We spent 5 days in Winter Haven, Florida, the home of Cypress Gardens, starting on February 24. John's niece Linda told us that it was a fun, retro place to go. She was right. This is the place that has all the water-skiing shows. It's very 50s.
Below is a photo of our site and also one of Carly. She got her summer haircut just before we went to Winter Haven. She seems to really enjoy her lion clip. She runs around the bus rubbing on everything in sight.
Cypress Gardens
Flying saucer? Click here to see more!
Cypress Gardens has lots of cute critters. We especially liked the little ring-tailed lemur on the right, who has EXTREMELY human characteristics.
Debbie found a new friend here. She has always thought that possums were adorable, and she really loved this little girl. She has since discovered that she is in the minority, as most of the people she has told about this say they have always either been afraid of possums or thought they were ugly. She cannot understand this. This was the sweetest, most gentle little girl.
John, on the other hand, was a bird magnet. They either sat on his shoulders, hands, or shoes. He wore a lorikeet around on one shoe for several minutes.
Cypress Gardens has an indoor butterfly garden with SO MANY different kinds of butterflies! Most of them won't sit still, however, so we only got the following two photos.
These are just some various garden photos.
Cypress Gardens was decorated with millions of lights. We came back at sunset, after feeding and walking Carly, and watched day turn to night and the lights become more prominent. Beautiful.
We also visited the Bok Tower Gardens. The land originally belonged to a man named Bok, who truly believed in the healing power of nature and music. The centerpiece of the gardens is the carillon tower. We got there during their carillon festival, and heard a recital by one of their guest carilloneurs. They have a video screen set up so that people can watch the carilloneur play, and it is interesting. The keyboard looks like an organ keyboard for giants. The keys are fat, heavy, and widely spaced, and the carilloneur mainly whacks them with the side of the hand. It is possible to play chords, but only up to about a sixth. The octaves are far too wide to be played by one hand. It also has foot pedals similar to those on an organ.
They recently replaced the clavier, or keyboard, on the carillon. The old keyboard has been set up in the visitor's center for people to try, and it takes quite a lot of pressure to strike the bell properly. Debbie wanted to be turned loose on the new carillon, but that didn't happen. Oh well.
The house below was on the adjoining property. It was built in the early part of the 20th century and is very Mediterranean and pretty. They use the many bedrooms to house the visiting carilloneurs, and one of them swore to us that she heard a ghost on the stairs the previous night. Cool.
