McKee Jungle Gardens.....

Sunday morning started with a wonderful some-cooked breakfast. Then we headed off to an arts and crafts show. There was some really pretty things...and some lovely wood crafts. You never know if artist have a problem with you taking pictures, so I don't. After strolling through we headed to Mckee Jungle Gardens...a beautiful place.....this used to be 80 acres, but is now only 18...but is still a lovely "walk in the woods".

The entrance was lovely..

The entrance is beautiful....

The beautiful outdoor kitchen where they cooked when parties were happening in the gardens...100 steaks could be cooked at one time....

This gorgeous building was built in 1941.....and was used for many gatherings and parties.

This 38' long table, made of a single piece of mahogeny wood, could seat 100.....now that's a party!!!
The inside was gorgeous....

The men behind the gardens....Arthur had the "plant" mind behind the ideas and Waldo had many ideas, including monkeys....yes, they had monkeys at one time, but when the gardens closed, they had to find them another home. When the gardens re-opened, it was decided not to bring them back.

After spending some time in "The Hall of Giants"...we moved on to the gardens.

There was a dinosaur theme going on....they were done very well...

He was a big one....

It's hard to see this glass tower, but it was very pretty and would catch the sun light just right..

He was cool behind the tree, but got really big as we got closer...

These snakes were about the only live animals we saw.....yuck!!

I felt like I was in the movie Jurassic Park!! See the babies with their big Mama??

I really like Bamboo and the Bamboo Pavilion was very cool

It was beuatiful...it's 529 sq feet, nearly 350 stems of bamboo with each piece being 18 to 24 feet long, and 3-4 inches in diameter. The roof is over 9,000 Sabal palm fronds and the construction was supervised by Seminole Indian Chief  Leroy Osceola to ensure authenticity. 

Loved these plants growing out of the bamboo...

 I learnd there are over 1,000 types of bamboo, Mckee gardens has about 2 dozens types. All bamboo is either "running", can take over your backyard, or "clumping", which gets bushy but stays where its planted. Some species can grow 1 inch per hour.....wow!!

You could really see the different types of bamboo...they were gorgeous.

Then we were back to Dino World....

Then we saw these nature inspired  constructions....

Inside looking up....pretty neat.

What an odd plant....

Our last dino....the grounds had been beautiful, the dinosaurs interesting but it was time to head back to our coast....

Thanks so much Floyd and Marilyn we had a terrific visit....we'll be back!!!

Ft. Pierce.....the other coast.

It was time to visit the other coast and Denny has a cousin that has a condo in Ft. Pierce. They had graciously invited us to come for a visit so we headed over...it's about a 3hr drive from our house to their ocean front condo. We got into the area a bit sooner than we expected so we stopped at a Manatee Viewing Center....well, when it was built there was a power plant close by that provided warm water during the cooler winter months...but it was moved and so have the manatees so you don't see any there anymore....oh well, we'll find them somewhere else. We arrived and visited a while and then headed out for dinner. We went to this great place at a Marina, we sat outside, enjoyed the music and the food and had a great evening. We got back to the condo and played some friendly Guys vs Gals in Uker....the guys won, but just barely....we will get a re-match one day!!
The next morning we headed out for a Saturday Market and some lunch. I was a bit fascinated with this guys flutes..he makes them and played them very well...

It was fun to walk around and see the crafts....then in a different section were all the food tents. I bought some pickles and chips and salsa....yum. All of this was in a big park right by the Marina and water, and it was a gorgeous day. Then we stopped in at the neat place for lunch....then we headed to the Navy SEAL Museum....talk about cool.

This statue was just outside the entrance to the building.....just amazing.

And what does SEAL stand for......

Once inside it is broken into sections...Vietnam, WWII, Korea Conflict up to more recent issues, including the killing of Osama bin Laden

It was fascinating, here were some displays about the bin Laden mission

The Mission.......

What really happened.....he was killed in his bedroom....

The guns and equipment displays were fascinating. They even had "dress like a SEAL" clothes and equipment you could put on. The guns were not real, of course, but the sign said they were made as much like the real ones as they could be including how heavy they were, and believe me...they were MUCH heavier than I'd have EVER guessed.

There was a great section that was all about Navy SEAL K-9

The SEAL's are known for being good in the sea...that's their specialty....The Frogmen

Remember the Tom Hanks move Saving Captain Phillips....here's the real story and the real boat that was used to save him....

The inside of the boat....

 On the outside you could even still the bullet holes.....

The movie 13 Hours has just come out....about the horrible 13 hours in 2013 our guys fought in Benghazi....they had this display in their honor...senseless deaths happened during that 13 hours.

Next was theUH60 Black Hawk Helicopter used to free Jessica Buchanan and Poul Thisted

This film was running just showing a few things the SEAL's do.....

Fast Rope...something they have to do often....

They have many vehicles and lots of equipment...

Makes you wonder...what does it take to be a Navy SEAL.....

Food rations........

Night Vision...a huge advantage they have..

How the communicate...

The trident they all wear has a great story

 SEAL's are fiercely loyal........

If you can't make it and you quit Basic Underwater Demolition(BUDs) SEAL training you have to ring the bell 3 times when you leave...the only other time the bell is rung, is on graduation day...each SEAL rings it once to signify the completion of training.....he made it!!!

Next section was about Vietnam....the SEAL's have a long history..

and very different equipment....

The SEAL's were the ones to help the astronauts when the used to splash down in the ocean upon their return from space. This foil piece is from Apollo 11....a thank you.

Lots of older equipment and memorablia....and things you could even try to do.....

The Seal Ethos (a Greek word meaning character)....WOW....more people should have these characteristics...

Now it was time to see the outside grounds which were just as cool as the inside...

First a statue in memory of fallen comrades.

Next....lots of helicopters, boats and SDV's..........

Vietnam Seawolf Helicopter

Having the pictures of this equipment being used was cool...

Captured Iranian Gun Boat..

Yep...men got in this and went underwater.....the equipment they use is awesome.

Navy SEAL Memorial.....

These things sticking up were once beach obstacles...

This boat was huge and we got to go inside it.....

This was no where near as big....but was used for different things..

Wow what a disguise.......

The Navy SEAL's started in Ft. Pierce, it is now in Calif, so they had a full SEAL obstacle course...I'm not sure what all you might have to do on these but I am sure it wouldn't be easy...

We spent about 3 hrs here and could have easily spent 5-6....we missed some films, but we'll find them on the internet, and we'll come back one day to read other things we missed. This was amazing.

We headed back to the condo the change for dinner. We went to a lovely place that had a wonderful 3 person band...they played a terrific variety and many of us danced the night away. The food was wonderful. Then home to bed ...the next day we were going to see a few more sights and head back home.