A peak at the sun, but more rain going through! Palm Beach is absolutely incredible -- our eyes are popping out of our head at every turn!! Found a wonderful small hotel right in the heart of Palm Beach -- Heart of Palm Beach Inn -- even the name is cute! We didn't think we could afford to stay in town, but quickly found that even the "cheap" places away from town were $150+ for a nothing place. We found this place for $159 right in the heart of everything! We've been so lucky -- but the AAA book and cell phone are a big help, once you scope out an area. Can't wait to explore The Breakers, The Flagler Mansion/Museum and the shops on Worth Street tomorrow.
The rain came down, drowning our plans to head out for dinner. Enjoyed a wonderful, home cooked tasting dinner of beef stew at the restaurant in house at the hotel. Very intimate, lovely atmosphere. The rain really raised the humidity factor -- crank up that air conditioning!
The morning dawned humid, but beautiful -- went for a nice walk along the ocean -- peaking through the gates of these fabulous homes was great fun. Saw part of a house that had just been moved onto the site -- a beautiful 2 story Mediterranean -- 2 more pieces yet to arrive. It was floated down the Atlantic on a barge, put on an elaborate "dolly" system, moved across the sand to it's ocean front site. The other 2 pieces due to arrive this week. The local paper says the owner has $10M into this venture, so far....
Spent a great day window shopping on Worth St., having a delicious lunch at The Breakers -- an incredible place -- must try to stay there sometime! -- and another interesting tour, this time of Whitehall, the Flagler "golden era" mansion on the Intercoastal Waterway. A work in progress, but the granddaughter saved it from destruction. The "entry hall" at 4200 square feet is twice the size of our house!! Beautiful.
Highway A1A is the way to go -- slowly!! But you go along the coast, by all the beautiful homes and high rise condo towers all the way to Miami. We drove through a huge rain cloud around Boca Ratan, but by Ft. Lauderdale it was gone. It is amazing to us how many thousands of units there are all along this area -- both waterfront and off the water. Money just seems to drip off every tree here!
Miami is a scary place. Everywhere from the outskirts of Ft. Lauderdale into Miami the poverty was evident. Miles of houses with bars on all the windows and doors, and high iron fences with sharp tops -- what a way to live! Fortunately we landed in Miami Lakes to visit with our friends LeAnne and Joaquin Mantero. An oasis in this crazy town!!
It was so good to see them and Andriana -- now 3, with a brother or sister to join her this summer. They have a lovely home on a lake and we had a good time catching up on all our old AT&T /Lucent buddies. Joaquin seems to be enjoying his new job as a U S Customs Agent -- working the "private" side -- as in people arriving by nonscheduled airplane (private, charter, etc) He gets to check through many entertainment figures, government people, -- great stories!! LeAnne is having a ball being a Mom and scrapbooking their lives. Her work is really fun and interesting -- you can tell she really has fun putting it all together. We had a tour of Miami Lakes -- Don Shula Country -- he used to live here and still has a golf resort, Hotel, Steak House and other sundry properties.
National Park day. Biscayne and Everglades. Quite close together -- we got some chores done -- it's that time again, and headed for the Parks on a glorious day -- high 70's, light breeze. Biscayne is almost all water. Signed up for a boat cruise tomorrow morning, went on a Ranger talk about the plant life, and headed for Everglades. Signed up for the Backcountry boat tour tomorrow afternoon, enjoyed the Visitors Center and went on a hike on the Anhinga Trail. WOW!! Boardwalk out into the "glades". Lots of birds, turtles, and, of course, Alligators. Got to see a rare sight -- baby alligators, about 8" long, 6 days old -- about 20 of them. Only 1 will live to maturity, if they are lucky. The Mom was basking in the sun and totaling ignoring her offspring. They are usually born in October or November -- these were way off sync!! The Anhinga birds are really different. When they fish, they spear the fish underwater, fly to a tree flip it up in the air and catch it in their mouth. Unfortunately, we didn't see them in action. Saw a gater snap at his prey -- not sure if he got it or not -- saw Osprey diving for fish, Anhinga babies in the nest, and Cormorants sitting on their nest. Everywhere you looked, something interesting was going on.
Got up and going early for us -- 9:30 check in for our Biscayne cruise -- it was cancelled due to boat problems!! Bummer. So we regrouped, and decided to try to get a place at the Flamingo Lodge out in the Everglades park. Luck strikes again and we got a Bay view room. By the time we got to the Park gate -- the Lodge full sign was out -- we squeeked by again. Pretty drive out there. The Everglades are not at all like I had expected. Open, broad expanses of grass fields, with occassional "hammocks" (raised land areas about a foot above the grass river) of mahogony, pine, palms, cypress, and the ever present 4 types of Mangroves. But no swamps, trees with hanging moss, etc. The Everglades is really a huge river that flows out of Lake Ockochobee with sea water flowing in from the gulf - making "brackish" water - a combination of fresh and salt waters. The River is 100 miles long, 200 miles wide and an average of 5 feet deep filled with grass! Many factors are theatening this one of a kind environment, but man is the root of most problems -- development, recreation, fertilizers, etc.
We checked in, walked, rented bikes to explore around, and just gawked at the azure blue Florida Bay outside our door. The boat cruise into the backcountry was disappointing. Not nearly as much to see as we expected -- big ponds, small canals, but not much wildlife to see. The naturalist on board though had good information to share about the Everglades environment. Did see some crocodiles. This is the only place on earth where alligators and crocodiles exist together.
Off to the Keys. Really looking forward to that!