2012-1 Mississippi, Florida
Hello
All,
In early March we kicked off our 2012 travels. Our first destination was Tupelo, Mississippi. Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis Aaron Presley and his twin brother Jesse Garon Presley. Most folks aren’t aware that Elvis had a twin brother. Jesse passed away at birth and is buried in Tupelo. We visited the Elvis Presley Birthplace and Museum and found it quite interesting.
This is the house where Elvis was born on January 8, 1935. It was built by his father Vernon. It is nothing like “Graceland,” Elvis’s mansion in Memphis, TN.
In early March we kicked off our 2012 travels. Our first destination was Tupelo, Mississippi. Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis Aaron Presley and his twin brother Jesse Garon Presley. Most folks aren’t aware that Elvis had a twin brother. Jesse passed away at birth and is buried in Tupelo. We visited the Elvis Presley Birthplace and Museum and found it quite interesting.
This is the house where Elvis was born on January 8, 1935. It was built by his father Vernon. It is nothing like “Graceland,” Elvis’s mansion in Memphis, TN.
The
photo below is the Assembly of God Church that the Presley family attended. It
is also where Elvis first started singing.
Elvis
Presley revolutionized popular music by blending the blues he first heard as a
youth in Tupelo, with country, pop, and gospel. Many of the first songs Elvis
recorded for the Sun Label of Memphis were covers of earlier blues recordings
by African Americans. He continued to incorporate the blues into his records
and live performances for the remainder of his career.
While touring the museum we read some lovely stories told by folks that grew up with Elvis in Tupelo. This is one such story written by F.L Bobo:
In 1946, Elvis and his mother Gladys went to Tupelo Hardware Store to shop for his birthday present. Elvis wanted a 22 rifle or a bicycle. After questioning the salesman, F.L. Bobo, about the danger of the gun, Gladys would not buy it. She was also afraid that he would get hurt on a bicycle. Elvis was so disappointed that he cried and said that he didn’t want anything else.
Mr. Bobo suggested they look at a guitar. Elvis wasn’t interested in a guitar--he really wanted that rifle. However, the salesman brought out a guitar from the counter and convinced him to look at it. Elvis sat down on a box and picked at it a little, probably to humor his mother who was becoming impatient with his behavior. She had already told him that he better behave or was going to be in trouble.
When it became apparent that the guitar was going to be his only choice, Elvis decided to take it. The Presleys gave their son a $7.90 birthday gift. Elvis gave a wealth of music to millions.
Isn’t it ironic that Elvis’s mother protecting him from a gun and a bicycle, and then forcing him into taking a guitar for his birthday ended up starting him on the path of fame and fortune. What is even more ironic is that this fame and fortune ultimately cost him his life.
Returning home we began searching for a cruise into the Panama Canal. We weren’t interested in making a full transit of the canal. We’ve been through many locks. We found a cruise that went through the Gatun Locks of the canal into Gatun Lake. The cruise also made many other ports of call. That sounded perfect for us so we booked it. We packed our bags and took off on a roadtrip to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where we would embark our ship. On the roadtrip we made numerous stops to visit with friends scattered throughout Florida. It was wonderful seeing them and catching up on the happenings in their lives.
One place that we wanted to visit while in Florida was the Morse Museum in the town of Winter Park. Housed at the museum is the world’s most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933). The collection includes jewelry, pottery, paintings, art glass, leaded-glass windows and lamps, and the chapel interior the artist designed for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
We found the collection to be quite beautiful with lots of color. However, after snapping a few photos we were informed that we could not take photos within the museum. So we turned our cameras off but left them hanging around our necks. This drove the guards crazy and they watched us closely as we moved from room to room admiring the exhibits. Talk about being over the top and a little too hoity toity!! Heck, we didn’t encounter this type of security at the Louvre or Palace of Versailles in Paris. We had a great laugh over it.
Here are a couple of photos we snapped before we were chastised. You can see why we were excited to photograph this gorgeous art.
While touring the museum we read some lovely stories told by folks that grew up with Elvis in Tupelo. This is one such story written by F.L Bobo:
In 1946, Elvis and his mother Gladys went to Tupelo Hardware Store to shop for his birthday present. Elvis wanted a 22 rifle or a bicycle. After questioning the salesman, F.L. Bobo, about the danger of the gun, Gladys would not buy it. She was also afraid that he would get hurt on a bicycle. Elvis was so disappointed that he cried and said that he didn’t want anything else.
