Our continuing travels in Maine…

After Acadia and Bar Harbor, we began a leisurely drive down the Maine coast. I had made a list of places that sounded interesting, and we decided to explore what took our fancy, deciding where to stop for the night on the fly, since we didn’t know exactly where we’d be when it was time to find a place to stay. We were between the tourist seasons of summer and “leaf peeping,” so it wasn’t too crowded. If you want to stay somewhere special or if you go during a busier time of year, it would be better to make plans ahead of time, but this worked fine for finding a place just to sleep for the night. We had a couple rooms that were just OK, but mostly every place we stayed had something nice about it, whether it was a tasty breakfast, a pretty view, or even an adorable puppy in the office.

We started with the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland. The Farnsworth focuses on American art from the 18^th century to the present, with a special focus on artists who have lived and worked in Maine. These include artists like Winslow Homer, Edward Hopper, and Georgia O’Keeffe, in addition to works by the Wyeth family: N.C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth, and James (“Jamie”) Wyeth.

I especially enjoyed the special exhibitions, “Andrew Wyeth: Witches Ghosts and Mischief”, and “Jamie Wyeth: Untoward Occurrences and Other Things.” 

On recommendation of some people we met at the tire repair shop—because of course we had to have a little adversity on our trip—we ate lunch at Café Miranda, an adorable little place just a few streets away from the museum. My husband had a late breakfast, but I had the “Fabulous Bowl of Meat,” which was actually…Thai lettuce wraps. And delicious.

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

Thus fortified, we meandered down to Boothbay to visit the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens. As I mentioned on Instagram, we may not have seen many colorful fall leaves, but we made up for that in displays of flowers. We saw gorgeous flowers everywhere, but, of course, the botanical gardens were exceptional.

The garden opened in 2007 after 16 years of planning, and is the largest botanical garden in New England. Seventeen of its 295 acres feature plants native to Maine as well as other plants suited to northern coastal conditions.

The children’s garden area was especially fun:

Last Friday, I accompanied Laure Ferlita and the Sarasota Urban Sketchers to the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida. This was my first visit to Selby, and I’ll be back.

The Selby Gardens feature a number of different gardens and habitats, including the Tropical Conservatory, a bromeliad garden, a tidal lagoon and hardwood hammock in the Native Florida section, and edible, fragrance, and butterfly gardens. When she died in 1971, Marie Selby bequeathed the property to the community for the purpose of creating a botanical garden “for the enjoyment of the general public.”

Our instructions were to sketch until 11:30 a.m, then meet to share our work. During this time, I never got farther into the gardens than the Tropical Conservatory, where I might have lost my mind a little after seeing the orchids on display. (My orchids are definitely slacking, and received a good talking-to when I got home.) Because of my mad photo taking and mind-losing, I didn’t finish my sketchbook page, and had to work on it later. (It’s not done yet, but will be soon.)

After sharing our work with the group, Laure and I stayed for lunch, then walked through the rest of the gardens. Laure  took photos for her upcoming class and I took them to use on the blog (Wednesday’s statue photo was taken at Selby) and my own pleasure.

Here are some highlights of the day:

From the Tropical Conservatory:

Some places resonate with me—they feel like old friends, even the first time I visit them. One such place for me is Turtle Bay Exploration Park (TBEP) in Redding, California. When I visit my family, it’s one of the places I always want to go back to—what better place to share with you as a Field Trip Friday?

TBEP is 300-acre “gathering place” divided into north and south “campuses,” separated by the Sacramento River and connected by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava’s Sundial Bridge. In addition to the bridge, there is a museum, a forestry and wildlife center, and an arboretum and botanical gardens. The complex houses approximately 800 plant species/cultivars and 225 animals. Here’s a brief description of each of the major components:

McConnell Arboretum and Botanical Gardens

The 20 acres of water-wise gardens here represent the world’s five Mediterranean climate zones: Southwest Australia, South Africa, California, Chile and the Mediterranean Basin. The plants share survival adaptations that enable them to thrive in climate conditions with warm/hot dry summers and rainy winters, and all require moderate to low water usage. The gardens are divided into several areas, including a Children’s Garden, Perennial Companions Display Garden, Butterfly Garden, Medicinal Garden and the Pacific Rim Garden. Mosaic features and fountains are scattered throughout the gardens. This is my favorite area of the TBEP—lots of places to sketch, take pictures, or simply sit and enjoy the gardens. I didn’t sketch while I was there, but did take some pictures:

Sounds of Water by Betsy Damon

Mosaic fountain, part of Mosaic Oasis, by Colleen Barry

Earthstone, by Colleen Barry

Detail from Earthstone

Museum and Forest Camp

Paul Bunyan’s Forest Camp is a popular destination for children. It includes a playground; the Parrot Playhouse, a year-round lorikeet aviary; Wildlife Woods; a seasonal Butterfly House and an amphitheater where daily educational shows take place. There are lots of hands-on activities for kids, and this is where you’ll find the animals. Though we never found the newest addition, a young bobcat (she was being used in a presentation that we missed), we did see a porcupine, a couple of raptors and a beautiful red fox.

