but attached to the organ are trumpets, xylophones, drums, cymbals and other interesting musical instruments. These are arranged around the room as well as overhead so you never know where the music will play. He plays some of the old traditional organ music, but you haven't heard the theme from Star Wars until you've heard it here. The food was so-so but the entertainment level was great.

Bee's Resort, Claremont, Florida

It was a nice 2 hour drive from Dayton Beach to our next stop, just north west of Orlando. We are getting to be old hands at setting up and it didn't take long after our arrival to relax for a bit. This is the first time since we left home that we were able to set up the satellite dish and get Canadian TV. It nice to see Peter Mansbridge again. We've been watching local US programs and watching them you wouldn't think Canada even exists.

Shortly after our arrival, we have visitors. These sandhill cranes must come and check out all the new arrivals to make sure they are suitable. They are big birds; they stand over 4 feet tall and come within a few feet of you if you're quiet. We've seen them every day since we arrived. They sure have the run of the place although they get agitated if someones dog barks at them.

There is a nice hiking trail through the camp. The area is full of pine trees and the ground is covered with needles. These needles are 6 or more inches long and would probably put your eye out, so we were careful when looking up.

The vegetation is so much different from back home. I find palm trees so exotic. They really make you feel far from home, in a good warm no snow kind of way.

Although we have been assured that all the poisonous snakes are hibernating and the alligators are sluggish, I'm taking precautions as I view this lovely lake along the trail. Its a nice little hike although not at all strenuous like some we did last winter in Arizona. But its a warm sunny day and the air is fresh so we are enjoying the hike.

While staying in RV campgrounds, there are always opportunities for entertainment if you keep your eyes open. This unfortunate fellow just down the lane from us forgot about the utility standpipe. As he backed up, he cut his wheels and ran the side of his coach into the water line, breaking it off. There was a lovely geyser of water glinting in the sun until they could get the water shut off, which took about 20 minutes to do. Of course, no one had water until it was fixed, about an hour later. Those of us who wheel these things around all dread doing something like that, but it happens. Unfortunately, he also put a big crease in the side of his unit.

 Well, today is American Thanksgiving and we are participating by joining the park members in a great turkey dinner. Thats the advantage of being Canadian down here; we get to have two Thanksgivings. The food was great and we tried some new dishes. Some we liked, some not so much, but how will you know unless you try them. We have found that at most campgrounds, these group meals involve bringing pot luck so there are dozens of different things to try. Love them pot lucks.

Beach Bums

We seem drawn to the beaches for some reason. Flagler beach, near where we are camped goes for miles and is nearly deserted.

But we've come down here to spend some time at Daytona Beach. We've spent many an hour on this beach over the years. We used to have a time share here and our resort was just up the beach a mile or so from here.

One thing we never did was drive down the beach. There didn't seem to be any reason to when we could walk out at our resort . So now we have an excuse. For about half the day cars are allowed to drive the beach; its closed due to high tide the other times.

Grammie and I found a spot where we could get some sun and use the car for shade a bit. Water and lawn chairs were handy here as well.

We spent the afternoon, reading, snoozing and paddling our feet in the ocean. Lots of vehicles drive by and a few bikinis walked by, which of course I never noticed.

It was hot on the beach and we made frequent trips to the water to cool off. We didn't bring our swimsuits because we found the water quite cold when we walked the beach the other day. Just standing in the water quickly cooled us off. It was a relaxing day; reading and dozing in the sun helped us to shed some of our stress. We do too have stress! Just not a lot :-)

Daytona Beach bound

We have enjoyed our time at Savannah but its time to move on. As usual we stop at almost all the rest stops along the way to enjoy the scenery and take a break from the drive. All the coffees we drink is only a small reason for stopping.

After only a couple of hours drive we arrive at our destination, Bulows Plantation RV Resort in Daytona Beach (actually its Flagler Beach, but who's ever heard of it, and they're side by side anyway). Doesn't the long entrance remind you of a drive into an old plantation?

Because we arrived early due to the short drive, we decided to explore the park. Its very large with lots of southern character. We came across this sign along one of the canals which wend their way through the park. I'm sure this is just to impress the rubes from the north, but it's a cute touch.

There are a number of canals like this in the park that have wooden bridges for crossing. There are fish to be seen as well as numerous cranes and egrets fishing for lunch. Very enchanting.

This is one of the ponds along the walking trails for taking your rest or contemplating life. Spending the day in these tranquil settings is the elixir for what ails you. And besides, it nice and warm here!

As we walked along the numerous trails we frequently stopped for photo opportunities. I'm not sure Grammie would have been quite so agreeable to standing beside the canal for this photo if she had looked across the water.

They aren't joshing here! Thats an 8 foot long Gator waiting for some dumb northener to dip his toes in as a snack.

That row of trees in front of Harvey is the canal. I'll bet you can guess who looked both ways before stepping out of the motor home now. They tell us that the gators mostly eat fish. MOSTLY!

As prudent adults, Grammie now has lots of space between her and the water when she's outside working on her crafts. I just happened to take this picture from inside, don't read anything into it.