Mr. Bobo suggested they look at a guitar. Elvis wasn’t interested in a guitar--he really wanted that rifle. However, the salesman brought out a guitar from the counter and convinced him to look at it. Elvis sat down on a box and picked at it a little, probably to humor his mother who was becoming impatient with his behavior. She had already told him that he better behave or was going to be in trouble.
When it became apparent that the guitar was going to be his only choice, Elvis decided to take it. The Presleys gave their son a $7.90 birthday gift. Elvis gave a wealth of music to millions.
Isn’t it ironic that Elvis’s mother protecting him from a gun and a bicycle, and then forcing him into taking a guitar for his birthday ended up starting him on the path of fame and fortune. What is even more ironic is that this fame and fortune ultimately cost him his life.
Returning home we began searching for a cruise into the Panama Canal. We weren’t interested in making a full transit of the canal. We’ve been through many locks. We found a cruise that went through the Gatun Locks of the canal into Gatun Lake. The cruise also made many other ports of call. That sounded perfect for us so we booked it. We packed our bags and took off on a roadtrip to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, where we would embark our ship. On the roadtrip we made numerous stops to visit with friends scattered throughout Florida. It was wonderful seeing them and catching up on the happenings in their lives.
One place that we wanted to visit while in Florida was the Morse Museum in the town of Winter Park. Housed at the museum is the world’s most comprehensive collection of works by Louis Comfort Tiffany (1848-1933). The collection includes jewelry, pottery, paintings, art glass, leaded-glass windows and lamps, and the chapel interior the artist designed for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
We found the collection to be quite beautiful with lots of color. However, after snapping a few photos we were informed that we could not take photos within the museum. So we turned our cameras off but left them hanging around our necks. This drove the guards crazy and they watched us closely as we moved from room to room admiring the exhibits. Talk about being over the top and a little too hoity toity!! Heck, we didn’t encounter this type of security at the Louvre or Palace of Versailles in Paris. We had a great laugh over it.
Here are a couple of photos we snapped before we were chastised. You can see why we were excited to photograph this gorgeous art.
Our next stop in
Winter Park was the Albin Polasek Museum & Sculpture Gardens located on the
shore of beautiful Lake Osceola. It is dedicated to preserving the works of
Czech sculptor Albin Polasek. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the museum and
would highly recommend it for anyone visiting central Florida.
Within
the museum they had an amazing collection of harps.
However,
our focus was the gardens where there were many of Mr. Polasek’s sculptures on
display. It was such a beautiful park-like setting.
Osceola
Lake is so lovely with Spanish moss hanging from the Oak trees surrounding it—very
typical Florida.
This
perfect little rose basking in the springtime sunshine caught our attention.
As
we were strolling through the gardens we heard the unmistakable sound of a
blimp. Sure enough the MetLife blimp came into view and flew right over us.
We
thought the little bird on this sculpture was kind of cool. It looked as though
it had been eating quite well.
Our
next destination was Solomon’s Castle in Ona, FL. In all the years that we
lived in Florida it is a spot that we had never made it to. So, we decided to
make it a priority this trip.
It is the home and working studio of Howard Solomon, an internationally known sculptor. Galleries within the castle feature the artist’s works. He never throws anything away so there are hundreds of sculptures, 3-D recreations of famous artworks, moving items, and stained glass. To say it was a bit unusual would be an understatement! He built the castle and covered the outside with old printing plates from a local newspaper.
It is the home and working studio of Howard Solomon, an internationally known sculptor. Galleries within the castle feature the artist’s works. He never throws anything away so there are hundreds of sculptures, 3-D recreations of famous artworks, moving items, and stained glass. To say it was a bit unusual would be an understatement! He built the castle and covered the outside with old printing plates from a local newspaper.
Here is a close-up
shot of a pair of stained glass windows.
This
is one of the artist’s original sculptures. He created his pieces from junk
that others have thrown out.
Also
on the property, lunch is served at “The Boat in the Moat.” It is a replica of a 60-foot 16th
century Spanish galleon, also built by Solomon.
Due
to the beautiful weather most everyone was enjoying lunch outside under the
shade of the big oak trees.
We
found Solomon’s Castle to be quite unique, enjoyed our visit, and would
recommend it as a place to visit. Our next adventures will take us to the many
ports of call on our cruise to the Panama Canal.
Until next time,
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns
Until next time,
Dave & Barb
The Traveling Browns