Flat Stanley’s Adventures in

Sarasota, Florida

“Welcome, Flat Stanley!” cried Giulietta Whitman’s grandparents, Dave and Cherry Whitman, when I arrived on November 16th. “We’re really glad that you can visit. Sarasota is a great town with lots of things to see and do.” The first thing I did was go to work with Cherry. I got to see the campus of New College of Florida where she works. She showed me how to use the computer, I donated a big jar of peanut butter to the campus food drive,

and I got to meet Chuck and Donna. They are two members of Giulietta’s Sarasota fan club. Chuck doesn’t like to have his picture taken, but he said “Okay, but only because it’s for Giulietta!” The following day Dave and Cherry took me to Jungle Gardens. What a wonderful place! They have walkways through beautiful gardens, fabulous birds – like the big pink flamingos, reptiles – like snakes and alligators, and fun playgrounds. I bought a terrific shirt in the gift shop when we came out.

Then we went to the Ringling Museum. It’s way more than just an art museum built around a gorgeous courtyard. It’s a beautiful estate on Sarasota Bay built by John and Mabel Ringling – the circus people. There’s a large mansion, gardens, restaurants, a circus museum, the Tibbals Learning Center which has the world’s largest miniature circus, and the Asolo Theater and the Asolo Center for the Performing Arts. It’s all run by Florida State University, making it the largest university museum complex in the country.

After the museum, we went to Sarasota Classic Car Museum. They have over 100 antique and classic cars. My favorite was the antique roadster I got to drive. Dave and Cherry live in Hidden River. It’s a fly-in community and Giulietta’s Daddy keeps his airplane there. Dave gave me a ride in the Aeronca Champion 7AC. I even got to hold the stick!

On Thanksgiving Day we drove to Mulberry, Florida to have dinner with Giulietta’s Grandaunt Penny and Granduncle Brad.

They both have motorcycles and Brad gave me a ride on his Harley! Penny gave me a ride in their golf cart and I got to meet the Harley Hogs!

Then they showed me their Amateur Radio set-up -called Ham Radio by the people who use it for pleasure and to send information in emergencies. They can talk to other Hams all over the world. Sarasota’s Crescent Beach has won an award for the best sand in the world. It is really white and fluffy! I got a shovel and dug some up so I could bring it back to show Giulietta’s class. Crescent Beach is just one of Sarasota’s amazing beaches.

From the beach we drove to Mote Marine Lab.You can actually look into working laboratories to see marine science while it is going on. Then you can come face-to-face with sharks at the shark habitat and in Mote’s Shark Sensory Theater. There you learn how they hunt for food and use their powerful senses to survive underwater. “Hands-on” touch tanks let me pet the stingrays, and feel horseshoe crabs, sea stars, and other marine animals. The stingrays have had their stingers painlessly removed so they can’t hurt you. They have a 25-foot perfectly preserved giant squid; one of only two in the United States. Other exhibits have eels, puffer fish, sea horses and jelly fish - just to name a few. I got my picture taken next to the Purplemouth Moray Eel. The lab conducts world-renowned research in many areas of marine science and the aquarium is only a small part of what it does.

Mote Marine Lab is located on City Island and we drove down to the shore so we could look at all the beautiful boats in Sarasota Bay.Also on City Island is the Pelican Man's Bird Sanctuary, one of the largest Wildlife Rescue & Rehabilitation Centers in the U.S., and home to over 70 species of Florida's native and migratory birds. Next we visited one of Giulietta’s favorite places in Sarasota: G-Wiz. G-Wiz stands for Gulfcoast Wonder & Imagination Zone. It’s a hands-on science museum with all kinds of fun things to do. Dave and I raced in the Sprint Station and I won! I got a bit of help with a blast from the air conditioner.

My other favorite was the Plasma Ball. When you touch it, bolts of lightning come out to meet your fingers. The South Florida Museum and Bishop Planetarium is in Bradenton, Florida. Bradenton is just north of Sarasota. They have wonderful exhibits of Florida’s early history including cast skeletons of the largest mastodon ever recovered in North America and a saber tooth cat, Indian relics and much more. There is a re-created set of shark jaws. They belonged to a Carcharodon Megalodon, a prehistoric relative of the great white shark that was bigger than a bus. The teeth are found all along the gulf, especially in the Venice area south of Sarasota. The Megalodon went extinct 21/2-million years ago.

My favorite was Snooty and his temporary friend Whittaker in the Parker Manatee Aquarium. Snooty, the manatee, was born in Miami at the Miami Aquarium and Tackle Company on July 21, 1948. That makes him 58 years old! He came to the South Florida Museum in 1949. Giulietta’s grandma saw Snooty for the first time when she was 10 years old. He has had several temporary rescued manatee friends and Whittaker is the latest one. She will be released back into the wild when she is ready, but Snooty doesn’t know how to live in the wild. He loves to see all the children and adults who come to learn how wonderful manatees are. There aren’t very many of them left in Florida and the state is working very hard to keep them safe.