The museum houses several permanent and interactive exhibits focusing on local and regional history, as well as traveling exhibits. When we were there, so was Toytopia, an exploration of the past century of toy making. We saw the world’s largest Etch-A-Sketch (more than eight feet tall—and I didn’t take a picture!), a retro arcade with games like Tron and Donkey Kong, building areas for kids with Lego and Lincoln Logs, and toys from the early 1900s onward.

Sundial Bridge

This beautiful bridge is indeed a sundial, though the shadow of its 217-foot-tall pylon is only completely accurate once a year, on the summer solstice. Opened July 4, 2004, the Sundial Bridge is also a downtown entrance for Redding’s Sacramento River Trail system, a 35-mile long trail that extends along both sides of the river, connecting the bridge to the Shasta Dam. Made of steel, glass and granite, it’s 700 feet long and 23 feet wide. No vehicles are allowed on the bridge, and it’s an easy stroll across the river. When we were there, we saw men fly fishing on one side of the river, and Canada Geese bobbing and floating on the other side.

Sacramento River--see the teeny fishermen?

If you’re ever in the Redding area, the Turtle Bay Exploration Park is well worth the visit. There is no admission charge to walk over the Sundial Bridge and down the Sacramento River Trail, but you do have to pay to enter the botanical gardens, museum and forestry camp. If I lived in this area, I’d like to think I’d often be found here, though you know how that is. We don’t always use and appreciate the simple pleasures and everyday adventures we have available to us. (When was the last time I was at the USF Botanical Gardens, for instance?)

Where have your wanderings taken you lately?

Welcome back to Field Trip Friday! This installment takes us to one of my new favorite central Florida locations: Bok Tower Gardens and Pinewood Estate in Lake Wales. My partner in adventure, Laure Ferlita, and I drove out there just before New Year’s to see the estate decorated for the holidays and wander through the beautiful gardens. I’ve been to Bok Tower before, but not since my son was a baby, and I’d never been to Pinewood Estate. We wandered slowly through the gardens and the home, sketched outside while drinking hot chai tea, ate lunch at the café and browsed the gift shop. We completely lost track of time and stayed for more than six hours! Though many things were blooming even in December, I want to go back in the spring for peak bloom season. 

Bok Tower Gardens

Most visitors to central Florida have heard of Busch Gardens, Sea World and Disney World—but probably not Bok Tower Gardens. Bok Tower is a totally different experience, a haven of beauty and peace in contrast to the craziness of the theme parks. The gardens were the project of Edward W. Bok, a successful publisher and Pulizer Prize-winning author. The 50-acre gardens were designed by Frederick Law Olmstead Jr. “to be a contemplative and informal woodland setting.” Crews laid irrigation pipes and brought in rich soil to create the conditions for a subtropical garden. After that, bushes and trees were planted, not only for their beauty, but to provide food for migrating birds. These plantings now provide shade for visitors as well as food and shelter for squirrels and other small creatures, and 126 bird species. The gardens house ferns, palms, oaks, pines, azaleas, magnolias, more than 150 types of camellias and many other blooming plants.

As lovely as the gardens are, the most striking and unusual feature of Bok Tower Gardens is the 205-foot marble and coquina “Singing Tower” that houses a 60-bell carillon. Carillon music is still played daily. To learn more about the carillon, click here. To actually hear it being played, click here. Mr. Bok is actually buried at the base of the tower.

Bok, who immigrated with his family from the Netherlands when he was six years old, presented the gardens to the American people in 1929 in gratitude for the opportunities he had been given. He did his best to live up to the advice given to him by his grandmother: “Make you the world a bit better or more beautiful because you have lived in it.” I’m now curious about Mr. Bok, and would like to read his autobiography. 

You can read more about Bok Tower Gardens by clicking here, or reading Bok Tower Gardens: America’s Taj Mahal. 

Pinewood Estate

Pinewood Estate was built in the early 1930s for Charles Austin Buck, a Bethlehem Steel vice president. The 20-room Mediterranean-style mansion has a barrel-tile roof, beautifully carved doors and woodwork, and is situated to provide a natural flow from house to garden. (Buck was an amateur horticulturist and had the gardens laid out first, and the home positioned later.) I don’t know if it was just the holiday decorations, but I thought the home had a warm and friendly feeling, in contrast to the mansions in Newport, RI. 

Each room was decorated for the holidays by volunteers and sponsored designers, and you could vote for your favorite room at the end of the self-guided tour. Volunteers and a historian were available to answer questions. My favorite room:

In 1970, Edward Bok’s daughter-in-law, Nellie Lee Holt Bok, led an effort to acquire Pinewood Estate (then called “El Retiro”) for Bok Tower Gardens, and the mansion was restored and opened to the public.

The last thing we did before heading home was visit the “Window By the Pond,” a small wooden building with a large window overlooking a Florida bog setting. We sat quietly watching birds feasting on the seed left for them, an anhinga drying its wings, and one intrepid squirrel who jumped over the water to where the seed was placed.

Every time we take a field trip, we wonder why we don’t do it more often. Yes, it takes a bit more effort to find someplace of interest and get ourselves there than it does to meet at Panera for lunch, but it’s always worth the effort to fill the well. (And if you’re wondering about the sketches, as usual, mine is unfinished—and lucky to even be started. I forgot to bring paint, and had to borrow from Laure! But I did take a reference photo and plan to finish soon. Really!)