One of the things we wanted to do was visit the Naples Dog Racing Track, which we did. It was like visiting a foreign country-we had ABSOLUTELY no idea what was going on. We figured out the basics, i.e. that eight dogs at a time are released from the starting gates and they run (really, REALLY fast!) for about one-and-a-half laps around this track that looks about the same size as a high school track. There's a race every 20 minutes - the handlers (is that right?) bring the dogs out and parade them in front of the stand where the people are seat
ed. Then they take the dogs down to the far end of the track and apparently put them into the starting gates, at which point the dogs start barking lik
e crazy - actually, you can kind of tell they're all excited and seem to be looking forward to racing. Anyway, then the mechanical rabbits come by, the dogs are released, they run like hell and a few seconds later it's all over. Then there's about a 10-minute pause and the whole process is repeated over and over. That's about everything that we could understand-but we had absolutely no idea what in the world was going on as far as the betting and the win-place-show thing. If I thought we'd ever go back, I'd probably go out onto the internet and google "betting on dog races" or something like that - but since I seriously doubt that we ever WILL go back to the track, I guess I'll just forget about it! But the thing we REALLY got a kick out of was how much the dogs look like our little Brandi. I'm posting a picture of one of the race dogs, and a picture of Brandi taken the day before - LOOK AT THEM-THEY'RE IDENTICAL! Wow! No wonder she's so darn FAST!
ed. Then they take the dogs down to the far end of the track and apparently put them into the starting gates, at which point the dogs start barking lik
e crazy - actually, you can kind of tell they're all excited and seem to be looking forward to racing. Anyway, then the mechanical rabbits come by, the dogs are released, they run like hell and a few seconds later it's all over. Then there's about a 10-minute pause and the whole process is repeated over and over. That's about everything that we could understand-but we had absolutely no idea what in the world was going on as far as the betting and the win-place-show thing. If I thought we'd ever go back, I'd probably go out onto the internet and google "betting on dog races" or something like that - but since I seriously doubt that we ever WILL go back to the track, I guess I'll just forget about it! But the thing we REALLY got a kick out of was how much the dogs look like our little Brandi. I'm posting a picture of one of the race dogs, and a picture of Brandi taken the day before - LOOK AT THEM-THEY'RE IDENTICAL! Wow! No wonder she's so darn FAST!By the way, the picture of Brandi (and Dave) was taken at the Dog Beach on Lover's Key - this was a really cool dog park because it is actually a stretch of beach right on the Gulf Coast that dogs can run all over on. Brandi LOVED it! There were about 4 or 5 other dogs in the park, and they just ran and ran and jumped in the water and got all wet and sandy - she thought it was GREAT!
Today (Sunday) was really cool-we actually stayed here and went on the ranger-led guided tour of the historic settlement here in the park. The tour costs a whomping $2 per person and would typically last an hour to an hour-and-a-half. However, Dave and I were the only two attendees so our guide (Ranger Claire-there's a picture of her attached) took all the time in the world and we were actually with her for more than three hours. I know-that sounds like a REALLY long time, but it was SO interesting! Dave even hung in there until the last few minutes, at which point he excused himself (using his knee as an excuse) and went back to the RV to watch Sunday football. But 
he did find it to be very informative and he asked a lot of questions. The tour is definitely worth the time. I could write PAGES of stuff about the Koreshans, but 
will try to briefly summarize a little bit o
f what we learned. 
