Things We Saw In Lakeland

A couple of weeks ago Rob and I went to Lakeland to visit a sister CREC church. It is a beautiful city with plenty of charm and my goodness, the locations for great photos were abounding! (Anybody want to go on a road trip for a destination session?)

On Saturday morning we visited the historic landmark campus of Florida Southern College. It is the only campus designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright and it was gorgeous. The man led quite the life but his designs have always fascinated me. His idea that the building should be a part of it’s surroundings birthed what is called organic architecture. I love the lines and his use of glass in his designs.

It really is a beautiful campus and since I didn’t have my real camera with me the pictures just don’t do it justice.

After our morning spent at the college Rob needed to get some work done so I wandered around on my own. Our hotel, which was just lovely, was located near one of the city’s many lakes. Again, the pictures don’t really show off the beauty of the place. The grass is so lush and green and there are so many charming details.

Mirror Lake looks like something out of a fairy tale with it’s broad sweeping stairs that go right to the water, the lovely arches of the old train station, and it’s beautiful old fashioned light posts. The lake itself is huge and there are also restaurants and a really fun children’s area.

I must have seen about a dozen different types of water bird around various parts of the lake but the swan seems to be the symbol of the city in the way that pelicans are for Pensacola. Apparently swans were pretty visible in the early 1920’s but by the time the 50’s rolled around the swans were practically extinct due to predators. The story goes that one Lakeland resident was so sad at the loss of the swans that they contacted the Queen Elizabeth who sent two royal swans in answer. So while Lake Mirror may not be an actual fairy tale land the swans are of royal descent.