Solomon's Castle

Today Austin and I spent some time at a really interesting place. Although interesting doesn't even begin to describe this place. It is named Solomon's Castle and is indeed a castle.

Here is what is in the cage in the center-20 years old and HUGE!What makes this even more interesting than the fact that someone lives in a castle, is that Howard Solomon built this castle. And he built this with recycled items.

He did all of this, including the stained glass windows.

We first ate at the "Boat in the Moat" restaurant. The food was awesome!
It really is a "boat" in a "moat". We walked over a gang plank to get inside.So what can you expect inside a castle? A gallery of the artist's work. Which included some art:

More art in the more traditional sense, or at least traditional compared to most of the art here.

Everywhere though, Howard's sense of humor is evident. Like this Redneck Coat of Arms:

The Flight of the Bumblebees

A really big mouse trap:

The Tortoise and the Hare (turtle shell with wig peeking out):

Then there is work that is just beautiful, such as this elephant made out of oil drums:And the practical pieces such as beer can chairs:

Since I already have so many pictures, I'll stop here. There was soooooo much to see here and we laughed the whole time and were impressed the whole time. He is a "self taught" artist, which Austin really loved. He wasn't a high school drop out, he was asked to leave school. Which again, Austin loved. If you know Austin's story, you can crack up here. He finds it funny too, so he's ok with you laughing. I could go on and on about the interesting things we learned while here, but instead you can read more here and here and here.

Tonight we got to have dinner with two of the people we met up in Chesapeake, Barb and Dennis. Barb is the one who told us about pickle ball and invited us to play. They took us to a fabulous restaurant in Avon Park. it is hands down the best Mexican food I've ever had. Authentic and cheap. We will be back again and again!