Beginning

We have made the trip to Tampa many times during Carl's three years at the University of Tampa, so I am usually reading or remarking on our favorite roadside attractions like the AirStream museum with vintage AirStreams half buried on end.   But when we turned left onto 75 South we were in new and unexplored territory.   Our destination was Emerson Point Park and the Pontevant Temple Mound, west of Palmetto on Snead Island.    Here the Amerindians, prior to the Timuncuans,  had amassed a huge shell mound on which they built their temples prior to 1000 AD.   Of course the settlers had built their home on top of the mound with a commanding view of the Manatee River and a royal palm lined walkway to the shore.   At the actual point there was another large mound and a birds eye view of Tampa Bay.   Climbing to the observation tower level with the osprey nest we could see the 275 Skyway Bridge from St. Pete, Tampa in the distance, and the barrier Anna Maria Island on the left.   In the mangrove byways we spied a yellow crowned night heron and ospreys galore.   What a gem of a park!