Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL, to Sebastian Inlet SP, 12 miles north of Vero Beach:  Left Jonathan Dickinson this morning at 11:00.  I hooked up and Mike drove, heading north on Hwy. 1.  Just north of Ft. Pierce we turned onto A1A which is a beautiful drive up these pretty barrier islands with beautiful ocean vistas.  Lots of beautiful homes, golf courses, and beaches.  Arrived at Sebastian Inlet at 1:00 and were set up by 1:30.  The loop we’re in isn’t as nice as where we’ve been before in here, but we have a nice view of the intracoastal.  Had some lunch and relaxed a little before meeting Carolyn, our Canadian friend, and her daughter, sister, and brother-in-law at Capt. Hiram’s.  We’ll be dining al fresco right on the water.  Low 80s today.

Nice view of the intracoastal

Cardinals Baseball

Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL:  Rained a little last night but the sky cleared by morning.  We headed over to Roger Dean Stadium for a spring training baseball game between the Cardinals and the Nationals.  A pretty little stadium and a beautiful day for a ball game.  We were going to have dinner after the game at Muggs which is across the street from the stadium, but after a hot dog, brat, peanuts, and ice cream, we were quite full.  We left at the top of the eighth with the Cardinals behind 7-2 (sigh).  Leaving tomorrow for Sebastian Inlet which is just up the coast.  Low 80s today.

Roger Dean Stadium--Jupiter, FL

Carpenter pitching

Pujols at bat--he flied out

Our pitcher hit one of their players and it brought all of them on the field ready to rumble.  What a bunch of overpaid prima donnas!  All that testosterone I guess.

Yeah, right!  Like baseballs coming at you at about 100 mph!

Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL:  This morning dawned bright and sunny.  Late morning we decided to go for a bike ride.  Got my biking shorts and a tube top on and were ready to get the bikes ready and this blustery, keening wind came up out of nowhere.  Windy, and now with nasty looking clouds blowing in, we decided to nix the bike ride.  Changed out of my biking clothes.  Spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading.  It did clear off, but by then we weren’t in the mood for a bike ride.  Had a light lunch and left-overs for dinner.  We were kind of disappointed in the “super moon” last night.  We should have headed to a tiki bar on the water last night.  And we couldn’t get a decent picture without a tripod.  Low 80s today.

Beach on Jupiter Island

Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL:  Another glorious day today.  We went for a boat ride down the Intracoastal past Jupiter Island.  The little town of Jupiter Island has the most net worth and the highest per-capita income of anywhere in the US.  They control 10% of the country’s wealth—the likes of Tiger Woods, Celine Dion, and Bill Gates, among others. And most of them only use their Jupiter Island property a couple of times a year.  A beautiful day for a cruise—warm and breezy.  We saw a baby manatee.  The Blowing Rock Preserve and Beach encompasses 75 acres and is worth billions.  But, it is a preserve and will stay that way.  A lot of boating traffic and a lot of rude boaters—speeding through no-wake zones and even in the manatee area.  After our cruise we dined again at the Crab House.  Our boat left from their dock, so it was really convenient.  Mike had a burger and I had a cobb salad.  Topped everything off with a piece of key lime pie.  Stuffed, we headed back and relaxed the rest of the afternoon.  Looking forward to viewing the “super moon” tonight.  Mid-80s today and not a cloud in the sky.

Interesting tiki hut party barge, complete with bar and water slide.  Looked like it was about to sink.

Osprey

The sea wall at Tiger's property.  His property is huge--he bought three parcels.  Can only get a glimpse of the buildings.  His guest house accommodates 25 people.

Next door to Tiger.  The grounds maintenance on these properties is about $1M a year.

Lunching at the Crab House 

Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL:  A beautiful morning—warm and breezy. Hung around all morning and went to the Crab House in Jupiter for lunch.  Mike had the seafood/salad buffet and I had grouper.  The place was packed.  We had a nice relaxing lunch on the outside deck right on the Loxahatchee River and enjoyed a pretty view of the lighthouse just across the river. After lunch we drove over to the stadium where the Cardinals do their spring training and bought tickets for Monday’s game.  Then back to the park, making a side trip down to the river loop and walked around down by the dock and checked out the prices for renting kayaks.  Back home and relaxed.  A beautiful day under clear blue skies.  Low 80s today.

Jupiter Light

Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL:  Spent the whole morning on the computer again.  Finally got caught up.  After lunch we drove over to Jupiter Island to see how the filthy rich live.  Stopped at the blowing rock park and beach.  This beach is really different in that there’s a rocky outcropping of Anastasia limestone all along the beach.  Drove back seeing many Mercedes, Bentleys, and Rolls Royces.  Thank heavens these people didn’t get an increase in their taxes!  Had steaks, corn on the cob, and a tossed salad for dinner.  High 70s today.

Blowing rock beach with the outcroppings of Anastasia limestone

Everglades NP to Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL:  Left the Everglades at around 10:30.  This is our sixth year coming to the Everglades and we’ve never seen a snake in the park.  But at the kiosk on our way out there was a picture of two eastern diamondback rattlesnakes in the road just off the nature trail, which we’ve been on a few times.  They were huge!  They’re all around, but we’ve never seen them.  I started driving, taking the Florida Turnpike north out of Homestead.  We stopped at the West Palm Beach service area after two hours, had lunch, and Mike took over driving.  Arrived at Jonathan Dickinson and were set up by 3:00.  We now have full hook-ups.  After getting set up we drove to Hobe Sound to do the laundry and grocery shopping.  Spent most of the evening getting caught up on e-mail and other computer stuff. 

Greater Miami--looks pretty good from the water.

Rush hour traffic we encountered on our way out of Miami.