Gardens Galore

There was definitely no rush on anyone’s part to get out of bed this morning. We all took advantage of the opportunity to sleep in. Once everyone was out of bed, we decided on what to do for the day since there were quite a few options. It was also somewhat dependent on the weather holding up. We considered going to The Ringling Brothers Museum, The Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, the Sarasota Jungle Gardens or Myakka River State Park. Then, we also had plans to go out for a nice dinner that night. After weighing our options, we settled on the Selby Gardens for the afternoon activity.

By about lunchtime, we were ready to head out and began looking for a good place to eat. Jerry and Linda decided to take us to Marina Jacks, a place right along the bay in downtown Sarasota. We sat under a large covered patio, which was a perfect spot to enjoy the mild breeze but stay out of the sun. I kept my meal simple on this day, and ordered a spinach salad with walnuts, mushrooms, red onion, hardboiled eggs and a creamy bacon dressing. Following lunch, we went across the parking lot to see the “Unconditional Surrender” statue of a WWII sailor kissing a nurse. I think it was originally a famous photograph published in a magazine in the ‘40’s, and many years later was erected in Sarasota as well as San Diego. Justin and I did our best to imitate the pose for a photo of our own.

From here, we drove a short distance to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. I’m often a big fan of garden exhibits because there are so many unique and colorful plants to look at and the landscaping is immaculate. I also knew that I was going to see lots of lizards throughout the gardens, and I was bound and determined to catch one! So, first we started out in a greenhouse that contained several odd tropical plants and several species of orchids. Directly outside the greenhouse was a bonsai tree collection. I had no idea that bonsai trees could have so many different facades. As I found out, the only thing that categorizes a bonsai tree is that it’s a miniaturized version of a normal tree – there’s not just one kind. So, we saw a cedar, an elm, a bald cypress and a grove of junipers, to name a few.

After exiting this area, we passed by a large koi pond, a mangrove forest and a banyan grove. Wow, are those banyan trees amazing, or I guess it’s just one large, continuous tree for that matter. As we continued along the walking path, I attempted to catch several lizards on trees or benches. I was able to graze a couple, but they were just too quick for me to grab onto. About this time, we reached the far edge of the park which was almost like a peninsula with water on three sides. We were about ready to move along after looking across the channel at a few really large houses on the other side, when someone spotted a large snake in the mangroves. It was completely yellow, so I don’t know if it was a corn snake or what. Then, suddenly a rat appeared. At first, I’m thinking that the snake was going to go after the rat, which seemed pretty much oblivious to his approach. But then, the rat sprang into action and started nipping at the snake, eventually chasing it off. This cat and mouse game continued for quite some time. From what we could devise, the rat was either trying to protect its babies or the rat had come upon the snake’s eggs and was trying to protect his/her prize. The snake finally began to move along when a large white heron entered the picture. The bird spent several more minutes trying to figure out if the snake looked like a good meal. But, we didn’t stick around much longer after that to find out. We walked away excited that we got to witness wildlife in action!

We continued walking along the water through the park until we reached a house that displayed local art and housed a little tea shop. I bought some loose leaf, lavender tea as well as a lavender martini mix. We also did a little sampling of some of their featured teas. The house sat behind an outdoor butterfly garden with several colorful varieties fluttering about. There were these wrought-iron archways with climbing plants throughout this small area, and this was where my luck finally decided to strike. After several more tries, I finally caught my lizard in this spot! He was a little guy about the length and width of two side-by-side matchsticks- really tiny. He was so fragile that I was scared to even try to carry him to the front of the park in order to buy a little cage. Plus, it was just unrealistic to try to keep him anyway…I did what I intended to do, which was prove that I still had the prowess and speed to catch a lizard. After I released my prey, we finally made it back to the garden entrance. I spent time scrolling through all of Justin’s digital pictures on the ride back to the condo.

After killing a few more hours relaxing and freshening up, it was time to go to dinner. Jerry and Linda chose another restaurant that they had been to before and really enjoyed called Selva Grill. It was a Peruvian restaurant featuring traditional and fresh ingredients with a fusion-y twist. Justin picked out a bottle of Malbec to drink. For dinner, I semi- went out on a limb and ordered the mirin roasted sea bass served with corn custard flan, sautéed bok choy and a black bean sauce. The flan was an unusual texture, which I was expecting, so overall the flavors of my meal were fantastic. This restaurant also shed light on the more upscale, trendy side of Sarasota, since everywhere we had been up this point had been pretty casual. This is definitely an area of town that Justin and I will return to upon our next visit.

When we got back to the condo, we convinced Jerry and Linda to watch an episode of the Planet Earth series. As expected, Jerry was snoozing within the first 10 minutes, so we all went to bed as soon as it was over.