Sarasota Marie Selby Gardens

On our drive down to Naples we spent some time investigating Sarasota.   We are thinking that might be where we are “snow birds” next winter.   Had lunch outside with a beautiful view of the water and then went to visit Selby Botanical Gardens.  The following info. is from their web site.   They also had an exhibit of carved masks that were stunning. 

The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida is a not-for-profit institution fostering understanding and appreciation of tropical plants, especially epiphytes (plants that grow on other plants), through programs of research, conservation, education and display. Selby Gardens is perhaps best known for its living collection of more than 6,000 orchids.

The 9.5-acre bayfront property is an open-air and under-glass museum of more than 20,000 colorful plants, many collected in the wild on over 150 scientific expeditions to tropical rain forests by Selby Gardens research staff. Seven greenhouses are the heart of botanical research and plant identification, for which Selby Gardens is internationally recognized.

Watch the slide show. Don’t forget to click on the original view.  

Animal Kingdom

We made two trips to Animal Kingdom.   It is very different then the other Disney parks.  Not many rides and lots of nature walks, animals and fun shows.   The huge “Tree of Life” sculpture is incredible.   You could spend quite a bit of time looking at all the animal carvings that make up the trunk.

A Bugs World, a 3 D film was cute, the live performance of Lion King was beautiful and the bird show was lots of fun.  Lines were to long for Nemo and Bob road on the Everest roller coaster.   He wasn’t particularily impressed.   The days we went the weather was around 75 and it wasn’t to crowded.  We had lunch at the Yeti and Yak sit down restaurant.   We had the best mahi mahi I have ever had.

I can’t say enough about the safari. Giraffe, lions, rhino, hippo, zebra, many deer and antelope, etc. seen close up in a large jeep.  We went on it three times.  My favorite time was on the second ride when we had to stop for about 15 minutes because 5 white rhino’s were blocking the road.  It was awesome.   They are about the size of a small car and so close we could almost touch them.

The walks through the Asia and African areas to see gorillas, tigers, birds and other wild life was wonderful also. 

Enjoy the slide show and don’t forget to click on original size.

 

Fun with Friends and Boggy Creek

We were fortunate to have our friends Leslie and Pat from Minnesota visit us for several days.   We had lots of time by the pool, sat in the hot tub in the rain and lots of visiting.  We spent one afternoon at the beach in Melbourne, about 1 1/2 hours away. We spent one afternoon and evening walking around Disney Marketplace (think of a Disney outdoor shopping mall and night time fun house for the younger set, like 20 somethings).  Here is Bob having fun at the Harley store.

Had dinner at Bongos Cuban Cafe created by music superstar Gloria Estefan and her husband/producer, Emilio.  Decor was pretty fun.   Beautiful full wall mosaic of scenes from old Cuba.  We all had a Cuban entree.  Food was ok but nothing I would return for.  Leslie and I did give two thumbs up to the Vodka Martini!

Our big event was a trip out to Boggy Creek for an air boat ride. We had a 45 minute private ride.  We got very close to the birds, a racoon, gators (large and small) and even cows by the water.