John and Mabel Ringling's Gardens

Although I had fallen asleep a little after 8 pm, I managed to sleep in until nearly 6 am. I can’t remember when I had 10 hours of sleep. We had our usual travel breakfast of raisin bran and yogurt with a banana. Mary looked up places north of us where we could do some hiking and sightseeing. We had some time since the Ringling museum and gardens are only a few miles away.

Winter home of John & Mabel Ringling

We arrived at the home of John and Mabel Ringling a little after they opened at 9:30. This was not only the winter home of the Ringling but was where training and headquarters for the circus was located. We weren’t really interested in touring the home, art museum and circus museum so we paid the $5 per person fee to tour the large gardens on the property. We were impressed by the number and variety of trees from all over the world. The fact that we were seeing monarch caterpillars on the milkweed plants in January was fascinating to us.  Mary also appreciated that she saw some of the milkweed species that we planted last year.  Everything was clearly labeled with species and geographic distribution of the plant. Mabel Ringling’s rose garden was quite extensive as well. We walked around the exterior of the house and admired the walkways paved with stone from around the world. The back patio had a dock for visitors arriving by boat. The house window glass was all hand blown stained glass. The garden of dwarves had dozens of statues of little people in various roles. We were especially impressed by some of the gigantic banyan trees dotting the grounds.

Mary in the Ringlings' rose garden

After two hours we left and drove north to Bradenton where we found Robinson Nature Preserve. The nearly 700 acre area has miles of walking trails through a variety of habitats. Our lunch was in a screened gazebo where we enjoyed our usual peanut butter on Ritz crackers with an apple. We walked a lengthy trail through wetlands, mangroves and prairie and saw a large number and type of birds. There were several active osprey nests and other birds of prey in the bay area. We met a couple there originally from Huntington, and the woman, Gwen Russel, taught at Milton Middle for a number of years. We chatted with a couple from northern Illinois who were kayaking in the waterways in the preserve. From the observation tower, we could see a lot of the surrounding area.  As at Myakka River State Park, there was a great deal of damage to the area from wild hogs.  Large tracts appeared to have been tilled with tractors from the rooting on the feral pigs. We were tired after the long walk and were happy to be back at the car a little after 2 pm.

View from the observation tower at Robinson Nature Preserve

We started driving north across the Sunshine Skyway Bridge stopping at the fishing piers on each end of the bridge. Lots of people were fishing as well as picnicking and walking, all enjoying the beautiful day in the upper 70s.

We arrived at the home of Pat and Jackie Collier at 3 pm. We knew the Colliers when we were at Bates Memorial Presbyterian Church. Jackie is the church secretary, and Pat is now the minister at Kenova Presbyterian Church. After visiting a while, we went on a walk in the park that is nearby where they usually walk. Clam Bayou Nature Preserve is a nice park in a residential area of St. Petersburg. We saw egrets, herons, pelicans as well as ospreys. It was great visiting with them and seeing their new condo. By the time we were back to their place, we had walked nearly 12 miles today.

On our way out of St. Petersburg we stopped at. Beall’s outlet and bought University of South Florida shirts since Emily is finishing her doctorate here.

Along the drive south there was an accident on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge causing a slowdown, but it was cleared up quickly and we continued on our way. Since it was nearly 7 pm, we were hungry and decided to go back to KaCey’s Restaurant where we had eaten on Wednesday.

Despite being busy we were able to get an outside table right away. There were propane heaters outside warming the air. Our food came out very quickly after we ordered. Mary had the fish and chips , which she reported were very good since the fish was lightly breaded and the fries were hot and prepared just right. I had the cod-zilla sandwich which had a generous serving of blackened cod on a ciabatta roll with French fries on the side. We both had a tasty serving of coleslaw. We were hoping to share a slice of key lime pie, but they were out of pie this evening.

We returned to our apartment before 8 pm and relaxed before bed. We were both very tired and planning on sleeping well.