world wide photo walk

View fullsize

Saturday was Scott Kelby's Fifth Annual World Wide Photo Walk. This is my fourth year. On the day it was announced, I went to sign up and found RC's walk already full. Scott Kelby was not going to be Tampa that day so all of his fans joined RC's walk. I signed up on the wait list. I checked daily until Matt posted his walk for Dunedin and I switched. I emailed my friends but no one responded. 

When I talked to Bridget, she told me she forgot to sign up. I said she should tag along. Anyone can go but only those who signed up can post photos and enter the contest. Neither one of us are interested in that. I talked to Doyle earlier in the week but he was unsure if he could go. He is usually his daughter's chauffeur on the weekends.

Bridget picked me up and we went to Dunedin. Doyle called on the way and said he would be joining us too. 

The meeting place just said "benches" so we had to guess which benches Matt was referring to. I thought it was the Dunedin Historical Museum next to the Pinellas trail. Soon others joined us. Matt showed up and walked over to us. He seemed nice but is not chatty. Matt did his spiel and used his iPhone 5 to take a panorama shot of the group. Matt's spiel was much shorter than Jeff's. Matt wasn't trying to sell anything.

The three of us walked around. In the four years since my first photo walk, they have painted a few of the buildings. There is still a lot of good color. 

We didn't take that many photos but that was fine. We had a good time. I sort of felt like an old pro since we had many of the shots others were taking. We walked up to the old oak tree held together with large steel cables. I could find any I information about it online. 

We walked back towards the shops and saw Matt. He said lunch had been changed to Casa Tina. They were the only place willing to accommodate us. 

We walked down to the water and walked around. Doyle was dressed for cooler weather and was hot. At 11:30 I suggested we go to the restaurant and he a drink. Bridget was all for that. 

We walked past other restaurants and they were already full. Casa Tina was fairly empty. They had an area set up for us and we grabbed one of the round booths. Bridget got a sangria and I got a margarita. Doyle stuck with tea. 

We were not the first ones for long. Service was a bit slow but the food was good. We tried to take some panos with my iPhone. It is not that easy. 

Doyle did not take many photos. Be never laid down on the ground. 

We left and drove back. Bridget & I stopped at Yogurtology.

I posted images at Flickr.​

​I made a digital layout.

bok tower gardens & pinewood estate

Bridget went back to work and now we don't see each very often. She wanted to go shoot something and I was up for it. She suggested Bok Tower. It was on my list of places I wanted to go but haven't been. It is in Lake Wales, farther than Legoland. In fact, we passed Legoland on the drive there. 

We decided to do both the gardens and the Pinewood Estate. Tickets for both were $18 per person. 

We got there about 9:30 and found the place not crowded at all. We walked through the visitors center but skipped the movie. We walked up the hill to Bok Tower. As we approached, the clouds cleared up enough that we got some beautiful blue sky to serve as a backdrop for the limestone tower. We could not get too close to the tower as there was a moat. 

We walked back down the hill to a pond with giant lily pads. They were probably 30" across. Someone was feeding the hidden fish. We saw a heron fly down and climb through the shrubs to get close to the fish. He managed to snatch one out of the water and gulp it down. We tried to get some photos but the plants obscured him. 

We ended back at the visitor center and there were many more people. We got a map and found that we had to climb the hill once more to get to the Pinewood Estate. We walked around the house and shot some of the landscape. The gardens were designed before the house why the Olmsted Brothers. Then we swatted at mosquitos while we waited for the tours to begin. 

Thankfully the house was air conditioned. They referred to it as mansion but I do not think it was that large. It did have servant quarters over the three car garage. There were also five large bathrooms each with its own bath. There was a lot of beautiful tile and woodwork. The house was originally built in the 1930's as a winter retreat and only used 6-8 weeks per year. 

Bok Tower has daily concerts but we were ready to go. We were hungry and we went to Tijuana Flats for lunch. 

You can see more photos at Flickr.​