The day started out a bit foggy .. certainly not the weather we had gotten used to!!
The fog lifted around 8:30 and the temp was 75 degrees
We have arrived ..
First stop .. upstairs to Starbucks for a Latte!!!
Boy did we come at the right time!! We got here bright and early .. there were very few people around!!!
This building houses one of the neatest things I have ever seen!! A wonderful miniature Ringling Brothers Barnum and Baily Cicus!!
World's Largest Littlest Big Top.
All the fixings are present -- acrobats fly gracefully above the audience. A legion of mess hall workers bustles to prepare the daily meals. Horses shuffle in their stalls, children sneak peaks into the dark halls of the freak show, and Goliath the ferocious Elephant Seal bellows at onlookers. The Howard Bros. Circus, named after its creator, is 3,800 square feet in size and shows off the entire circus process from the railway to the rodeo.
The scale of it is mindboggling, and in perfect detail to boot. For over 50 years Tibbals has worked with excruciating effort to recreate old circus from photographs, posters, schematics and old news articles. Thousands of figures the size of your thumb populate the tiny grounds as patrons and performers. Animals from pups to elephants number in the hundreds. Tents tower overhead. In fact, there's so much going on that an observation deck was created just for you to get a bird's eye view and take it all in.
Click on the link below to see a video of this marvelous miniature circus ..
These pictures don't begin to show you how awesome this is!!!
There is a large book of pictures and descriptions of these people who were in the "freak" shows as they they used to be called .. I would love to have taken a picture of each page but the place was getting busy and others were waiting to see the book.
The view from the observation area above the floor the miniature circus is on ..
Once again .. the pictures just don't do it justice .. to see how awesome it is you have to see it in person!!!
Ken took a picture of me sitting with this bunch too but I forgot to suck the gut in and looked like a fat cow so .. needless to say .. you don't get to see that one .. in fact it is long gone .. deleted .. trashed .. out of here .. LOL!!
Below is a photo of Tom Thumb and his wife and baby ..
As you can see we didn't either one do a very job of walking the wire .. LOL!!! And I'm sure this bar we were trying to walk on was a lot wider than the wires the tight rope walkers use .. and it wasn't swinging in mid-air!!!
Ken did a great job of bare-back riding though!!! No .. the horse was NOT moving!!
This is a wonderful spectacle to see .. if you're ever close to Sarasota be sure and check it out!! I would definitely be happy to go there again!!!! Below is a different video of the miniature circus .. I was so glad to find these videos on You Tube .. I wanted to take a video all the way around the thing but was afraid I would run out of room on my chip or my battery would die on me!!!
I really hated to leave the Big Top .. I could have spent hours looking at all those marvelous miniatures .. but by now it was getting crowded in there .. and besides .. there is lots more to see at this beautiful place ..
I don't know what kind of tree this is .. but it is really beautiful!!
Can't you just imagine clickety-clacking down the tracks while sitting and visiting and listening to music .. all the comforts of home!!!
I'll bet you can figure out what this is ..
The cannon for the human cannon ball!!!
Recognize these two long-legged people???? LOL LOL LOL!!
This was in February and Mable's Rose Garden wasn't looking very pretty yet .. I wonder what months it is in full bloom???
Kenny's taking a break!!
And now to visit the Ringling Brothers home .. actually it was the Ringling Family's home ..
This is quite a home .. certainly not what you would expect for circus people .. LOL!!!
The kitchen ..
The patio ..
This is all marble .. and very beautiful!!
We saw only the ground floor .. you could pay another $20.00 per person and take a tour of the second and third floors but we chose not to. I found this all very ostentatious .. beautiful but ostentatious .. a bit too much flaunting the wealth!! Sure is a beautiful sight to see though!!!
Even the steps are marble!!
Time for a bathroom break ..
When we were directed to the public bathrooms and I saw this I was astonished .. all this ostentatious beauty and the public bathroom looks like THIS!!!!! I thought it was going to be like a port-a-potty!!!
I had to chuckle when I got inside .. and had to take at least one pic .. for it was far from being a port-a-potty .. it was quite beautiful on the inside!! You know the old saying .. "Don't judge a book by it's cover" .. LOL!!!
The walks from the family home to the Ringling Art Museum were made of crushed shells!!!
There is lots of stauary on the grounds .. and yes .. they show EVERYTHING!!!
The Art Museum .. no pictures on the inside!!
This place is HUGE .. we did NOT go through all of it .. I don't even remember how many rooms we made it through .. too mind-boggling .. LOL!!
Some of the Roses had bloomed!!
Now that you've seen the miniature circus and visited the Ringling Brothers home and art museum pehaps you would like to see a live circus .. click on the link below .. another video from You Tube!!!
Black clouds ahead .. looks like a fire ..
We saw the clouds for a long ways down the highway .. but we never did see where the fire was!!!
Seeing beautiful clouds and beautiful blue skies once again!!
Aaahhhh and cows!!!
Rest Stop ..
YIKES!!! At least they warn you!!!
Back in the car .. time to get out that candy bar I gave Ken for Valentine's Day!! After several days in a suitcase it's looking a bit bedraggled .. but it was Yummmy .. LOL!!
We're almost there ..
One of the first things we saw when we got into Orlando ..
this really unusual McDonald's!!!
After we found the Ramada Inn and got all settled in for the night we headed out to search for a good place for dinner ....
We didn't choose Mc Donald's but I did get a picture of it all lit up .. pretty neat!!!
Dinner was at Perkins .. then back to the Ramada Inn for a good night's rest .. tomorrow will be another busy day .. we're going to Universal Studios!!!
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