The first stop was the Heritage Village, a restored living history exhibit of Florida's past. It is a great collection of period buildings representing Florida History, especially from the early 19th century to the 1940s. The village is maintained by Pinellas County that has a terrffic parks and recreation program.
One place we especially wanted to revisit was the house where the quilters, weavers and basket makers work and display their creations. The quilters were working today and we saw some of their quilts as well some of the others created by members of their quilting guild, the Largo Crackers Quilting Guild. We visited again with a male quilter who has been quilting for over 30 years and has completed over 300 hand-sewn quilts, many he has donated to the local Fischer House that supports military families as their veteran sons/daughters/spouses undergo service-related medial treatments.
We also saw some really impressive weaving and basket making exhibits and works of art, all made by local artists who share the house at the Heritage Village with the quilters
After a short visit to the co-located Botanical Garden, we then headed down the street to visit the George C. McGough Nature Park. It is a Largo city park that serves as a raptor rehabilitation center as well as a local environmental educational resource, and nature center. This time we saw a bald eagle, several owls, and several types of hawks, all undergoing rehab or there permanently because previous injuries rendered them unable to live in the wild. There is also a turtle pond with five different species of turtles in the park. We walked out to the water, a branch of Clearwater Bay, seeing some small lizards, birds and fish.
Botanical Garden
Our next stop was lunch/dinner at the Columbia Restaurant at Sand Key, just over the causeway and up the coast just south of Clearwater Beach, Once again, we had a great meal at a favorite restaurant.
On the way back to the RV we stopped in Safety Harbor for ice cream for desert - a great way to end a busy but very enjoyable day.
We will do a beach day tomorrow, taking the ferry over to Caladesi Island from Honeymoon Island State Park.
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