FEBRUARY 15; THE SUNSHINE STATE

Hi folks. After a fun night of playing "Crazy Rummy" and Train Dominoes with Teresa & Cecelia (Chris' sisters) in Lakeland, we lounged around much of the morning. Then we ventured out to the city of Ybor, near Tampa.

We had a wonderful luncheon at the Columbia Restaurant, which has been managed
by the same family since 1905. It was awesome.

The Cuban black bean & rice soup was awesome. The lavish old decor had many in-laid ceramic tiles in the walls. Just a nice place.

Close by we visited a Buddhist temple. Wow. The oppulance of the building was stunning.
On Sunday the Temple is open and they also serve Thai meals to the public. It was a good day to be there....no crowds.

The temple was locked up, so we put our cameras up to the glass doors and shot these pictures. Turned out pretty good. There were signs all over the campus that were written in Thai. Obviously, could understand nothing....

Saw a monk walking toward their residence.
Our next stop was at Lake Parker, where was had a wondrous "photo shoot" with awesome birds. The sign below kept us warry of our surroundings.

It is almost mating season and the birds seem to be clustering about the park, and there were plenty of folks strolling by, stopping and feeding the birds. We even saw a distant "gater" sunning himself in the water.

Gallinule

A white ibis

Gallinule

An Anhinga drying his wings while sitting atop a tree. Awesome sight.
I never knew an ordinary sea gull had a spotted tail.

What a wonderful time peeking in on nature.

Tonight we are relaxing, comparing pictures, enjoying our salads and visiting.

Until we connect again.....