We decided to do some sightseeing while CJ was off this week. One of the places we went was the Bok Tower & Gardens in Lake Wales. It was absolutely beautiful there, and the tower was really stunning, built in the 1920's by Edward Bok, who built it as a wildlife sanctuary and place where people could enjoy the natural beauty. As you can see from some of these pictures, it's also the highest point in the state--which, in Florida, is quite a feat!
It was really nice there, but I just came away sad. Everything was dedicated to him, his ideals & how important nature was. But I was saddened because of course, there was no mention of God at all...this man spent his life and a good bit of his fortune on this park and legacy, which will of course last a long time, but does it matter to him now? God gave this man the resources to build something beautiful, but he didn't give credit to the One it really came from. But it was a good thinking point for me--I want to live my life giving credit to God, and doing things for Him that will last into eternity, far after this world and its fading beauty are gone. :)

There was a smaller version of the bell player in the visitor's center--you hit the key and the bell rings in the back...here's the maestro playing the bells!

At the visitor's center, CJ stood in the wall cutout that showed how big the biggest bell in the tower is. Here's how he compares--wow!

Well, CJ had 2 days off this week, so we decided to have some fun. Of course, we had to stay close to home for the big race last weekend (which turned out to be very tame, for the most part), but we went over to the NASCAR cafe again this week...disappointing, actually. They changed the name from "Cafe" to "Grille", and now it's more of a sports bar than anything. Instead of interesting NASCAR tidbits ( & crashes) on the big screens, all the different TVs display different sports channels. Obviously appealing to a wider audience (not to mention the drinking crowd), they've changed the downstairs to a larger bar. The upstairs remains largely the same (although we couldn't eat up there), but there's lots of arcade games where the big screen used to be. We were kind of disappointed, but we were able to see a few new cars and CJ got to play one racing game. These cut-outs were new, too, so CJ had some fun being "in" with the drivers! :)