The next day Dave took me to Venice Municipal Airport with him while he gave a check-ride to give a student his Private Pilot’s license. After he was done he showed me some of the sights on the airport. I got to help fuel airplanes and I got a close look at a Cessna Citation jet

and a Cessna Caravan on amphibious floats. The Caravan can take-off and land on both land and water. Then we went inside and had some popcorn!

Right outside Hidden River is the Crowley Museum & Nature Center. It is a non profit nature and pioneer history center with 190 acres of native land next to the Myakka River. Visitors can enjoy nature trails through the protected wildlife sanctuary, a boardwalk over the Maple Branch Swamp and Tatum Sawgrass Marsh and an observation tower looking over the Myakka River. The pioneer history area has a museum with artifacts from the late 1870's to the early 1900's, a one room homestead cabin, a working blacksmith shop, a working sugar cane mill, and a restored 1892 "Cracker" house. The early settlers were called Crackers. Next to the Myakka River is the Myakka River State Park. This has been a favorite place for all the Whitmans for many years. Dave and Cherry used to picnic and study here before they were married. Myakka River State Park is one of Florida's oldest and largest state parks. The Myakka River flows through 53 square miles of wetlands, prairies and woodlands. The park is popular for hiking, fishing, camping, picnicking, biking, bird watching, horseback riding (you have to have your own horse) and wildlife observation. One of the best things we did was go on the Canopy Walkway. We climbed a tower to get to the walkway which goes through the trees. Then we climbed another tower so we could see way out over the park.

They have the world’s largest airboats for cruising on the river,

a regular air boat and a tram ride that takes you through the back country of the park. You can see what Florida was like before the people came. You see lots of alligators on the boat ride. Not far from Dave and Cherry’s house are Hermann's Lipizzaner Stallions. Visitors are welcome to come watch the Winter training sessions beginning the first weekend after Christmas through April 23. The Royal Lipizzans are the rarest, most aristocratic breed of horses in the world.

They learn really difficult maneuvers such as the Courbette, the Capriole, and the Levade. All are leaps performed only by stallions of great strength, intelligence and endurance.

In the Courbette , the horse does several jumps on his hind legs while holding his fore legs off the ground;

in the Capriole , the horse leaps from all four feet and, at the peak of his jump,

strikes out violently with his hind legs; in the Levade , the horse rises on his haunches from a standstill position and tucks his fore legs under him as he maintains a 45 degree angle. They weren’t open for me to see them, but I did get to see the ranch where they are trained. After visiting all these wonderful places, Cherry said to me “There are still many interesting and fun things to see around Sarasota, but I know you are disappointed that you didn’t get to meet Giulietta’s cousins Danny and Veronica. They live far away in Italy in a town called Livorno. We decided that instead of going to more places in Sarasota, we would send you to visit them!” It was a long trip and I slept on the plane so I would have lots of energy when I got there. What a great vacation I had with Giulietta’s cousins in Italy! We went to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa!! Unfortunately on the way, we had a little bumper bump.

Luckily there was no damage so we just kept going! We got to the square called The Place of Miracles. Wow, beautiful with the church, baptistery and bell tower - the leaning one!

I had so much fun sleeping over with Danny - and Bonnie. The next day I got to go to school with Danny and his friends at Pilo Albertelli Elementary School in Livorno. What a great welcome they gave me! Crisitano and Danny walked me into class.

I sat first with Danny and then next to Cristiano. Danny has a little crush on Benedetta, the girl on my left!!

They taught me to write “Good morning, kids” in Italian and then I did a little math – I didn’t have to speak Italian to add!

Next I got a real treat and went to visit the Italian Naval Academy in Livorno! I got to attend class with some Pleb first year students. They were great. Danny’s mother, Wendy, teaches them English. His father, Max, is the Chief Financial Officer for the Academy. Then, Giulietta’s other cousin, Veronica – Danny’s sister, took me to her ballet class at the Laboratorio di Danza e Movimento (Dance and Movement Lab). Now, that was fun, the only boy with all those pretty girls! The teacher, Giulia Zucconi, was really nice too. Wendy took the picture with her cell phone.

On my last night I had my picture taken with Max, Wendy, Danny, and Veronica and another one taken with Veronica and Max’s dad, Gigi.

Then it was back to Florida to say goodbye to Dave and Cherry. One last hug for their dogs, Molly and Snickers and I was on my way back to Virginia. I think I’ll need a few days rest to recover!

Here are a few extra pictures of my trip.