Leaps and Bounders: Our 1st Full Day at Buttonwood Bay, Sebring, FL

We had breakfast about 9:30. John went for a walk and I showered. We're going with Ed and Carol later this morning to Lake Placid to see all the murals that are painted on many of the buildings there. I talked to Michele to see how she made out at her 2nd post op appt. Everything is good. The Dr took out 3 of her drains, so she is hoping to be able to sleep in a bed tonight! We met Ed and Carol out front at 11:45 and headed down to Lake Placid, about 20 or 30 minutes from here. We stopped at the Visitor's Center to pick up a mural guide and then had lunch at the Americana Restaurant. It was a cute little place and the food was excellent.

These were hanging outside the restaurant.

Then we started the walk around town. The murals are gorgeous! There are 46 large murals, 17 painted trash can, and 9 round bird pictures, covering 33,000 sq ft. It's quite amazing!!

These are some of the trash cans!

This mural was done in 2013 when Lake Placid won
the coveted title of "America's Most Interesting Town".
The sponsors arranged it as a surprise for the founders
of the Lake Placid Mural Society, Harriet and Bob Porter,
shown in the top of the piece.

The Tropical State Bank robbery was foiled by the
young man in the mural.

This mural depicts a mother panther looking for her kitten.
The Florida panther is an endangered species.

This one depicts the heritage and history built on the
shores of the 27 freshwater lakes within 7 miles of Lake Placid.

Lake Istokpoga which covers about 27,692 acres
is home to many birds including blue herons,
ducks, great white herons and osprey. Alligators nest there, too.

See the little raccoon hiding in the bottom of the nest.
Each mural has hidden things in them. Some are
very hard to find!

Bass fishing is very popular here. This "Bassin," mural won
1st place in a Nat'l contest for Air Brush magazine.

Lake Placid is in Highlands County which has nearly
10 million citrus trees in the ground, the 2nd largest citrus
producing county in Florida. This mural was so 3-D it looked
like you could pluck the orange bowl right off the side of the building!!

The red wolf is an endangered species that was last
seen in Lake Placid in 1927. The eyes of the wolf
on the right followed you wherever you went!

These are sandhill cranes that reside here all year round.

The next 7 pictures represent the Lake Placid
County Fair. It is 108 ft wide and 18 ft high!

Turpentine was an important industry in Lake Placid.
The workers are cutting "cat faces" into the trees
to collect gum from pine trees to be refined into turpentine.

Remember when I talked about things "hidden" in the murals.
Well, the next 5 pics show faces that were hidden.

This one depicts the old drug store/soda fountain.

Lake Placid is the caladium capital of the world. 95%
of the world's caladiums are grown here!

This sign prepares you for the next mural.

Lake Placid was once one of the best bear hunting
grounds in

Thought some of these signs in the gift shop were cute!

"Mumbles", the clown, is a former Police Chief!

It was a beautiful day...about 68 and sunny. We all had some homemade ice cream to end the day at about 4:00. Ed and Carol came along back to Harvey, so we could "show him off", but they didn't stay.