Personal News: July 2005 Archives

First, this is not by way of criticism or slight to anyone who may differ from this opinion. Indeed, I find it one of my great burdens. But let's just say I don't get the idea of a "beach book."

I don't quite understand the concept of going to a beach book in hand. And when I come back from a beach after ten or twelve hours of walking the entire strand, dodging sharks, and collecting whatever might be collectable, I'm in no state whatsoever to read a book. In the entire time I spent on vacation, I brought about twelve books to read--I ended up reading perhaps a couple of chapters of one of them.

I am, in fact, exceedingly pleased by an observation made by my host with regard to my approach to the beach. He said (and I paraphrase most of it), "I've noticed there are different styles of going to the beach. Some go and sit and sun. Some savor the beach, letting it come to them. You devour the beach."

Now there is truth here. The day we went to the beach when it wasn't stormy and the beach was our only destination, I walked from Delmore-Wiggins pass (a turtle beach) to the North Side of Downtown Naples and back. I don't know how far that is, but my guess is about eight-to-ten miles. My goal would be to walk from Naples to Venice. However, as that would entail swimming several rather large, probably bull-shark infested rivers, I rather think I'll keep it down to between large tidal rivers.

But back to the point. I love the beach. I go with the intent of sitting and absorbing and just being there, but the beach calls to me. Like Prufrock, "I hear the mermaids singing each to each," unlike Prufrock I do not care that they do not sing to me--it is sufficient to be privileged to overhear the conversation meant only for them.

But then we must keep in mind that Steven has, among his friends, a reputation for being robo-tourist. I just read MamaT's description of her first few days of vacation and thought back to my time in San Francisco. And I had written a long description here of it; however, it would seem to detract from that wonderful entry i cited above. Suffice to say that I am known for my ability to take in the sites in a given location. Thus, it should come as no surprise that my recreation at a beach is to walk as far as I possibly can in either direction from where I start. The idea of sitting with a book seems somehow contrary to my notion of a beach--and that, I admit, is my failing. I guess when I take a vacation, I take a vacation from me and my driving impulses as well as from a location. I was amazed at how very little I read (only the directions to and descriptions of the places we were going or just had been.)

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One Last Image

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In a private communication one reader was surprised at how much I had liked Key West and how poetic I had waxed over it. Well, this little photo will give you a sense of why. That was the view from my hotel room. Three days after Dennis and sea and sky have returned to where they started. In other pictures the swirls of sea and sky reflect one another with the same apparent flatness. I cannot say enough about the water and its color. As soon as I can reasonably well capture it, I will likely substitute it for my background on this site. Problem has been that there has been no good way to capture it well.

Well, good night all.

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Sorry. Not the spiny lizard, but I thought you might prefer one in focus. I'm still sorting through the spiny lizard photos with some hope that I might find one that isn't all blurred out.

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My Javelina pictures did not come out as well as I would have liked and the Coyotes were downright dreadful. Got a lot of great spiny lizards, but figured you might enjoy these more.

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And the lovely San Xavier del Bac, presently undergoing restoration.

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And to RC if he happens to drop by--I promise never, never, never to do this again. For one thing it is entirely too much effort--but I'll work really hard to reduce server strain.


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The flower above and the friend below were both experiences to be savored at Corkscrew Swamp--an Audubon preserve.

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Said friend is heralded by this plant--appropriately enough called Alligator flag. Throughout the swamp we found them with these regular, even perforations. They were so perfect that it seemed unlikely to be caused by a browsing insect. I thought perhaps they functioned like the slits in banana leaves. Alas, I know too little about this mystery to help you resolve it.

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And the friend below brought to me courtesy of a short side-trip to Estero, Florida--the Koreshan Settlement.

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Why I Love the Dry Tortugas

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And yes, for many reasons, this is likely to be the best picture you see of me on this site.

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The view of Fort Jefferson--the place of incarceration of Dr. Samuel Mudd, unjustly railroaded into prison for setting John Wilkes Booth's leg and released after helping tend a yellow fever epidemic in the Fort. Certainly the acts of a traitorous coward.


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What you can see without ever entering the water. (From the moat walk around the fort.)

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My hotel room here looks out over the Santa Catalina Mountains, a golf course, and some desert set-pieces that punctuate the artificial (and irresponisible) green.

