Taxidermy and Birding at The Linger Lodge

After Naples, we headed up to Sarasota. We parked outside the city at the Linger Lodge RV park, named by Forbes.com as one of the
"Most Unusual Restaurants in the World" and also by Al Roker, as one of the "Top 5 Weirdest Restaurants in America". We paid the extra $10 to get a spot right on the small river and under the oak trees. It was jungly, and Nicole loved it. Nicole sat on the riverside and caught up with some important phone calls, while Mary Lou wandered the riverbend, camera ready, looking for wildlife. There was a blue heron and a white heron in the marshlands across the river, a cormorant drying his wings on some fallen logs, and a turtle sunning himself over on another log. On her way back, she saw a strange little bird sitting on top of a neighboring RV. Short and squat, with red, red eyes, it looked like a grumpy old man. Mom inched closer and closer to take photos of the bird, and I told her, don't worry, I could photoshop the satellite dish out of the picture. After 10 minutes of slow stalking, our neighbor, an airport employee who was parked at Linger Lodge permanently, said, "It's a night heron. If you want to get to know them closer, they really like bread." I threw Mom a piece of bread, and before she even tore off the first piece, two more night herons came floating down from the Spanish Moss, joined, seconds later, by two more from across the river. They each waited patiently for their bit, until the 5 foot tall blue heron came swooping over, screaming, and demanding full attention. The blue heron hung around for quite a while, watching us through the windows from the picnic table.

Dinner was inside the freakish marvel that is the Linger Lodge, care of previous owner and amateur taxidermist Frank Gamsky. There were snakes, bobcats, alligators, squirrels playing basketball, the owner's lopsided house cat, a jack-o-lope, a snake with a chicken head and pigeon wings, and other things real or compiled. We had the deep fried platter of green tomatoes, alligator and frogs legs, and a freshly caught grouper rueben. We also spotted an elusive, brilliant white mullet. There are photo's in the album. The Linger Lodge was like a little forgotten hickville, tucked on the jungle riverbed amidst the sprawling prefabricated, gated communities and we rather enjoyed ourselves.

We also experienced rain for the first time in the RV. Slept like babies with the fat raindrops pounding down on the roof.



Soundtrack -
Ode to Billie Jo, Bobby Gentry
Dueling Banjos, Deliverance
Rain Please Go Away, Alison Kraus


Click here for photo album.