Judy had her follow-up appointment this morning
with an orthopedic doctor associated with the hospital where she went to the ER
last Saturday. The doctor didn’t have
much more to add that we didn’t already know.
He gave her a new prescription for the pain medicine and another for a
muscle relaxant. If it is not completely
better by the time we get home, he recommended additional treatment should be
coordinated with her primary care doctor and oncologist.
After the doctor’s appointment, we travelled to
Largo, just south of Clearwater. It is a
separate city but you cannot tell where one starts and stops due to the urban
sprawl and congestion. We wanted to
check out the other RV park in the Largo area previously mentioned. As expected, it is not any better than where
we are presently staying.
The Florida Botanical Gardens is nearby so we
decided to visit it after a fast food lunch.
The gardens are an official Pinellas County program and managed in
conjunction with the University of Florida/Pinellas County Extension. The welcome center is staffed by county staff
and trained volunteers who offer a variety of services to constituents regarding
vegetation management, best gardening practices, invasive non-native plant
eradication and other topics impacting the outdoor lives of the citizens of
Pinellas County.
The main attraction for most visitors is the
Botanical Garden, which covers 92 acres of land with 2.5 miles of nature trails
through formal settings, tropical landscapes and native habitats. One of the settings is a formal garden that
is used for weddings and other outside events.
We visited most of the settings but didn’t walk all the trails. It was very hot and humid so we had to pace
ourselves accordingly. The gardens are a
very nice attraction that provide a beautiful setting but also offer a lot of
educational opportunities for school children as well as other visitors. Admission is free, as it is a government
sponsored project. Volunteers run the
gift shop in the welcome center with lots of garden-related things for sale. There is also an adjacent attraction called
the Heritage Village. It is a living history museum with 31 historical
structures on 21 acres with interactive activities and hands-on exhibits. It is
also a local government project with free admission. It looks interesting and we may visit it
before we depart for home.
We still had some energy left so we decided to
revisit the bird sanctuary we had previously visited on prior trips. The Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary, is run by a
non-profit organization and staffed by volunteers. It was only about 5 miles away and didn’t
take too long to get there. Injured sea birds are brought to the sanctuary and
either treated until they can be released back into the wild or kept at the
facility if their injuries preclude release.
The facility is very small and is tucked between high-rise condominiums/hotel
resorts on both sides. It is right on
the beach though and has direct access to the Gulf. The facility also seems to have become a
haven for other non-injured birds as many are flying freely among the trees or
walking on the grounds.
On the way back we stopped at the Columbia
Restaurant, one of our favorite lunch/dinner venues in the area. It is located in Sand Key, just south of
Clearwater Beach. The original restaurant
was opened in 1905 by Cuban-Americans and serves excellent Spanish and Cuban
food; they now have 5 restaurants in Florida.
The original restaurant is in Ybor City, north of Tampa and once home to
the Cuban cigar industry in America. We
had a nice early dinner of tapas and a pitcher of Sangria on the patio. After dinner, we endured rush hour traffic
back to the RV park and retired early after a long and busy, but very enjoyable
day.
Day 33 Pictures
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