Listing Through Life

The Monument of States was located in Lakefront Park in Kissimmee, Florida.

We strolled through the park down to the shore. There were birds everywhere, including something large on top of the lighthouse.

When we walked down to the lake, I saw two Sandhill Cranes standing on the lawn about 70 yards away. Five minutes later, when we walked back, I noticed they were headed right for us. I set the chair down on the sidewalk, but I didn’t expect one of the cranes to walk between me and the chair. That’s almost not all it did. That white splash right behind it is what you think it is, on the moment of impact. It missed the chair by about six inches. When they saw we didn’t have any food, they kept walking as though they never had a thought about freeloading.

This memorial to the fighting in the Philippines during World War II is just down the road from the Monument of States.

This sculpture, called “Florida Frog,” sat on the edge of a small pond across the street from the lake.

A Muscovy Duck was standing at the edge of the water. It didn’t move as I walked over and set the chair down three feet away. A White Ibis flew over from the other side of the pond to see what all the activity was about. If I had food, I could have gotten them on the chair, I’m sure.

Bored in my motel room on the second night of the conference, I searched for something interesting to do in the morning before the booth opened. I found this. I invited several coworkers to join me. My sister and and a friend accepted.

After Pearl Harbor, Dr. Charles Bressler-Pettis of Kissimmee wanted to display his patriotism. He wrote to the governors of all 48 states and President Roosevelt, asking them to send rocks. They did. The good doctor added some rocks he’d collected himself and stacked them all in a pile, added some cement, topped it off with a globe, eagle and flag and ended up with this.

Around the tip, the monument proclaims itself to be the “World’s Most Unique Monument.” In this photo, on a light blue rectangle on the left, you can see two stones labeled “Fillow Foshey Meteors.” Four rows down, there’s a human skull.

Over the years, more stones were added, including several from other countries. Which is weird, considering the purpose of the monument.

The monument was oddly fascinating, and became more so the more I looked at it. We hung around and took photos for probably 20 minutes.