A recap of some things we did in Florida that never seemed to make it into an earlier blog.
We took a 90 mile trip to the center of Florida to visit Solomon’s Castle - home and studio of internationally known sculptor Howard Solomon.
Over 300 pieces of art by Howard are on display in the galleries and part of his home. All are created with discarded materials such as oil drums, broken appliances, car parts and old steel style drink cans etc. There is a nice restaurant (service was mediocre) on an outside patio and one sleeping room (Blue Moon Room) in the east tower of the castle that can be rented.
Castle entirely sided with used metal newspaper printing plates.
Howard Solomon self portrait.
"Where's Waldo"...many of his works are fun and whimisical.
We spent an afternoon in the PGA Museum of Golf in Port St. Lucie. If you like golf you'll love this exhibit.
Ron reading the history of golf.
He was in "7th heaven"
An exhibit of the evolution of the golf club, ball & tee.
A young Tiger.
The Probst Library. A collection of more than 6,000 hardcover books,
3,000 handbooks and 600 volumes of bounded periodicals.
Named after an engineer from South Bend, IN who began
collecting golf periodicals and books in the 1920's.
His acquistions feature golf books dating from the 1700's
and periodicals from pre-Civil War. An adjoining temperature
controlled room contains rare books, including the first
published Scottich Acts of Parliment a 1566 manuscript with the first
identifiable reference to golf.
We had a nice stay at the Jonathon Dickenson State Park on the East coast. In 1942 the US Army constructed Camp Murphy which was used for top-secret communications training. The camp was built on 11,364 acres and consisted of 1,000 buildings, 854 officers and 5,752 enlisted men. A few structures remain today. The site was decommissioned in 1944 and transferred to the State of Florida in 1947. In 1950 Jonathon Dickinson State Park opened to the public.
Camp Murphy barracks.
Camp Murphy RR station were thousands of soldiers came through.
Hobe Mountain, located in the park, is 86 feet above sea level. For Florida that's a mountain! On the top is a 27 foot oberservation tower, giving visitors who climb to the top a great view of the park. When the camp was active the Army placed a communication antennae on top.
Ron working his way up to the observation tower.
The park is home to a nesting pair of Bald Eagles and the Pilieated Woodpecker, the largest woodpecker in Florida. Also home to otters, alligators, deer, hawks and a variety of other birds and the gopher tortoise the only habitant we saw.
View from the parks' boat ramp of the Loxahatchee River.
There are fields as far as you can see of this large fan-shaped leafed Saw Palmetto.
Spring in the park...I thought I was back in the southwest desert.
I just loved walking around the Hobe Sound Nature Center and Wildlife Refuge. Established in 1969 with over 1,000 acres dedicated to providing habitat and protection for a variety of wildlife and plant native to the Jupiter Island coastal area.
Trail through the refuge.
Field of lichens - composite organisms consisting of fungus and alga.
Close up of lichens
Gumbo Limbo tree - nicknamed the "tourist tree" because
its bark is red and peeling like a sunburn.
Eagle protecting its nest.
Refuge includes 3.5 miles of barrier island beach, home to one of the most productive sea turtle nesting areas in the U.S.
We can't miss a St. Patty's Day celebration.
Ron enjoying his green beer on St. Pattys day at the
Yellow Tail Restaurant in Stuart FL.
We enjoyed walking around the Fort Pierce Marina and the fair that takes place every weekend. We also visited the Manatee Observation Center, which was very interesting. However, I thought this sign odd....I'm as much a fan of Manatees as the next guy, but a $20,000 fine and 1 year in prison...I think the fine if you hit a worker in a construction zone is $10,000???
Statue in front of the Manatee Oberservation Center
Had a great time visiting with friends from St. Louis, Rich & Barb, who were in Jupiter for the Cardinals Spring Training. Had a nice dinner together and caught up.
After leaving Punta Gorda we stopped over in Ocala for a few days to visit friends Tom & Sue, who we originally met while in the southwest last winter.
They took us to Micanopy, Florida a small town (pop. Approx. 200) between Ocala and Gainsville. The town of Micanopy was the setting for the 1991 movie “Doc Hollywood” starring Michael J. Fox. There is a neat museum depicting the history of the area, as well as many of the buildings from the movie.
To this day they still celebrate “Doc Hollywood Days” in early April.
Quant little town of Micanopy.
Article from their local paper, announcing the appearance of the author of Doc Hollywood at their annual "Doc Hollywood Days."
Herlong Mansion, Historic Inn and Gardens Circa 1845.
Now a private B&B.
Sue in the Herlong Mansion gazebo, surrounded by sweet smelling honeysuckle.
Tom amazed this original phone booth still had a working telephone.
Located in one of the neat old bookstores.
They also took us to a number of local restaurants …we had a great time!
Somewhere along the way we picked up a nail in one of the car tires and had to wait for a new one to be sent over-night to Sams,so we were delayed in Ocala. What better place to be delayed, we had good friends close by and we were in a large enough town to have a Sams Club.
We will spend one night in Cordele, GA and one or two nights in Bremen, AL then into Red Bay. We do not have an appointment, so our visit should be interesting. I am determined not to leave there until we get our satellite functioning. It has been over a year since we had good satellite reception.
Wish us luck!
Hope all is well!
