Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse

 Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse

According to the Lighthouse Friends.com website, there are 31 or so lighthouses in Florida. After reviewing the list I'm surprised at how many I've seen over the years from Pensacola, to St Augustine, to Key West. Even more surprised at how many I've climbed. Nearly all the ones available to the public.

One of my favorites is the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse. Beautiful, brick, lighthouses were built for only a short moment in time in this country and will never be built again. The Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse was a  technological and logistical wonder for it's time in the 1850's. Falling into disrepair, this lighthouse was rescued and restored in 2000. I visited soon after for the first time but forgot my camera. I promised myself I would return one day and finally kept that promise last weekend - camera in hand.


This is probably the easiest lighthouse to visit in one of the most stunning locations in Florida. It is hard to believe this lighthouse was built in the wilderness as an outpost. Now it's dead center in some of the highest priced real estate in Florida. Not only is the lighthouse fully restored, there is a nice little museum included in the admission price. If you are not interested in that, bring a lawn chair and watch the boats, kayaks, and paddle boarders pass by.

I am pretty proud of my photos from this trip and I have them posted on Flickr. Take a look and let me know what you think. Even better, if your have photos of the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse you are proud of, post a link in the comments.

Full Moon Drum Circle - Hollywood

I have often made the comment that Hollywood needs more regularly scheduled events to revitalize downtown. In true Hollywood style they now have one but it's scheduled randomly each month on the night of the full moon. The Full Moon Drum Circle has been a steadily growing event since it's start about a year ago. This is my first time participating mostly because I think about it usually after I notice the full moon. This month I planned a little better. It didn't hurt that I had a constant reminder of the "Blue Moon" during the week, it was a Friday night, and the weather was perfect after our near miss with Hurricane Issac. 

I work near downtown and live out West so the first stop - Mickey Byrne's Irish Pub to fuel up and meet some friends. I actually didn't plan to meet anyone. They just happened to be there. That happens more often than not and that's why I like to start my evening there. 

The Drum Circle started around 7:30 and there were about 50 or so participants. Ages ranged from baby to advanced years and every age in between. Same with the instruments. Hand drums, snare, box, shakers, bells, spoons, buckets, and even two Australian Didgeridoos. I didn't think to bring a drum but not to be left out, someone loaned me one. That someone happened to be one of the Taiko Drum performers who did a show the week before at the Morikami for the Bon Festival. Pretty exciting considering I missed that event because of bad weather. After the moon popped up I thought the show was about done so I returned my borrowed instrument and headed over to the Arts Park stage for some cool jazz.

I spoke with one of the city staffers and learned they are hosting a wide variety of music now. Jazz, Rock, Reggae, whatever. Just check the  events page to see what's showing. After an hour of Jazz I was ready to head out only to find the drum circle was in full swing and even more drummers had arrived.

I spoke with one of the promoters from Resurrection Drums and he told me there are other full moon drum circles in South Florida but they are loosely organized and don't have a dedicated location. This is the only one sponsored by a city. The city even provides chairs for the participants. All they need is to get the word out to really grow the event. I know some of my regular readers are fellow bloggers so maybe that will happen. 

I realize some of you out there like your regularly scheduled events on a regular schedule. Well Hollywood has a few of those also in and around the Arts Park Downtown. The Miami Food Truck Invasion every Monday from 5:30 to 9:00 and Funtastic Fridays - an activity event for the little ones every Friday 5:00 to 9:00 just to name two. These events are a great excuse to visit Hollywood for the first time or to keep you coming back. Once you walk around downtown a bit, you will no doubt find something else that will bring you back for some random future visit of your own.
 

Full Moon Drum Circle - Hollywood

Blowing Rocks Beach - Hobe Sound

I have been to most of the beaches in Florida over the years. The beautiful white, ice cold sands of Pensacola, Siesta Key, and Lido. The shell strewn sands of Captiva and Sanibel. The crowded, relaxing, family friendly beaches of Naples and Fort Myers. The hot body beaches of South Beach and Fort Lauderdale. The blazing hot, crushed shell beaches of Pompano and Palm Beach. Even the fine grey sands of St Augustine and Fernandina beaches.