Last night I watched as the heavens played out a magnificent thunderstorm--lightning as I have never seen it before, even though I live in the lightning capital of the world. Huge jagged bolts that tore apart the night sky and light up the mountains in glorious silhouette. Unimaginably beautiful--to see a saguaro highlighted against the sky. Beautiful.

This morning I walked around seeing what the desert had to offer for the waking person. Rabbits, lizards, and a few other fast-moving ground things. But most wonder of all--a cactus wren in its nest and an unidentified owl high in the tree. La Paloma (the name of the resort) certainly has a home here as well.

Please join me in giving great thanks for all that the Lord has shared with me on these two trips. They have been utlimately restorativeo--to the point where tomorrow or the next day I may be writing about the categorical imperative or the Discourse on Method. Yes, my brain has recovered, ever so little.

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Blogging from Tucson

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From the wonders of Manatees, Dolphins, Leatherbacks, Hawksbills, loons, alligators, tricolor herons. . .

From the turquoise of water that is beyond the description of water, water never meant to look like heaven and promising the gates thereof,

From bridges spanning mangrove islands filled with yet more gators, salt-water crocodiles, and a panoply of birds and animals you cannot begin to imagine. . .

from black bears and Flordia panther, from ghost orchid and spider lily and alligator glad,

To Saguaro, ocotillo, barrel cactus, and desert palms,

road runner, coyote, javelina, rattlesnake, and best of all (and I'm not joking her because I love them) scorpions,

from the humid to the dry.

In a single day I return from the wealth of Florida and emerge into the wealth of the desert. The sere beauty, the austere and lovely surroundings that allow for no miscalculation, no mistake.

I'm hoping that during this brief stay I will be able to take in San Xavier del Bac--aka "The White Dove of the Desert."

God is very, very good indeed and He has blessed me beyond blessing with the riches He has showered on me in the last few days. More later, but now, to enjoy the desert sunset--sure to be completely different from tht of the ocean, but enchanting, beautiful, wonderful all the same.

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The Vacation Winds Down

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All I can say is that it is a good thing that the Keys were the last point of my agenda rather than the first. I would never have escaped from them--never found my way anywhere else. I did not expect to like them as much as I did, and yet, there it is. Nearly everything else pales in comparison, as lovely as it all was. I'm suffering from Keys withdrawal.

The pace of Island life was so subdued and so Caribbean--I don't do night life so I didn't really see Key West at its worst--in fact, I saw nothing that put me off overmuch, and certainly nothing that was as bad as the Ocean was good. There is nothing like the sight of turquoise waters broken by the deep blue of channels and the occasional brown of a shoal or coral reef. Nothing like seeing parrotfish and angelfish swimming free. Nothing at all like the Dry Tortugas. While I was there I met a volunteer in the gift shop and asked him about the living arrangements for volunteers. I didn't think that they would come in with an early boat and go out in the evening. And I was right. They live on the island for thirty day stretches. Suddenly I saw myself as a gift-shop volunteer on Garden Key--somehow don't think they'd put up my whole family though.

And Key West, while magnificent and displayed for tourists in a way unmatched by any other key, was simply the jewel in the Crown. Bahia Honda, a long key with a gorgeous beach and a magnificent view of the Flagler bridges was our last stop on the way out. We only spent a couple of minutes, but it was once again gorgeous beyond words.

My host has been extremely patient and kind. We have schedules that work well together to give each of us a lot of private time. He gets up along about 4:00 am and I get up about 7:00 and follow that with an hour or so of hemming and hawing, prayer and prep for the day. He goes to bed along about 8:30 (or earlier) and I go to bed along about midnight or 1:00 am. Again, open spaces of free time for both of us.

This vacation has been a blessing, a deep and wonderful blessing. And in the course of it I have seen a great many things, most particularly those recounted here. But Key West overwhelmed me. I would like to go back and go parasailing (a desire I have never before in my entire life felt). It's odd, I have no longing to live there. I don't know that I would like to live there all the time. But as a rejuvenating charge, they simply can't be beat. Next time it will be with the family.

(Oh, and the major impediment against these things--the very frightening prospect of a hundred-mile-long bridge is not even remotely a reality. There are only two fairly long stretches of bridge. So, I suspect that I will return as soon and as often as is feasible. These are a taste of paradise on Earth.)

