We Got Cultured

Monday, March 7th – Myakka River State Park - Sarasota, Florida – Day 28 

 I like to research where to go during our vacation. In fairness, a lot of ideas come from the people we meet and talk to on the road but simply googling “best free things to do in _________” provides a really good start. So when I was researching Florida in December – I had to limit myself to starting my research in December because I didn’t want to look forward to the trip too much – I came across the Ringling. The formal name is the The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art (www.ringling.org). Put in the comments if you recognize the name. But on my spreadsheet I made a note “Free on Mondays”. Well, it’s Monday so off we went to the Ringling Museum. 

 As it happens, our friends Caley and Andrew decided to come down to Florida when we mentioned we would be there in March. Caley and Gen go way back to their rebel days in their teens. They arrived in Sarasota the day before so we invited Caley and her beautiful children Brinley and Peyton to meet us. Aisling and Charlotte are pretty obsessed with Brinley and vice versa. I’m fond of my little buddy Peytoe and so is John. 

 The grounds at The Ringling are superb. We entered and started walking to the play structure in the middle of the grounds. I’m not sure who made the decision to put a play structure in the middle of these scenic grounds but it was a stroke of genius. Amongst these towering Banyan trees with their roots that drop to the ground from the upper branches forming a maze of branches below, were several different play structures that were a bit more artistic in nature. According to the estate guide, the Bolger playspace is recognized as one of the premier playgrounds in the country. We met Caley there and the girls (and John) played while the parents chatted and brought out a picnic lunch. I took Peytoe to explore the Banyans. 

 After a very nice lunch, we walked through the Mable Ringling’s rose garden where the roses were planted to a square garden with paths in concentric circles. More Banyan trees provided a shaded path on the way to the secret garden where the Ringling’s were buried. John and Peytoe took a romantic wagon ride through the garden as John pointed out to Peytoe the colours of the flowers. After the secret garden we reached the (not free) mansion of the Ringling’s that we promptly walked around the outside of. The stone, ocean-front patio provided incredible views of the ocean. 

 Next, we decided to take five children into an art museum. Foolish? Quite possibly. The gardens of the art gallery were incredible. Statues of Greek myths were everywhere. When we entered, the gallery was doing an exhibit on the Eucharist and Photography. In each room the girls picked their favourite painting. John and Peytoe continued to ride in the wagon until we were told that wagons were not allowed and things went downhill with John running from room to room and extensive conversations on how not to touch things and what constitutes a safe distance from a painting. All in all, it was a nice bit of culture. 

 We left Caley after the museum and proceeded to Fort De Soto near St. Petersburg. We had to cross a massive bridge to get there but it was worth it. We were meeting up with Mike and Kim – our neighbours two down from our cottage on the Trent-Severn waterway. They were coming to the end of their two-month stint in Florida, we noticed on Facebook and got in touch. Mike led the way to a beach near the Fort but that was as close as we would get to the Fort itself. The beach was beautiful. It was shallow enough water the kids could play without that much worry, the day was hot and sunny but we found an out of the way spot that was shaded by the pier, and their might have been a gin and tonic sighting somewhere on the beach. The kids swam, the adults swam and chatted. Mike took Charlotte to look for shells. 

 As I was swimming with Aisling three dolphins appeared nearby. Apparently, they are a nuisance to the fishermen on the pier but Aisling was ecstatic. She told me they were her favourite sea creature. I ran back to tell the rest but then Aisling and I waded through the water watching. A dolphin got as close as four or five metres away from us. The dolphins took off and Mike and Kim decided to as well. At this point we took a walk along the pier and watched the dolphins from above. It was a beautiful late afternoon so we decided to stay to watch the sunset. Despite a bit of cloud on the horizon the sunset was colourful and the evening was perfect. It was one of the best days on our trip so far.