Travelers
Rest Resort / Dade City, Florida
Thursday,
January 29, 2015 (and a report about Tuesday [27th] and Wednesday [28th])
47—70
F, Sunny
Tuesday’s
ride back to Dade City from Estero included a stop at Sarasota’s The Ringling. One of my dear Toledo cousins told me awhile
back that this museum was worth a visit. She was right! www.ringling.com
A mural in the Tibbals building
In 1926 circus king John and his wife Mabel Ringling
built their ornate Venetian inspired 36,000 square foot estate, Ca’d’Zan (House
of John), on the waterfront overlooking Sarasota Bay for $1 ½ million. The
couple had been traveling throughout Europe acquiring circus acts and art and
decided to build a home in Sarasota in the architectural style of Venice’s
Ducal Palace.
Rear view of Ca'd'Zan from Promenade
The elaborate ballroom sized terrace promenade in
the back of the mansion has steps leading right into the water---their 135 foot
yacht was always docked there.
Promenade on Sarasota Bay, Ca'D'Zan
I loved the dining room and kitchen, with displays
of their china, at least 6 different patterns, e.g. Lenox designed by Tiffany,
Wedgwood, Portmeirion, and more. The dining table was set for 22 people and was
decorated by the Sarasota Garden Club.
From the mansion we walked by Mabel Ringling’s
prized rose garden which was in full bloom on our visit. Our final stop was the
Howard Bros. Circus Model that Howard Tibbals started making as a teenager. The
miniature circus is ¾ inch scale to the foot and includes 42,143 items, not
including small pieces such as thousands of railroad stakes: 152 circus wagons,
55 rail cars, eight tents, over 500 hand carved animals, 7,000 folding
chairs, 1500 workers and circus
performers, all telling the story of the circus from rolling by train into town
to packing it all up again all in one day--- cook tent--- dining tent---draft
horses—laundry area—the big top---the three rings---the midway freak show (step
right up and see the strong man)---the aerialists—the clowns, and so much
more. It was wonderful to imagine a
1930s circus with so much going on. The sight of such intricate work was
glorious. Howard Tibbals was a stickler for detail.
I remember my
Erie East HS students talking about the circus when it came into Erie on the rail
on the east side—the elephants walking up to the civic center on 9th
and French Streets in the 1980s. One dear, creative student “ran away” with the
circus one year—I didn’t see him till years later and he truly enjoyed his experience.
The rest of the drive to TRR was uneventful and
everyone was tired.
Wednesday
morning we picked up friends Ron and Ginny and brought them to TRR (easier than
giving them directions) after a great breakfast at Black Eyed Pea. We took a walk around the gardens and Lake Margaret
and then stopped at Busch Hall for the auditions. Every year TRR hosts auditions so that the
board can determine what performers they will hire for their Sunday night
entertainment in Busch Hall, now selecting for 2017. Each performer has 15
minute to showcase his/her act. We watched a magician, a singer, and a classic
guitarist who played flamenco type music.
Wednesday evening we watched the Nova program on PBS,
Sinkholes:
Buried Alive that focused a lot on Pasco County, Florida (where we
are). Plant City and Tampa are each 37 miles away from TRR. Sinkholes
are a geological hazard found all over the world that swallow highways,
buildings, horses, cars, and more! The
episode also noted sinkholes in Louisiana (where we are headed), Spain, and
Siberia. I would prefer not to encounter a sinkhole.
Today, Thursday,
we went to the Kumquat Growers open
house with the TRR Garden Club. Dade City is known as the Kumquat Capital of
the World and will celebrate with a huge Kumquat Festival on Saturday. www.KumquatFestival.org
We learned about the two varieties grown in Florida,
Nagami (oval) which is tart and mostly used for cooking. The Meiwa (round) is less
tart. I tasted quite a few and I do like
the Meiwa better, but TK said the Nagami had more of a taste. TK bought jam,
jelly, and marmalade. I bought kumquat
hand cream that smelled so good!!
Janie and a kumquat tree, Dade City, Florida
Mary Lou bought a kumquat pie! The pie resembles key
lime but with a sort of tart kumquat taste! Delicious! The open house featured a tour of the washing and
packing facility, samples of jellies and jams, salsa, salad dressings, exhibits
by the Florida Agriculture Extension Office with Master Gardeners, and others.
One exhibit had a beautiful tethered Eurasian eagle owl—it is the largest
owl in the world. We don’t know why this one is captive in Florida (native to
Europe and Asia), but I know B2 would
have liked to see him. These owls resemble the Great Horned Owl, but their
wingspan can be up to 74 inches and they can weigh almost 8 pounds. It usually feeds on small mammals, such as
mice and rabbits, but can also kill and eat fully-grown foxes and even young
deer. Imagine that! These people also
had a 12 foot long albino Burmese Python.
Apparently during a recent hurricane some short of reptile zoo was destroyed
and the snakes all disappeared. Just this morning on the local news the growing
python population in the Florida swamps was mentioned. The hurricane escape is
one reason why. Just think of all the
things we learn when we travel!!
Eurasian eagle-owl at Kumquat Open House, Dade City, Florida
This evening we went to a “Cabana Get Together.”
Everyone contributed a soup ingredient and the end result was a super tasting soup
with all the fixings-bread, crackers, desserts. There were about 50 people
there, those who have RVs and cabanas at TRR. We got to meet Jim, the Nail
Eater, also a retired Chicago firefighter, and got the rest of the story from January
21, 22. He was actually putting up paneling and the nail he swallowed was a one
inch finishing nail. Thank goodness everything turned out OK after 3 days in
the hospital!
What fun we have had during our time at TRR. Mary
Lou and Scorchy are sure fun to be with (married 60+ years) and they are so
busy that we could hardly keep up with them. The perfect hosts! It was nice visiting our friends, Ron and
Ginny, too. They know why I am looking forward to the bread pudding at the Oceana restaurant in New Orleans—a few
years ago they cruised with us on our Halloween cruise out of NOLA! They
remember!
Tomorrow we will leave early for New Orleans but we will be thinking of our great time with family and friends here!
TK’s
Takes: TK is happy—he booked another cruise for January
2016. He also said that he heard the man with the Burmese Python say that
pythons don’t survive north of Orlando because of the weather. Hmmm.
No comments:
Post a Comment