February 5,6 2009 Solomon’s Castle, Walmart Lakland

Captain’s blog

February 5, 2009

We woke this morning and neither of us wanted to close up and move. I called the front office and was able to secure another night here. The day was restful and we enjoyed the downtime.

Captain’s Blog

February 6, 2009     

We left Fun in the Sun RV Resort at around 9 am and headed out to Lakeland anticipating a visit to the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum. On our way to Lakeland we stopped at Solomon’s Castle in the middle of nowhere.

We called ahead to make sure there was ample parking for our RV and tow car. We were assured there was both RV and bus parking available. When we arrived at the castle Mr. Solomon himself directed us to the RV/bus parking area. As you can see by the pictures we had to disconnect the car to get out. All that acreage and so little parking space!!!

Solomon’s Castle is the result of a dream of one man, internationally renowned artist Howard Solomon. The building replicates a castle covered in recycled aluminum printing sheets. The castle is set in the middle of 90 acres of swampland. Decorated with more then 80 interpretive stained glass windows and countless unique metal sculptures all made from re-cycled materials.

The tour was delightful and inspirational with Mr. Solomon’s odd humor interjected into the tour. The tour ended in the Boat in the Moat Restaurant owned and operated by his daughter. We had a great meal and then toured the rest of the grounds.

Mr. Solomon has four children – none of whom inherited his artistic ability.

Next stop was the Manatee Viewing station south of Tampa. The weather had been fairly cool so there were tons of Manatees in the warm water by the power plant.

Then it was on to Lakeland to take advantage of the weather and tour the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum. By the time we arrived in Lakeland it was 7 PM so we decided to spend the night at the local Walmart. Unfortunately we were asked to leave along with some other RVers’ and truckers. Six months ago the city of Lakeland passed an ordinance banning overnight parking at Walmart. However, Security at Walmart told us we could spend the night in the church parking lot across the street. That was odd and we couldn’t find a church across the street either.

We decided to head out of town, forfeit our trip to the museum and find a place to spend the night. We ended up in a rest area along route 41- well lit with security. It was quiet and we got a great sleep.