Mom and I walked down the very very long walkway to the Ringling mansion which was huge and ornate. Mom sat on a bench to catch her breath while I darted around trying to figure out where the entrance was. Here’s a short video of the front of the place.
I ran around to the back and it would have been a great place to sit down and enjoy the ocean view. But no time for that because it was going to close soon.
After running all around the entire building I realized that the entrance was right where Mom was sitting, and that’s why there were museum personnel standing around. Here’s the beautiful pool in front.
This is right inside the entrance. You could download an audio guide if you wanted, which I did, but then decided it was a little too boring plus I didn’t have time to listen to it plus Mom had no interest in that kind of folderol.
The ornate dining room. Thinking about it, it’s kind of like Hearst castle, with all the embellishments and faux ancient and exotic furnishings.
Even the large kitchen had stained-glass windows and doorway.
Mom says we didn’t go inside when we went there when I was a kid, and I read that the place hadn’t been open back then because it had fallen into disrepair. They certainly have restored it since then.
Here’s Mom, who at this point was very warm and very tired of walking around so much. As I’ve said, she hadn’t done any walking of consequence since getting run over in December and she certainly wasn’t used to walking around on such a warm and steamy afternoon.
We watched an elderly couple get into a golf cart which was manned by museum staff and Mom longingly wished we could have a ride. But I told her she could make it and we got back to the front of the property where these birds were strolling around.
I’d read about a spectacular miniature exhibit of the circus and somehow we’d missed it when dashing through the two big museum buildings. Mom didn’t care about going back in so I went alone. It was a huge diorama which took up an entire room. I was glad Mom didn’t join me because it was a lot of walking. Here’s just one little bit of it.
It closed at 5:00 but we were back in the car by 4:40, just in time for rush hour.
As I mentioned, it was a crazy and slow-moving trip up the coast to Clearwater Beach. I’d decided to go up the coast because it’d be more scenic but it was almost dark by the time we got out onto the first island. Oh well…
Ok then,
Mrs. March Hughes.
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