24 April 2014 Cruising to Sarasota

Our goal today was to enjoy the sights and the caches between Estero and Sarasota. We were headed to Sarasota to visit with Ali's aunt. We had all day to wander. Our first stop was Koreshan State Park. We were hoping for an early gator spotting, but were happy with any new sights in the park.

Red Pineapples

The park was known as New Jerusalem in the time of Cyrus Teed, the founder of the religious sect, the Koreshans. The Koreshans were known mostly for believing and trying to prove the earth was a hollow sphere. They also believed in celibacy which may be a big reason why there are no more Koreshans. They had quite a small community which was quite advanced. Many of their buildings still grace the park.

On our way back to parking we spotted a gopher tortoise.

After the park we made our way toward Sarasota. Oranges are much less common in Florida now, but we did spy a few trucks delivering orange crops and hunted a multicache near orange groves on a quiet road.

Cow ibis were an interesting site as we drove the roads.

We made a stop in the small town of Arcadia to see what old Florida was like while making a find of a benchmark. We also enjoyed milk shakes in town.

We eventually made Sarasota where we had a small but happy family visit and a very good seafood meal.