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Preliminary post on the Dry Tortugas.

Just returned and rocking, endlessy rocking, compensating for ship motion. It's amazing what six hours on a boat will do to you--even if they are spread across two three-hour spaces. I haven't had time to absorb the trip yet, but suffice to say that it is paradise within paradise. If the Keys are wonderful and beautiful, the Dry Tortugas are that and more as there are far fewer people--flying fish, parrot fish, tarpons, dolphins, sea-turtles, frigate birds and boobies--but only the people who arrived on the boat.

We did not opt to camp out and I now think that might have been a mistake. I think about seeing the Milky Way from the middle of the Gulf of Mexico--Okay not the middle, but well nigh the last little spot of land east of the Yucatan.

And the sea is turquoise--perfect turquoise--the water still slightly turbid from the churning Dennis gave them, the silt and clay still settling, but not dense enough to both the local life.

And the fort itself--the prisonhouse of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd--one of those accused in the "conspiracy" to assassinate Lincoln. Tried and convicted during a suspension of proper legal procedings that passed for law at the time. Pardoned upon helping the garrison when a Yellow Fever Epidemic broke out.

The shopkeeper there was a volunteer. He said that he worked a thirty day shift and lived on the Island during the time. What an opportunity! I'd love to do something like that. Every night the moon, the stars, the dolphin, and the sea=turtles. All of nature cries out to God in praise, and the cries are the loudest I have ever heard in this subtropical haven. (Yes, not heaven).

I'll think about this some more and hopefull come up with something better to say. But don't count on it because words fail in the face of such glorious beauty and majresty. I will try regardless.

Tomorrow leaving Key West, which I have come to love. I wouldn't be able to live here--there is a weirdness here that is merely trying and tired--there is an attempt at energy and night-life that is merely dissolute. There are boutiques and shops that do business as though one were in a third-world country.

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Key West

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Nine o'clock and the sun is still westering over Key West. The sky is painted with the red, yellow, and orange clouds and split by rays of the deep turquoise blue tht seems to radiate out of the west, a final glowing sky to fight the shadow that encroaches. The Harbor Lights wink on and the silhouette of a man in a row boat works across the bight as does the shadow of a bird in flight that cannot yet be identified.

Key West is recovering from Dennis. Piles of debris line the streets and many of the parks are not open until Wednesday. We had to postpone our trip to the Dry Tortugas by a day, but it buys us a day on the island.

We may spend part of the day tomorrow visiting Bahia Honda a few keys up. We will probably walk by Hemingway's house (we can't really go in as we are both deathly allergic to cats and the polydactylate cats still wander and (I'm told) aromatize the premises.) We will then probably take in a tourist trap or two--such as the pirate museum. We might also visit the beach hear. Already have visited Southernmost point, Southernmost house (with a real widow's walk) and Southernmost Hotel.

Key West is the land of cultivated, calculated wierdness. Needless to say we will not partake of the Duval Street Drawl, nor shall we be in attendance on her royal highness Sushi, the local drag queen. We will try to visit Fort Zachary Taylor--I'm told the largest masonry structure in the United States. And we may try to take in a few more keys or museums. (There's a fossil coral reef on one of the keys.)

Any way, pray for continued good weather at least for the duration of this trip and pray Emily away from habitations. I'm already dreadfully tired of this hurricane season. Having four in one season can do that to a person.

Hope to fill you in on more details tomorrow.

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Key West and Environs

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Well, today we embark for Key West. I'll be able to give a first-hand report about any damage from Dennis--although Key West is really built to weather the storm so I don't anticipate much, if anything.

If all goes well and the tours are still being conducted I'll be visiting the Dry Tortugas tomorrow. After returning we'll tour the Everglades Park including the small town of Flamingo on the very tip of Florida looking out across the ocean toward the Keys--so, if fortunate I'll have several views of the Keys.

Also I need to write about Day 8 which included the Caribbean Gardens Zoo and The Collier County Museum. And Day 9 which was our trip to the Beach during the height of Dennis. Finally Day 10 which was a trip to the Naples pier in the not-quite-aftermath of Dennis.

