March 02nd, 2020

We had quite an adventure on Saturday!  

I should begin at the beginning.  The most important part.  Saturday was Minock Day!  YAYAYAYAYAY!  And it was decided that we would meet at Solomon's Castle!  A Castle!  I love castles.  

Well they are calling it a castle anyway.  It certainly appears Castle-like, right?  I mean there are turrets and stained glass windows and even a few cannons and knights in armour.  It wasn't very shiny but it was armor. Or much like the castle, armor-like.  Close  Enough!

What is this "castle" thing all about?  Well I guess I need to back up in the story a little further.

Way back in 1971, a man named, Howard Solomon bought 90 something acres in Ona Florida.  Ona Florida is rural.  I cannot stress quite how rural it is.  Cows, fields, cows, orange trees, tractors, zero cell service and cows.  It was a pretty drive but it was out there.  We saw a whole lot of this:

The late great Howard Solomon was a unique artist whose medium was whatever was at hand.  He was, I suppose, a recycler before recyling became a "thing".   And he was also a very Punny guy.   The sort of puns that start you out groaning and end you up giggling.  Some of his art is even Pun art.  Like the gun that shoots a plunger for "flushing out perpetrators" or the car with the V-8 engine which is made out of...........  Yes you guessed it, and endless pile of empty cans of V-8 juice!  HAHAHAHAHAHAH!

​His art is showcased all over the property beginning at the entry gate

But the majority of the collection in housed in the castle itself.

The grounds are lovely, with flowers, some of them fairly punny too like the flower bed which is of course:

But some of it was just lovely with big trees, lovely paths, flowers, a covered bridge and a few whirly gigs just for fun.

Oh!  And Mr. Solomon wasn't satisfied with just building a castle. No, indeed.  He also constructed a spanish galleon, a lighthouse and a replica of the Alamo.  Why?  He just did as his artistic muse instructed, I suppose.

The Galleon, or as he referred to it, The Boat in the Moat, (and there is an actual moat around the ship) is also a restaurant.  Most of the tables are outside between the boat and the lighthouse.  There was a singer/guitar player while we were there, a gift shop and a few cats roaming around as well.

And speaking of roaming, we wandered the grounds ourselves for a bit and discovered a few of his workshops.  Intriguing bits of this and that every bit of which made me wonder what else he had planned.

Sadly, Mr. Solomon passed away 4 years ago.  But his legacy lives on.  From the crowds gathered that day to admire his life's work, I don't think that will change anytime soon.

It was a Great Adventure!  And of course, we look eagerly forward to the next Minock Day!  Woohoo in advance!