The settlement was established in 1894 as a community for the Koreshans, who had some excellent ideas and some REALLY weird ones! One of their weird ideas was that the earth is actually a hollow sphere with the sun and moons on the INSIDE and the surface of the earth facing inwards. Outside the sphere is nothing. The globe in the picture was built by them to illustrate their theory or belief. They also believed that their founder, Dr. Cyrus Teed, was a prophet and a messiah and that, upon his death, he would be resurrected. In fact when he died, in 1906, they put his body into a bath tub and let it sit there for a week, waiting for him to come back to life. Yikes! At it's peak, the settlement housed about 250 members - the "ruling group" was celibate and lived in the settlement, but the other members could have families and live outside. One of the beliefs of the group was that God is both male and female and they believed in true equality of the sexes. In fact, after Dr. Teed died, the set
tlement was ruled by a group of eight people, and seven of them were women! They emphasized education and the
arts and had an orchestra and a marching band and put on elaborate plays and musicals. When the 
original group moved to Florida (from Chicago) they brought a Steinway piano, one of only 4 idential pianos built in 1895. The piano is still on the grounds, in the 
Art Hall, and is regularly played at concerts that take place in the park. The group was "communal" and all personal property was handed over to the leadership of the group when a person joined, with the understanding that the group would then take of this person for the rest of their life (which they indeed did). The community planted wonderful gardens, in basically three phases: the first phase was for sustenance (food), the second phase was medicinal plants, and the third phase was for beauty. They brought in exotic plants from all over the world. Claire, our guide, spent a lot of time showing us a number of the trees and b
ushes and plants that are on the grounds, which we were actually very interested in. The settlement also included the Planetary Court, where the rulers lived (the bit yellow house in the picture), a store, a bakery, a small engine shop and a large engine shop, a laundry, a dining hall, and many other buildings. They were very successful commercially. However, after Dr. Teed's death, the colony began to gradually fade out, and by the mid-1960's the colony only had four remaining members. These members persuaded the Florida state government to take title to the land and and all the buildings in the settlement, with the promise the State would establish a permanent monument to the Koreshans. The last remaining member of the colony died in her little house right on the grounds in 1982 (remember, the park was actually established in the late 1960's so she lived in the state park for around 15 yearsand even gave many of the tours right up to the time of her death) and she is buried on the grounds. It's an absolutely fascinating story and we're so glad we finally took the time to learn more about it before we leave. We really do enjoy doing this type of thing while we're traveling-we feel like we have the chance to learn SO much on our trips. Plus it's SO much fun! So, anyway-next stop: Pine Island.
he did find it to be very informative and he asked a lot of questions. The tour is definitely worth the time. I could write PAGES of stuff about the Koreshans, but 
will try to briefly summarize a little bit o
f what we learned. 
The settlement was established in 1894 as a community for the Koreshans, who had some excellent ideas and some REALLY weird ones! One of their weird ideas was that the earth is actually a hollow sphere with the sun and moons on the INSIDE and the surface of the earth facing inwards. Outside the sphere is nothing. The globe in the picture was built by them to illustrate their theory or belief. They also believed that their founder, Dr. Cyrus Teed, was a prophet and a messiah and that, upon his death, he would be resurrected. In fact when he died, in 1906, they put his body into a bath tub and let it sit there for a week, waiting for him to come back to life. Yikes! At it's peak, the settlement housed about 250 members - the "ruling group" was celibate and lived in the settlement, but the other members could have families and live outside. One of the beliefs of the group was that God is both male and female and they believed in true equality of the sexes. In fact, after Dr. Teed died, the set
tlement was ruled by a group of eight people, and seven of them were women! They emphasized education and the
arts and had an orchestra and a marching band and put on elaborate plays and musicals. When the 
original group moved to Florida (from Chicago) they brought a Steinway piano, one of only 4 idential pianos built in 1895. The piano is still on the grounds, in the 
Art Hall, and is regularly played at concerts that take place in the park. The group was "communal" and all personal property was handed over to the leadership of the group when a person joined, with the understanding that the group would then take of this person for the rest of their life (which they indeed did). The community planted wonderful gardens, in basically three phases: the first phase was for sustenance (food), the second phase was medicinal plants, and the third phase was for beauty. They brought in exotic plants from all over the world. Claire, our guide, spent a lot of time showing us a number of the trees and b
ushes and plants that are on the grounds, which we were actually very interested in. The settlement also included the Planetary Court, where the rulers lived (the bit yellow house in the picture), a store, a bakery, a small engine shop and a large engine shop, a laundry, a dining hall, and many other buildings. They were very successful commercially. However, after Dr. Teed's death, the colony began to gradually fade out, and by the mid-1960's the colony only had four remaining members. These members persuaded the Florida state government to take title to the land and and all the buildings in the settlement, with the promise the State would establish a permanent monument to the Koreshans. The last remaining member of the colony died in her little house right on the grounds in 1982 (remember, the park was actually established in the late 1960's so she lived in the state park for around 15 yearsand even gave many of the tours right up to the time of her death) and she is buried on the grounds. It's an absolutely fascinating story and we're so glad we finally took the time to learn more about it before we leave. We really do enjoy doing this type of thing while we're traveling-we feel like we have the chance to learn SO much on our trips. Plus it's SO much fun! So, anyway-next stop: Pine Island.PS-as I write this post, my mother is in the hospital being treated for a nasty blood infection - please pray for a speedy recovery for her. We love you, Mom!
No comments:
Post a Comment