An Odd Day

Tim and I decided to check out the Hall of Presidents. It is the museum we came across last week in our journey through Clermont. It is where you can see Mount Rushmore, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Statue of Liberty. We also discovered an old presidental limosine and a larger Statue of Liberty. We paid $13.00 each to get into the museum but it was also an annual pass to we are good to visit until July 2012. It became odd right from the beginning when we walked through the door and "Hail to the Chief" started playing. We were then greeted by a little 10 yr old girl who seems much older than she is. Her grandfather, who owns the Museum, greeted us by saying "Welcome to your Whitehouse". After paying the fees we received tokens to get through the gate.
Sitting right at the entrance is a table set for a state dinner with Presidents Lincoln, Carter, Reagan and Bush standing there ready to welcome you.
Once through the gates and with our tour guide (the 10 year old girl) we saw a model of the reconstruction of the Whitehouse that apparently was reconstructed four times due to bad floors (10 year old girl's version). There were several wax figures of the presidents. Some were without heads but they did have presidentials caps on. There were also manniquins with the several first ladies dresses displayed. The wax figures were pretty good but I am now wondering when the wax gets warm or old if it gets weak in the neck area because there were several presidents with heads that looked down and seem to be ready to fall off. There were a lot of displays of political items from the elections, china from different presidentcies and some personal items from the presidents.
The biggest display was the miniture Whitehouse built in the middle of the room. The couple that owns the museum has toured the country with it. It was well done and apparently they go to the Whitehouse often to keep it up to date. I took several pictures and will post a slideshow of this whole event tomorrow. It was an interesting but odd day!
After the museum we went to visit the local winery, Lakeridge Winery. We had been there once before. This winery grows the grapes for San Sebastian wines too. We did the tour, which takes out to the grapevines. We visited just between harvests. In two weeks they will harvest the rest of the grapes and then there is a wine festival where you can actually stomp the grapes. If I were going to be in the area I would be there to help. We tasted all but one wine that they sell. We liked the sweet ones and bought a couple of bottles.

Overall, it was a good but odd day. The Museum is a must see if you are ever in Clermont, Fl. Today is another off day. I will be hanging around the campground.