Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL: Well, we were going to go to another Cardinals game today, but it started looking stormy and rained a little bit, so we decided to hit a movie instead. Went to see “Brooklyn’s Finest”, a real shoot ‘em up with lots of sex, violence, and bad language. Oh yeah. Filled up the truck with gas and are ready to leave tomorrow for a county park just north of here. 80 today. That’s more like it!

Jupiter Inlet

Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL: Nice and sunny again today. And warmer—but with a cool breeze. Sat outside for a while in my shorts and tube top reading and getting some sun. Started a new book—Nelson Mandela’s autobiography. Mike grilled some hot dogs and I made a four-bean salad for dinner. Was supposed to hit 74 today. Not sure.

Sunset on the Loxahatchee River

Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL: A beautiful, sunny day—but cool and windy. After hanging around all morning we decided to go see “Green Zone” with Matt Damon. Good movie about the falsifying of the existence of WMDs to warrant invading Iraq. What we did was shameful. After the movie we drove over to Jupiter Island where the obscenely wealthy live. This place is really pretty because there’s still a lot of open, protected land. Drove down to the little park at the end and walked out to the beach. The ocean was a beautiful, deep blue with frothy white waves crashing in. A couple of people were surfing out there. Crazy. Drove back home and relaxed the rest of the day. Think it hit 70 today.

Home on Jupiter Island

Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL: Sunny this morning, but really cool and windy. Larry and Janice stopped by before they left to say good bye. I’m sure we’ll run into them again in our travels. The St. Louis Cardinals do their spring training in Jupiter. So we headed out for the Cardinals/Braves game. I used to live in Atlanta and rooted for the Braves, so I would have been happy with whatever the outcome. The place was packed and we were on our way to buy tickets at the ticket office (standing room only) but Mike bought a couple of tickets from someone outside the stadium. Turns out they were berm seats (a little grassy knoll) and Mike was furious because he was told there would be seats, but no seats. So we just stood by one of the railings. Turns out this area is coveted by the kids because the berm sits right behind the Cardinal bullpen and they can get autographs from the players. So I gave our tickets to a couple of kids who were thrilled and ran down there with their baseballs and pens. Made their day I guess. And I got to see Chipper Jones (Braves) hit a home run with one man on. One of the Cardinal rookies hit a home run also. The final score was Braves 5, Cardinals 3. We tried a new place for dinner tonight—Jetty’s Restaurant. We had to wait a long time for a table, but it was worth it. I had hog fish snapper sautéed in a white wine butter sauce with lump crab on top and Mike had grilled chicken covered in lump crab meat and béarnaise sauce. Delicious!

Our site

Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL: Cloudy and cool this morning. Headed out to Hobe to do the laundry and grocery shopping. While there it started raining. Nasty day. Stopped at Wendy’s for lunch. Driving back in the park we ran into Larry and Janice who were heading out. We met them in the Everglades. They invited us to join them for dinner tonight. We went to the Crab House across the river from the lighthouse. A nice meal and we had a great time exchanging travel stories with them. Back home. Starting to clear up. Was supposed to be 73 today, but on the way back from Hobe the temperature was 59. 

Jupiter Lighthouse

Tue, 3/16/10

Everglades National Park to Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL: Left this morning around 11:00, stopped for lunch at the West Palm service center on Florida’s Turnpike, and arrived at Jonathan Dickinson by 2:30. We’re in the pine grove loop which has been closed for a couple of years because they totally rebuilt it. We’re in a nice site with full hook-ups and a pretty view out our back window. Got caught up on our computer stuff. Left-overs for dinner. I love Jupiter. It’s so pretty here. The high today was 71 (sigh).

Picture by Mike

Mon, 3/15/10

Everglades National Park: Another beautiful morning. After our showers we filled up the water tank and then put the hose away. Late morning we headed out to hike the Christian Point trail. We stopped at Mahogany Hammock and our friends from Illinois were there. We wanted to check out the owl chicks, but they weren’t in the huge mahogany tree any more. Heard them on the other side of the hammock but couldn’t see them. Continued on our way and parked at the Christian Point trailhead, which is almost to Flamingo. I put on my hiking boots and my snake gaiters. Started out on the trail over a little slough and on through buttonwoods, but then the trail opened up into a large open grassy area. Didn’t look too interesting and it was kind of soggy, so we went back to where we parked and decided to go up the road to the Rowdy Bend trailhead. Before we even got out of the truck, a couple stopped and warned us about the mosquitoes. So we nixed that and continued on to the Snake Bight trail. This is such a pretty little trail which follows a slough through a hardwood forest and mangroves along the slough. You’re hiking under this canopy of lush vegetation. After our hike we drove the short distance to Flamingo for some cold drinks and a snack. The Florida Bay cruise boat was about to leave in half an hour, so we decided to go on that. Florida Bay is very shallow—average depth 4 feet. You could literally walk across Florida Bay to the Keys. Out on the bay it was really windy and cool. Thankfully the captain told us to be sure and bring a sweatshirt or jacket. During the cruise he gave a very interesting narrative about the Everglades and its importance to the area. It’s the only thing like it in the world—the river of grass--40 miles wide and 6 inches deep. After the cruise we headed to Homestead to fuel up and have some dinner. Stopped at a Mexican restaurant which wasn’t that great. Back home. We discovered that Daylight Savings Time started on Saturday. We had no clue. Changed all the clocks. Think it hit the upper 70s today.

Slough along the snake bight trail

On the very pretty snake bight trail

Starting out on the Christain Point trail--in my snake gaiters

New key in the making--Florida Bay

Keys on Florida Bay