Jonathan Dickerson SP, Jupiter

Riverbend Park - Jupiter FL 
(I am using a larger print to make it easier for me to read and write...anyone else with me on this? D)

Riverbend Park is a beautiful 665-acre multi-use park. We biked along well-packed walking/bike paths passing, what I call "the jungle", wetlands, river, canals and ponds. It is also home to the Loxahatchee Battlefield, the site of the Second Seminole Indian War. It did not turn out well for the Seminole people, but they never did sign a peace treaty with the US government. More on this in the next post.

 Loxahatchee River in Riverbend Park

Chickee is the Seminole word for house. The chickee style of building with cypress logs and palmetto thatch was used during the early 1800s when the Seminoles were pursued by the US army and they needed quick housing. This type of construction has become popular for tiki huts.

 

Wild coffee

Chickee hut or tiki hut?

It may be hard to see what an amazing growth pattern this tree has, but it is a strangler fig that started as an epiphyte (air plant) and overtook and consumed its host tree. It is known for putting down "prop trunks" to support its huge spreading branches. That's me under the tree. D

Banyan tree

 The Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge has both freshwater and saltwater habitats of coastal dunes and beach on Jupiter Island and sand pine scrub and hammocks on the mainland. We went on a guided walk with a volunteer who pointed out the following plant life.

Lichen and moss

Epiphyte

Saw Palmetto

Wild Mint

Gatorback Saw Palmetto-
It's trunk lies horizontally along the ground and can look like a "gator"

Sebastian Inlet II

McKee Botanical Gardens - 1/17/18 

We visited McKee Botanical Gardens with our friends Trudy and Bob.
The garden is a lovely property that has had a long and varied history in Vero Beach.
“It’s a Jungle Out There” is a collection of 24 animal sculptures made out of recycled 
automotive metals. The animals were made by African artists and harken back to a time 
when the McKee Garden was zoo.

Trudy and Bob

Trudy, gorilla and Diane

The garden also has a really cool “Stickworks” sculpture. The Stickworks installation called “The Royals” is set in the garden’s royal palm grove. It was constructed by weaving saplings into primitive building shapes. They are found all around the country and in Canada. Check them out at  www.stickwork.net/work. They can stay until they “compost” themselves, but I think at some point they would be removed to finish their composting somewhere off-site.

Looking up through the roof of a
Stickworks building.

Diane and George outside
Stickworks buildings.

Elephant sculpture in McKee Botanical Garden.

Barrier Island NWR

 

The Barrier Island Sanctuary is an educational center
located in the Archie Carr Refuge. 
It is a major nesting place for sea turtles.

On the sign below, the first point-

“When walking near water stay alert and keep your eyes open, this is good advice for anywhere in Florida.”

Besides “keeping your eyes open in Florida” being an interesting idea all by itself, these alligator alert signs, are immediately followed by a bench for you to sit and relax...near the water...and wait for the alligators to sneak up on you!

The alligator bench

What is George doing?

George likes me to take his photo from afar.
(The farther away, the better I look - GC)

Red mangrove roots

A beautiful leaf from a seagrape shrub

Go Patriots! 1/21/18
We want to apologize to Gail and Mike for the poor quality of the photo. It was a wonderful afternoon spent with friends...and the Patriots won too!

Our friends Gail and Mike

Seen at the grocery store...
Vote: Is this a dog, alligator or something else?

Sebastian Inlet

Sebastian Inlet 1/15/18

Dear friends, thanks for your patience, at least from most of you...We have experienced a computer disaster and had to start from the beginning and redo last week's blog. We have divided this post into two sections, so if we lose one, it will only be half a disaster... : ( 

We arrived at Sebastian Inlet State Park on a blustery day where the RED flag was flying
on the beach meaning "High hazard, high surf and/or strong currents". 
A couple of days later the PURPLE flag is added meaning, "Dangerous marine life". 
And what happens next? Welcome to the pro-surfing competition! “Let’s be safe out there!”

The beach terns facing the photographer...or maybe just facing into the wind...

Surfers at Sebastian Inlet

Sunset at Sebastian Inlet

Kennedy Space Center - Cape Canaveral 1/16/18

We visited NASA's Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral which has changed quite a bit since we visited in 1973. Our tax dollars do not support the center and that is reflected in the price of tickets for two seniors $98 plus $10 parking. In spite of the cost, we really enjoyed our visit, spending our time on a bus tour of the complex and extended visiting time at the Apollo/Saturn V Center, where a re-enactment of the first moon landing using the original command center, voice recordings and video was thrilling. We also viewed the Space Shuttle Atlantis including a shuttle launch experience, Journey to Mars and  Science on a Sphere. All were well done. It really helped us recall the era of early manned missions and exploration. Although the complex was not crowded on the day we visited, there were 1.7 million visitors in 2016.

Diane under the Saturn V engines

Rocket assembly building

First moon landing

Kennedy Space Center is home to Space Shuttle Atlantis

The Rocket Garden displays the early rockets of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions.

Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge - 1/17/18

Paul Kroegel, a German immigrant lived near Pelican Island and in the 1880s he took an interest in the birds and the island. He would sail to the island to stand guard and protect the birds from hunters who wanted kill and skin the birds for their plumage, selling it for women’s hats. In 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt made Pelican Island the first National Wildlife Refuge. Paul Kroegel was hired as the first warden of Pelican Island.

Great Blue Heron

Mangrove Buckeye butterfly

This spider was actually a lot smaller than it appears in the photo.

Strangler fig just starting its grip of a palm.

An ibis in the mangroves. I really like this photo. (Nice photo George)

...and my favorite "wiggly" tree, a live oak.

Casita Adventuras III

We were in Bristol for the snowstorm, so we had the exciting task of digging out our trailer before leaving for an uneventful drive to Florida. We drove about 6 hours a day and stayed the nights in Aberdeen, Maryland; Fayetteville, North Carolina and Brunswick, Georgia before showing up at Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine Florida on Tuesday 1/9.

Our first campsite of our trip at Anastasia State Park

Former Alcazar Hotel-St. Augustine, Florida

Fountains and coy pond at the Lightner Museum

Cut and pressed glass exhibit at the Lightner Museum

The  Lightner Museum is in downtown St. Augustine in part of the former Alcazar Hotel built by railroad magnate Henry Flagler in 1888. Its architectural style is called Spanish Renaissance Revival. It houses collections of fine and decorative arts, but even more fun was the "Dressing Downton" exhibit (as in the PBS Downton Abbey show) that was there during our visit! The Lightner Museum taking furnishings out of storage constructed period scenes for the Downton exhibit taking furnishings out of storage

The Cafe Alcazar also in the hotel, is in what at the time, was the largest indoor swimming pool. It also had a retractable roof which helped reduce the sulfur smell of the water...

Across the street, the former Ponce de Leon Hotel is now Flagler College was also built in 1888.

Flagler College-a liberal arts college 

Cafe Alcazar at the Lightner Museum

Hotel Alcazar swimming pool 1905 (www.drbronsontours.com)

Dame Maggie Smith as Violet Crawley

Our group, minus the photographer, on a food tour of St. Augustine. YUM!

The former Alcazar Hotel with holiday lights

Plaza de la Constitución

Video of the "Free Rangers" at a local Farmers Market

During December and January, the downtown area surrounding the Plaza de la Constitución is lit up for the "Nights of Lights" which was beautiful and very well attended on the weekends even with the cool weather.

 

Florida has some of the straightest trees, palm trees, and the "wiggliest trees", the live oaks!