This week I visited the most unique beach in Florida. Blowing Rocks Beach in Hobe Sound.

Where the sea meets the land, you find rocks instead of sand. Actually limestone or ancient coral. Most of us who live on the coast know you don't have to dig down in the sand very far to hit coral and salt water. This is one of the very few places the coral is exposed at the shoreline. The ocean slowly eats away and undercuts this rock and in several places drills a hole to the surface. At high tide or stormy days, geysers shoot from these holes up to 50 feet I hear. Of course I timed my visit at the lowest possible tide so all I managed to capture was a bunch of wet rock.

Jupiter beach is completely build up and the entrance to this preserve is well hidden. I passed it even with my GPS telling me I was right on top of the entrance. I discovered this 73 acre preserve was set aside back in 1969. Natural treasurers are rare on the Treasure Coast. I was very happy to learn this natural wonder was not simply paved over like so much of the Florida coast during the last century. Next visit I'll plan a bit better and bring an umbrella, picnic basket, and tide chart to enjoy this nature show.

Blowing Rocks Beach - Jupiter FL

Downtown Stuart

I have been spending an increasing amount of my time recently in Downtown Stuart. The more time I spend, the more I like it. My parents retired to the area some fifteen years ago. Back then I considered Stuart a sleepy town bordering on nearly comatose.  In the last few years, I've been making the drive up from Fort Lauderdale with more frequency and  Downtown Stuart has become a regular part of my visit to the area.

Downtown Stuart

I write this blog mostly for my local friends and family but my real life has taken me to twenty five states and eleven countries. I prefer the small town experiences and the little out of the way, seldom visited attractions. Considering all the places I've been, I would sum up Downtown Stuart in one word - Comfortable.

According to the Downtown Stuart web page link above, there are 50 shops, galleries, and restaurants. Every time I think I've seen them all, I find one more to enjoy it seems.

On my last visit, I decided to take a few early morning photos for my Flickr collection. As expected, downtown was deserted when I arrived but I was surprised by the number of joggers out to greet the dawn with me and my camera. Shortly after sunup, I was further surprised to see the morning breakfast crowd had already rolled into town. I think of Stuart as primarily a retirement community but certainly not one that sleeps late.

There are plenty of attractions in the area such as Blowing Rocks Beach, the Jupiter Light House, and the Elliot Museum.  My last posting from Stuart is my 3rd most popular ever. There seems to be more interest in Stuart than I originally thought. And now that my family has relocated to the area it's time I took a closer look.

Roosevelt Bridge - Stuart

Florida Supercon - Miami

Katniss and Poison Ivy

Cat Woman

I am not all that comfortable with large crowds in small, confined, and enclosed spaces so what am I doing at the Florida Supercon Miami. Fighting my fears for my fans like a true super hero. I'm not a gamer or a comic book enthusiast but I've made a lot of new friends writing this blog and my two favorite, Katniss and Cat Woman, invited me to the show. Reason enough. I also have a brand new $500.00 camera lens and it only makes sense to blow that much cash on a toy if I take it out and play with it.

Trey - FacePalm Comic

After a thrilling and action pack drive to the Miami Airport Convention Center, I plunked down the twenty five dollar admission fee and seconds later was floundering in a sea of bodies. It only took a few minutes to realize this is likely the only place in the world where the crowd is more afraid of me than I am of it. I lifted my camera to check my settings and when I looked up there was a beautiful costumed character posing for me. Oh yeah - this is going to be fun.

Has anyone seen the comic books?

So what does this convention offer. Well the obvious thing is comic books. For some reason I had a tough time finding any. There were just too many distractions. I took a few minutes to talk to Levar Leo of FacePalm Comic.  It was right after he was done acting out a scene from his graphic novel "Trey". Based on the enthusiasm level I am looking forward to the movie.

Steampunkfunk

There were so many booths it was impossible to visit them all. I'm not really that excited about cartoon sized weapons or fluffy little creatures but if your needs are more geared to the Hollywood style horror makeup or Steampunk like mime, this show would certainly have been for you. I was ogling the goggles at the Streampunkfunk Bizarre when something else caught my eye and totally derailed my steam engine of thought. Luckily I found the name of the company buried deep in my photo and can continue shopping online.