Please pray for those who faced the wrath of Dennis yesterday and who will be receiving the remainder of the storm over the coming days. While they won't have a hurricane, they will have the fall out which can precipitate floods and other very ill effects.

Hope all is well in blogland--have only had time to visit a few places during vacation. Regular rounds start up again after. I'm able to do this much because of the disparate schedules of me and my host. I tend to be a late-night person, he an early morning person. Thus our mutual functional period covers our various activities and we part ways long about 7:00-9:30 depending upon his tolerances. It's really a wonderful way to vacation--plenty of "alone" time and plenty of time with my friend--well-balanced.

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In contrast to the Edison/Ford summer place Ca D'zan (The House of John in a Venetian Dialect) was built to impress. And it does from the moment of entry to the grounds. You come up a circular lane and enter between two very feminine sphinxesd. The Tower of the house rises up against the blue of the sky and the blue of the river sets the backdrop for the whole scene. A statue of one of the Martial Caesar's decorates the right flank.

Inside, doors covered in gold leaf, hand painted cypress and plaster ceilings and an array of befuddling marble staircases that would entrance Escher. Mrs. Ringling liked green--thus the breakfast room is green, as is the pantry and the kitchen.

Overall, opulence deliberately calculated to give the real estate clients he often entertained a sense that the good life was possible in the Sarasota of the 1920s. A beautiful house.

The small museum on the grounds had a large collection largely of late Gothic and early renaissance "no-brand-name" painters. For example there was a painting fashioned after one of the most famous by El Greco, readily recognizable, however it was painted by his son. The Arcimboldo were from the school of Arcimboldo, etc. Which is not to say that the pieces did not have interest and attractions all of themselves. It was especially nice because it wasn't overwhelming. Easily walked in a couple of hours and enjoyed to the fullest.

The less said of the Circus Museum, the better. I find circuses and most particularly clowns disturbing at best. I suppose this represented the circus well, but I couldn't really advance an opinion. My host liked circuses and so I went through and looked at a collection of really neat photographs of Native American subjects that was for some reason included in the collection.

A very satisfying counterbalance to Wednesday's visit to the Edison/Ford estates.

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Day 6 Edison and Ford

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Day Six was spent largely in Ft. Myers where we visited the Edison and Ford Winter Estates. I've been thinking for a while now about how to tackle these houses and talking about this two men because I have such an ardent antipathy for one, and a creeping dislike of the other.

Okay, my opinions out of the way, you might better be able to understand my ambivalence at visiting these homes. Both are interesting figures and "great" men and I'm interested in seeing the furnishings and appurtenances of historic homes.

When you visit the winter estates, you pull into a parking lot that is in front of a banyan tree. This tree was a gift of Harvey Firestone. When planted it was two inches around and about four feet high. Presently it has a cricumference of 400 feet and covers about an acre. Now, this number is a little deceptive. A Banyan tree is a kind of Ficus or fig tree. In its native India it is called a "Walking Tree." Aerial Roots drop down from high braches and form new trunks so you have a collection of interlaced trunks and branches all forming one tree. It is one of nature's most astounding and miraculous trees. And this complex forms the entry to the museum and grounds.

We bought a ticket for the works and viewed the Estate and took a really nice boat ride on the Caloosahatchee River to view the estates from the river. At first I missed them, and when we toured the estate, I figured out why.

In reality, these "estates" are very simple, very plain, very ordinary American Houses of their time. There is nothing whatsoever "estate-like" about them. They are about the size of an ordinary tract house amid gorgeous grounds, On the grounds I found at least four species of orchids. There were supposed to be some Dendrodium but I suspect they were not in bloom, Instead there were three species of Cattleya and one species of Endrobium (I think). Also on the grounds were several more Ficus of different species an Africa "Sausage Tree" and and absolutely gorgeous Frangipani. In short, the kinds of things I would very much like to have in my yard if I thought they would continue to grow.

Anyhow, you can see that I wasn't overwhelmed by the houses, but the grounds were truly magnificent and the whole experience is well worth undertaking.

