This past summer the boys and I went to see Dolphin Tale. Such a good movie - we all loved it, and at the end there was a little blurb about being able to see Winter (the dolphin in the movie) at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. So we thought we would do that while we were in Florida this time. We don't typically go to that side of the coast and thought it would be something different, too.
So the night before we were to drive to Clearwater I was reading Nancy's latest Southern Living and saw this citrus and strawberry market featured that was on our way to Clearwater. It claimed that its strawberry shortcake was world famous. Well, we shouldn't let an opportunity like that pass by, so we made it a stop on our little jaunt to the coast.
It was a fun market with this trademark red and white awning. I was reading some of the signs and brochures and learned that the same family has owned this place for many years - 30 maybe? I can't remember now, but I thought it was great that the passion for it had been kept through a couple of generations.
The boys didn't want the shortcake, but they were all about fresh strawberry shakes......at first. They drank a little and then decided they were too "chunky" since they were made with fresh strawberries. Brian and I were happy to help them out with not wasting anything. And we were so glad we did! Those were the best strawberry shakes ever. There were signs saying they had been featured on Food Network, and I can definitely see why. So good!!
This was the world famous strawberry shortcake.
It was good, but I really like my mother-in-law's better.
Probably the main reason was that it was made with the spongy shortcake.
It was made-from-scratch shortcake, and Brian really liked it, so I still recommend stopping by.
They had tables set up to the side of the market in this lush tropical garden. I wasn't expecting that - they had really done a nice job making it a fun place to visit.
It was really such a neat place to stop and have a bite
There were tons of citrus to choose from, and lots of other yummies, too.
And after we finished our treats (or tried to finish them, I should say), we found this huge strawberry throne!
They even had crowns for you to wear for your picture! How fun is that?! This market is in Plant City where they have the Strawberry Festival each year (bummer that we miss it by about a week every time), and I'm wondering if there is an actual strawberry queen that is crowned and seated on this throne each March. Hmmm.....
So, back to the reason we went to Clearwater in the first place. We got to the Aquarium and it was PACKED!! Maybe it was coincidence and lots of people were on the same spring break and all wanted to see Winter. Not sure.
But this is really all we got to see of her
Can't see anything? We really couldn't either. We were really disappointed. I really wanted a better look, but that's okay. They seemed like they were really overwhelmed with the amount of people that were there. It also seemed like it could be a really great learning experience when it's not so crowded. They specialize in rescue and rehab of marine animals, so it was neat to see some of that, which we don't get to see in regular aquariums or at the zoo. In fact, we were lucky to see them scoping a sea turtle (we think) in one of the exam/operating rooms. And there was a gentleman outside the aquarium with some hands on props talking about how Winter had lost her tail and the whole process of how they created a prosthetic one for her. They even had the prosthetic tail there to touch. I thought that and the sea turtle procedure were pretty cool!
This was cool too - underwater viewing of this turtle. I think the guy said her name was Bailey. (Brian always jokes around with me about not listening on the tour - I do try - I just think I'm way more of a visual learner, distracted by all there is to see, and he is hands-down better at auditory than me - we're a good pair - I remember what we've seen and he remembers all the facts about it) He said she was one of the most photogenic sea turtles around. I believe he knows what he is talking about!
No comments:
Post a Comment