Aya Knight

After hours of walking up and down the isles I found a small, quiet booth with a lone woman sitting in a chair. She didn't seem to have a lot of product, just a few books so I asked her what she was selling. Books.... that she wrote. Ok - totally missed the giant posters behind Aya Knight. She's a South Florida author just like me.... except that she's a real author and I write this blog but she was so much fun to talk to I'm buying her books right after I post this.

So let's see. I met writers, illustrators, makeup artists, bands like SML8, gamers, costumed characters, comedians, Remy Conner magician and mentalist.  Oh right, the real reason I came - Cupcake Burlesque. Now does that sound like something the Supercon crowd would be into? Only about 500 of them and so enthusiastic they must have been chugging 5 hour energy shots all day. I know you are going to want to see more so check out my photos on Flickr. Feel free to tag them. I always like to know if anyone is looking.

Cupcake Burlesque

Florida EcoSafaris - St Cloud

When those of us in South Florida are looking for a quick getaway packed with fun and adventure, we generally head to Central Florida. I know what you're thinking. Theme parks and mouse ears. This time I was looking for something a little different.

My destination - Florida EcoSafaris in St Cloud near Orlando. I was looking for something with a lot less waiting in line and a lot more dangerous. When I signed a waiver at the front desk stating serious injury or death could be the possible outcome of my visit, I knew I was in the right place.

I could write a book on this trip and it would start with me being born with an over active fear gene. Fear of heights happen to be high on the list. So why would I spend a day up to seventy five feet about the ground and the bulk of that racing along a wire? There are two ways to live - curled up in a safe ball in the house or pushing past my limits. Way past in this case.

The first thing you need to do is harness up from head to crotch. I've zipped before but this harness was serious business. That's because there is a full course of fun ahead and zip lining is the easy part. The harness is used for all six activities at the Eco Safari Park.


If you have never tried zip lining before, this course would be a great test drive. The towers start at 104 steps or seventy five feet high. There are spacious landing decks cleverly engineered to not end in a solid pole. Plenty of railings and lightning rods. The course consists of nine towers, seven zip lines, and two suspension bridges. Intimidating but not paralyzing. You can start off with a 1,300 foot zip to the ground if you are not sure. That's how I did it. The rest of our group chose the zip line roller coaster. I needed to think about that one a bit.

We had a great group of traveling partners and two very entertaining guides. Some of the younger ones flung themselves from the deck. A few had some reservations. As far as I could tell, I was the only one with a serious fear factor but the fun factor was getting me past it. We took about an hour and a half to make the tour which dropped us off at the same tower we started at. Just a mere 104 steps away, the only zip line roller coaster in the US, The Rattlesnake. If you are out to conquer your fears - this ride will do it. If you think it looks easy from the video - I urge you to try it. With the full Eco Safari pass you can ride it all day. Not many in our group went twice.



Now for something a little more relaxing. The Cypress Canopy Cycle. If you can ride a bike on a hill - something we don't have in Florida - you are ready for this ride.  Once you leave the station, you are on a wire twenty five feet above the ground on a self guided tour of the tree canopy. It would probably have been a good idea to take a bottle of water but for the most part, it was an easy ride. One I could take every day.

If none of this high adventure interests you, check out the coach safari or horseback safari. We rode the big swamp buggy on the hard road to the zip line area but as we were heading back I was wishing the driver could take us through the swamp on the way back. Now that I know it's possible, I want to go back for a wilderness adventure.

Riverwalk - Fort Lauderdale

Riverwalk 

I have lived in several places in South Florida over the years but I have lived my life on Riverwalk in Fort Lauderdale. It has been the go to place to share special moments with family, out of town guests, old friends, new acquaintances, as well as first dates, dinner dates, events, and even breakups. Sometimes a text message is really not enough on that last one.