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Day 5--A Quiet Day

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Two things you should know, if you don't already--I am by training a paleontologist AND Collier County is one large limestone/fossil deposit. My friend here is having a house constructed. As a result dump trucks have left a large amount of gravel fill on his property. We first discovered this on 3 July when he took me by to see the progress. (When I first planned the trip, it was postulated that the house would be finished by this time and I would be staying there.) A cursory inspection of the pile revealed a wealth of casts and molds with the rock and a momentary closer inspection showed that there were tons of body fossils, most of Strombus, Oliva and other such species. I mentioned this in Monday's writing. Well, yesterday he had a meeting with the general contractor and as a result I got to go through the remains of that pile and pull out a large number of fossils. Much of the field had been removed because it was fill for the drainage fill of the septic tank—what a horrible fate for all those wonderful fossils! But still, even in the remnant of the pile, the small fraction that remained contained more fossils that I could collect in the field in a month of field days.

On the way out to the place, however, I had the thrill of the day, and possibly of the last several years. We were driving by some houses a little further along, toward the cypress swamp. We were also looking at some vacant property and seeing how it might shape up for building. Coming back from that little jaunt we saw an animal up off the road to the left. At first I thought it was a large dog, but as we approached we saw that it was a young bear--more than a cub, but not quite an adult. I wasn't able to get a photograph because when we slowed and stopped the car, this very wise animal got alarmed and loped off into the woods. I have never encountered a black/brown bear in real life before. We had relatively little fear as we were in a car and had no intention of approaching any closer than we were already; however, our friend did not know that and he made haste to get away before our intentions should change. This is precisely how such encounters should occur--to our benefit and not to the significant (if any) detriment of the animal.

You can imagine how I praised God for that little vision. This is one of those things that just make a vacation perfect AND it seems I've had at least one of those every day I've been here.

Today, depending on other factors, we plan to visit the Ford/Edison Estates in Fort Myers. Later this week the Mote Marine Laboratories, Ca D'zan, and other places of interest in Sarasota. Then it's out to Okeechobee and places to the east--particularly to a Bamboo farm near Fort Lauderdale. And later yet--the Keys and the Dry Tortugas.

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I continue to write despite the fact that I cannot publish because when I finally can publish you all will be thrilled and astounded with the wonders here in South Florida (okay, stop the guffaws and fake sneezing.)

On day three the thrill du jour was the Koreshan Settlement, a utopian community founded in South Florida after Cyrus (hence Koresh--the Hebrew for Cyrus) Reed Teed, a Chicago electro-physician in the course of a series of experiments delivered too large a jolt to himself, passed out, and received a revelation from an Angel. He was the new messiah and he was to build the New Jerusalem.

He immediately set about the task by moving to Estero, south of Fort Myers, and beginning the Koreshan Unity. The Koreshans had central to their doctrine what is called Cellular Cosmology--you really need to google this and read about it--a magnificent inspiration. They even did an experiment on Naples beach which "proved" that the land curved up to reach the horizon line, thus confirming the central tenet of the Koreshan Unity--the Earth is a hollow sphere with the continents impressed on the inside and a large ball of gasses seven-thousand miles in diameter that contained the sun, the moon, and the stars.

The Koreshan Unity was a utopian community that believed in celibate living. Koresh thought of himself of the sun and because he believed in the equality of male and female, his female counterpart Victoria Pretia (I'll need to look that name up) was the moon. In addition, the seven women who lived in the Planetary Court represented the seven planets.

There's a lot of similarity with the Shakers in their use and embrace of all things modern and in their desire to cultivate arts, music, dancing, and theater.

The settlement has a number of extant buildings, one of the most interesting of which is the "Arts Hall," in which is displayed the model of cellular cosmology and the "rectilineator." The latter is the device with which they proved that Earth was actually a concave surface. Most interesting.

This is one of the wonders of looking at almost any area closely. You will find a wealth of wild and wonderful things. Wherever there are people there are oddities and wonders to behold. And this small community, which we thought a toss-off trip turned out to be three or four hours worth of study.

Other highlights of this trip--in the course of this trip we saw a tortoise--a large tortoise in his burrow and crawling through the grass. I suppose it is possible that these were two different animals, but it was an incredibly neat thing to see under any circumstances, one animal, two animals, or otherwise.

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Let's start with Mass. On a Sunday Mass seems a good place to start. The less said about St. John the Evangelist, the better, it strains charity with no good reason. The Mass was quite fine in between bouts of applause for this that and the other thing and the playing of deplorable sectarian hymns that seem to crop up with every patriotic holiday.

