Anna Maria, Longboat Key and Sarasota

March 12, 2012:  The house in Anna Maria:

The view from the house toward the Sunshine Skyway Bridge:

 We headed south and stopped to view the beach:

We spied this bird on Longboat Key:

We cross the John Ringling Causeway toward Sarasota:

This statue on the Sarasota water front is reminiscent of Eisenstadt's V-J Day in Times Square and almost stops traffic:

This is a view of the Ringling causeway from Sarasota:

Scattered Showers

March 11, 2012:

A great blue heron dries out his feathers:

The Sunken Garden

March 11, 2012: On our way back, we stopped in St. Petersburg to tour the Sunken Gardens, a 4-acre botanical garden which was started in 1903 and became an early 20th century roadside tourist attraction. It's now operated by the City of St. Petersburg. The garden is a jungle of tropical and semi-tropical plants. One sees our small potted houseplants in their more natural habitat where they grow gigantically larger.

Staghorn Fern on tree trunk; Bill next to a Golden Shrimp Plant:

The requisite Japanese garden:





















Cuban royal palm (l); Shrimp Plant (below r):












































Bill sits on the fossilized "Growing Stone" for "tranquility, inner harmony and the talent to make things grow"(r); David stands next to a philodendron (below):














Can you see the alligator snapping turtle?






















































































































































A celebrated life oak: