Winter 2014--Lakeland

Tue. Feb. 25 & Wed. Feb. 26: By rising a bit early and working quickly we actually managed to leave the state park before Ann & Shelby! We wanted to get to Lakeland, buy tickets if possible for the Detroit Tigers’ first game, set-up in our new campground, and be back to the ballpark by 11:00. It turned out that the game, which appeared sold-out online, was a sort of Exhibition Exhibition—an annual first game VS the local Southern Florida College. So there were LOTS of tickets available and free parking for the game. We bought tickets and went to find Saddle Creek County Park. It was a few miles away on the other side of Lake Parker. There are only about 25 sites there, 2/3 of which are for trailers and the rest for tents only. But we had plenty to pick from and got set up on the bank of one of the many little bays or inlets of the apparently man made, square, lake maze-like, and island filled “lake”. As we popped the camper a small alligator swam down the inlet. We made it back in time to meet Ross & Pat Mack, John Sternberg and Ann & Shelby at Joker Marchant Stadium for the game. We were very early so we bought lunch to eat in our seats and then walked around the stadium for a while. Since there so many empty seats we moved into the grandstands under the roof for some shade and then enjoyed watching the Tigers basically cream the plucky college kids who must enjoy their chance to play against the “Big Boys”. They actually got three hits but no runs and were beaten 12-0, but everyone seemed to have a good time. The others left before the game was over but Marv and I moved down right behind home plate and stayed to the end. On the way back to the campground we got some groceries and got on the internet at McDonald’s before returning to make dinner and read until bedtime. We fell asleep with the windows open, listening to a chorus of frogs.

Joker Marchant stadium from the "cheap seats"

Old Friends: Ross, Marv & John

Cabrera was out on a fly ball

There was a threat of showers in the afternoon Wednesday but the morning was clear and mild so we enjoyed our coffee and read the newspaper on our tablets outdoors for the first time in a while. Then we drove the short distance to a public access site, inflated the kayak, and went for a paddle in the maze of islands and waterways. Luckily, we took the old GPS with us to make a track so we could find our way back! The area is teaming with water fowl that seemed to stake out favorite roosting areas by species, so that one area was mostly pelicans, one full of anhingas, another cormorants, etc. One can tell the favorite roosts by the leaves underneath “painted” white. There was one slow and quiet fishing boat, a couple fishing as we left the access site, and four people in full beekeeper’s gear working in an apiary on the ridge beside the lakeshore, but otherwise we paddled in blissful peace broken only by the noisy ibises, nearly hidden in the long reeds and grasses. After nearly two hours we had circled back and the winds had picked up so we headed to shore and put away the kayak. 

Pelicans a'Plenty!

It wasn't really this dark on the water, just cloudy

Tricolor heron--notice how blue the beak is!

We came in from the upper left and then made that crazy path

Our campsite at Saddle Creek County Park

After a quick lunch we drove to the nearby campus of Southern Florida College. In 1938 the president of the small private Methodist college on the banks of Lake Hollingsworth appealed to Frank Lloyd Wright to design a truly American campus promising to find the money to build it if he would agree. They both envisioned functional buildings made of local materials and not the ivy covered brick buildings that mimicked old English institutions. Wright accepted the challenge and designed 18 buildings, 12 of which were built under his direction. They employed the use of what he called “Textile Blocks”, which were concrete bricks formed in wood molds, and thousands of small pieces of colored glass. In 2013 one more building was built, a so called “usonian” that was intended to be faculty housing. It is now the Sharp Family Tourism and Education Center and from it we began our self-guided walking tour of the 12 original buildings. After touring the site, Wright remarked that he envisioned buildings rising “out of the ground and into the light, a child of the sun”. The campus remains a very unique and remarkable collection of Wright’s work (the largest collection in the world of his buildings in one place) and they are mounting an ambitious campaign now to renovate and refurbish the buildings to continue to share them with the world.

Usonian House

Water Dome--unique in its time and before there were hydraulics to make it work as he intended

Classroom building beside the water dome

Chapel

Under the esplanade

Esplanade

From there it was a short drive to the Lakeland Library where I needed to work on completing a photo book using a good internet signal. We sat next to a large window overlooking Lake Bonny and as we worked the skies opened up once again and it absolutely poured, making us glad we were not still outside walking, or kayaking on the lake, or even just stuck in the camper at the campground. By the time we finished the rain had let up and we returned to the campground to make our dinner and begin packing for another move.