Friday (arrival day)--Arrived at the initial destination about 2:00. In the car I had been listening to Peter Kreeft's lectures on Ethics. After our initial meet and greet--a friend of long standing whom I had not seen in far too long, we did a whirlwind tour of the local area ending with a brief visit to Delnor-Wiggins Pass. This is a lovely stretch of beach that has no large buildings anywhere near it. It has nearby and estuary from a mangrove swamp so the ocean water is tea-colored. More, we saw a turtle nest carefully marked with all sorts of notices about it.

Yesterday (Saturday)--when I have a chance I will dumb down some of the photos I took in yesterdays excursion to Corkscrew Swamp, a National Audubon Wildlife refuge and a gorgeous place to visit. I wasn't certain about it, but everyone I spoke to recommended it. There is a 2.5 mile boardwalk through Pond Cypress, Wet Prairie, Central Swamp, and Lettuce Lake. In the course of our walk I stood about two feet away from a six foot long alligator and photographed him two or three dozen times. Also saw some Giant Swallowtails and Spicebush swallowtails, brown anoles, 5 lined-skinks, and a strange black skink with two brown "racing stripes." Also photographed swamp hibiscus, alligator flag and a number of other types of wildflowers. Visiting South Florida? Put this on your "must do" list. The walk has a short version for those not up to two and a half miles in 95-98 degree whether with Tropic of Cancer sun beating down. (Personally, that's one of the reasons I live in Florida, there's nothing better in the world.) One of the best things about this excursion was that the place announced that it was not a big mosquito area, and they were mostly right.

Today we decided to go look at Marco Island (a distinct disappointment) and Everglades City, a real surprise, about which more later. On the way to Everglades City we saw a brown sign pointing left off the road and we pulled into the Fakahatchee Strand Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk. This place was deet-city and drop dead gorgeous. You could hear the bellow of alligators and the wrapping of a pileated woodpecker. Basically it's a two-thousand foot boardwalk out into a "strand" which is a very thin line of deep forest in "the river of grass." Thus there were vines, and tangles, and strangler figs and six different kinds of orchids. Unfortunately, I did not get to see any blossoms. Saw two small gators (which was a pretty good indication that there were no large gators in the near vicinity). On the way out to Everglades city we saw some larger beasties in the sawgrass and nearby canals.

Everglades City--voted Florida's top Rural community of 1998. Charming. That's the only word for it. We went to the Museum of the Everglades which we expected to be closed. I was greeted by an absolutely delightful woman who not only invited me into the museum (which was open because of July 4th Festivities) , but who proceeded to invite my friend and me to attend the town's July 4th celebration. Said celebration started with a parade that featured Mickosukee Indians (or perhaps Seminoles) with a person dressed as an Episcopalian Deaconess who served among them for some thirty years. Then a variety of swamp buggies, atvs, and classic cars followed. Some really amazing classic cars. This was followed by a barbecue and fireworks in the late evening.

My friend and I chose, however, to move on down the road to a small island called Chokoloskee. There was a general store that was established in 1895 looking out over Chokoloskee bay and the Ten Thousand Islands--sheer delight as you scanned the horizon and saw micro-mangrove islands, mini mangrove islands, midi mangrove islands, and maxi mangrove islands--standing in fact on one of these. Chokoloskee island started its life as a mangrove island. The sea breeze was cool and swift and drove away the majority of the mosquito population.

I didn't mention that we started the day by going out to my friend's property where they had recently dumped a bunch of fill, from which I was able to cull some Arca, Turitella, Dosinia, Acropora, and assorted other corals and gastropod fossils. The pile was just full to the brim with them. It's a real shame that Samuel wasn't here today because he would have loved finding all of the shells amongst the rocks and finding rocks that were in fact fossils.

A wonderful trip thus far. Already slipping into relaxation mode--but then how could one do otherwise amid this splendor? Both yesterday and today the weather was just about perfect--a trifle warm (in the upper 90s) but a bit of a breeze and not the usual late afternoon thundershowers one expects with midsummer Florida.

More later.

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About this Archive

This page is a archive of entries in the Personal News category from July 2005.

Personal News: June 2005 is the previous archive.

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