Today we went to Gamble Plantation Historic State Park ( http://www.floridastateparks.org/gambleplantation/ ). It is a plantation house from before the civil war that was once used by Judah P. Benjamin the Confederate Secretary of State. After the civil war he stayed here while he made arrangements for his passage to England. This is the only reason that it was saved by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1925. It was not a very successful plantation in the 12 years the Gamble brothers ran it they had 3 profitable growing seasons. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and answered all our questions.
Then we were off to Marie Selby Botanical Gardens ( http://www.selby.org ). We had a lovely lunch in the café there and then a walk around the grounds which included a conservatory full of orchids, my favorite flower. They had many different types of trees and plants as you can see from the pictures.
After walking around all afternoon we left and went back to the hotel but first we stopped at one of the local food stores called The Fresh Market. We bought some prepared foods we could heat up in the microwave oven. It was a bit expensive but still cheaper then eating dinner out. We had bourbon salmon with roasted potatoes and green beans followed by some stuffed cabbage. Barbara had a fruit tart and I had some cherries and a cappuccino chip cookie for desert.
Today was a little warmer it made it into the 60’s but still not what we would call Florida weather.