How long have I been visiting this part of the New River? I bought a $50.00 personalized brick for the renovation a few decades ago so long before that even. Riverwalk is one of those South Florida locations that just gets better with age.

Jungle Queen

This past Sunday it was just me, my camera, and a flood of memories. I remember dinner and a walk before shows like Stomp, Rent, Wicked, and Beethoven at the Broward Center. There is a free Jazz Brunch the first Sunday of every month and I've been to about two dozen.  Special events like the Glam Doll Strut are held here. I watched the Boat Parade from this spot one year.

Water Taxi

When my daughter was young we would spend an entire day going up and down the river on the Water Taxi. They run the boats on used cooking oil and every time I think of those trips I'm hungry for french fries for some reason. For something a little larger and a whole lot more touristy, there is the Jungle Queen. It's been decades since I have been a passenger. Maybe it's time to get a group of friends and go again.

Crossing the river you will find draw bridges, a train draw bridge and the most unique way to get to the other side, a tunnel. Since this part of Florida is only 10 feet above sea level you would think a tunnel would be more or less impossible. Even more impossible considering the size of the boats that pass over the road.

I have more photos on my Flickr site. If you are wondering where all the people are, I went at 2:00 pm on the hottest day of the year so far. Unless you work in a blast furnace or weld in a ship yard for a living, you may want to choose winter or the morning and evening hours for your visit.

Pirates in Fort Lauderdale

I bought a new lens for my camera a few weeks ago but have not had the time to take it out until this past weekend. My first stop - to shoot pirates.

A couple of hundred years ago that phrase would have had a whole different meaning. These pirates happen to be from the
South Florida Pirates and the event was World Ocean Days at the Museum of  Discovery and Science. Who knows the ocean better than pirates right? The South Florida Pirates also know a lot about special events, causes, and kids. Check out their link above to see where you might find them. For many events they bring their artillery. Pistols, muskets, and very loud and impressive cannons. Nothing went bang while I was at the museum. Must have been a rule or something. Unlike a few centuries ago, these modern day pirates are pretty well behaved. Captain Hook even performed a magic show for the kids.

I was tipped off by a friend about another group of pirates permanently stationed near Fort Lauderdale beach. BlueFoot Pirate Adventures caters to the tiniest of pirates for a little fun and adventure on the water. You can find them at Bahia Mar when they are in port. When I was a kid, we made our pirate ships out of cardboard in the back yard. This real live boat can hold nearly 50 passengers. Now that's a birthday party. Check the link for details.

After leaving my pirate friends, I took a stroll down new river and found a new restaurant on the water. The Pirate Republic. I'm starting to sense a theme here. Back when I had a boat, I remember this place as Shirttail Charlie's. The name may have changed but the crowds of boats and patrons did not seem to take notice. I would have stopped in but I was on the wrong side of the river. I've never navigated a car there before but it's a pretty safe bet I will soon.

Robbins Park - Davie

My typical weekend bicycle ride takes me through Robbins Park in Davie. Normally I pop in the front entrance on Hiatus Road and pedal out the back directly behind Flamingo Gardens on Flamingo Road.

This weekend I thought I would explore a little. Robbins Park is small but probably one of the most under utilized parks I visit. Unless there is an event or major holiday, you can expect to find the parking lot completely empty. There are a few pavilions and some play equipment. Mostly an open field. I've never seen a wedding at the wedding gazebo but I have seen some photo shoots at Robbins Park. This little park is about the only nature in a sea of monster houses. When I was a kid, it was a real treat to head to a park for a picnic. I guess kids today would rather text and Facebook then throw a Frisbee or a football. Of course some of the back yards I pass on my ride would qualify as a mini water park but even there I never see anyone venture outside their air conditioned mansions.

One thing you will find at Robbins Park are horses. Nearly every weekend I share my travels with one or a dozen riders of the four legged rather than two wheeled variety. Much of the horse trails are well shaded and only occasionally cross the bike path like at the bridge on the west entrance. There are several places in the area offering rides and lessons. I'll stick with biking. I'm always surprised by the amount of people who own a bicycle compared with the ten or so I pass on any given weekend. I guess the rest just decorate their garages with them.