Saturday

On a tip from a magazine, I learned that McKee Botanical Gardens, which is less than an hour south of here, was having a "Dinosaur Invasion!" event for the next few months. An artist had sculpted and laoned for display roughly 80 different life-sized dinosaurs. They were cleverly scattered throughout the park. They even had an area set up where the kids could play paleontologist and dig for dinosaur bones. The weather was absolutely stunning, and I couldn't think of a better way to spend a day than wandering through some of the most amazing gardens in FL while J explored the dinos.

I can't believe we've lived here this long and I've never even heard of this place before. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful it is. At several points along our walk I couldn't help but daydream about being alone on a shady bench- just me and my knitting. It would have been the ultimate in zen.

But since I did have the munchkin and Wil with me, I was perfectly content, and only a little sad that I was going to miss out on the meditative knitting experience.

In the slideshow you will see some pictures of J checking out the Spanish Kitchen which is on site. He shares my love of a kitchen, for sure, and probably spent more time gawking over it than he did the dinosaurs. He was particularly intrigued with the enormous cauldrons and wanted me to make soup with him. Too cute.

There's also a picture of the front of the Hall of Giants. This is a really unique structure with some eclectic stuff adorning it, as in several different bells and lots of stained glass. It was built to house a particular table, which is about 40 feet long and made of a single mahogany plank. It was stunning, and yet the lighting so poor that I couldn't get a single picture of it to turn out. Still, it was really neat.

In it's prime, McKee Gardens was a major tourist attraction in FL, and along with the plants, was home to several species of imported primates and birds as well. Once the Rat took over Orlando and changed the idea of tourism, the visitors slowly dwindled, and the 80 + acre paradise closed it's doors to the public. Sadly, all but 18 acres were sold and turned into condos and golf courses over the years. But what remains is truly an amazingly beautiful place, and I'm glad that they're restoring it.

Here are some pictures from Saturday.