Sunday, January 06, 2008

A little sightseeing...

Back to those murals in Lake Placid...
A few years back, Lake Placid decided to have murals painted on the "blank" walls of the commercial buildings to make the town look better, draw tourists, and share the history of the area. They now have more than 40 murals and people come from all over to see them. One of the more clever things they've done is have the artists "hide" something in their work. So if you use the written guide that's provided, you learn something about the artist, what the scene depicts and what to "find" in the painting. It's a wonderful gimmick as it makes you slow down and really look at the mural.
Photo 1 depicts the turpentine industry active until the 1940's. Photo 3 is the cattle industry (there used to be so many cows they even had a "wild cow" problem). Photo 2 is Lake Placid's other gimmick. They're making their trash cans into "art" (wonder what the garbage collectors think about this...). This yellow car even has sound effects when you put trash through the window.
You can't go anywhere in this area without seeing oranges whether on the trees on being carried in big trucks (photo 4). Photo 5 - the store at one of the orchards. The honey bell oranges (VERY juicy & sweet) are ready now. They're only picked in January and aren't suitable for shipping so we'll enjoy them while we're here (sorry we can't send you any!).
Bok Sanctuary in Lake Wales was our destination yesterday. The gardens, bell tower & estate are through the generosity of Edward W. Bok (made his $$$ from Bethlehem Steel). The gardens were designed by Olmstead (designer of Central Park). Situated in the middle of the gardens is a 205 ft. carillon tower - a National Historic Landmark. We were there for a live concert. Very pleasant to stroll on the meandering paths listening to the bells. All of this sits on top of one of the highest points on the peninsula of Florida (something like 245' above sea level - they call it a mountain but probably most folks would define it as a bump...). In photo 7 are orange groves in the distance. And photo 9 - me next to something with BIG leaves (if plants grow leaves this big, what do the bugs look like?!!)