Art

Tuesday 15 March 2011

How many creatures can you find in this part of Disney's Tree of Life on Discovery Island in the Wild Kingdom?

We drove to Dallas, Texas, to see the Dallas World Aquarium. But the line to get in wound around two sides of the block it was on because school was out in Dallas. Parents had brought their first to fourth grade children. When we saw that we changed our minds and headed for the Dallas Art Museum. But BJ hadn't eaten and suddenly decided that was higher priority. So we dashed in one door of the Art Museum, hurried to the café which charged $24 per meal, and ran out the far side of the museum. What I saw was some large colorful modern art paintings in peeks, and a lot of fancily dressed people looking down their noses at us shabby tourists in a hurry. We finally found a Subway sandwich shop after about six blocks of walking around before BJ completely melted down. So we hopped in the car and started driving. We are sleeping tonight in Wichita Falls, Texas.

On the road today after Dallas we passed a church with aluminum sides on a hill. Between the church and the freeway was a large, dark-colored wooden cross standing on the ground. Between the cross and the freeway was the dark metal silhouette of a cowboy, hat in hand, on one knee, head bowing humbly toward the cross and holding the reins of his silhouette horse standing behind him. I liked it a lot better and it gave me more insights than any of the art I peeked at in the fancy museum. Sometimes there is no accounting for tastes in art.

Rain, rain . . .

Monday 14 March 2011
We woke near Mobile, Alabama. It took three tries to finally discover the way to the hotel we wanted last night. That was a frustrating experience. We travelled most of the day and made it to near Shreveport, Louisiana. Between Jackson and Vicksburg, Mississippi we had to drive through the most intense rain I have ever had to drive in. We slowed down about 20 m.p.h. and still the rain was so heavy for awhile with the wipers going as fast as possible we could barely see out the window.

The image today is from Ft. Pickens. Yesterday we passed the border of the time zone but today find the time in the new Central time zone is the same as in time in the old Eastern time zone. Then we heard the switch to daylight savings was yesterday. Very confusing!

FL Caverns & Ft. Pickens

Sunday 13 March 2011Florida Caverns is a smaller cavern (round trip ¾ mile). It has the flowstone, stalactites, stalagmites, bacon and other formations. I would guess there are about ten major rooms and connecting passages. The guide showed us a sharks tooth, a nautilus shell, and a sand dollar in the ceiling of the cavern.

But the highlight of the day was Fort Pickens. It was a struggle to find it. There are two barrier islands and Ft. Pickens is on the outer island at the extreme west end.The island it is on has been partially converted into a casino resort somewhat like Ft. Lauderdale. But turning the rest of the island into a National Seashore preserved the white sugar sand beaches and keeps the highrise hotels at a distance. Fort Pickens was a lot different than I remembered from visiting it in about 1966. One bastion of five was accidently destroyed in 1899. The walls were stuffed with gunpowder and set to blow up if an enemy ever took the walls. A fire in 1899 blew up that powder. But it is an old brick pre-Civil War fort that continued in use to about World War I. A reinforced concrete battery was built on the parade grounds of the old fort in about 1904. I was surprised to learn an inverted arch system was used to disperse the weight of the fort on the white sand. The park service did almost nothing to interpret the new batteries for WWI.

Mission San Luis

Saturday 12 March 2011
Mission San Luis was the main Spanish Franciscan Mission of West Florida near present-day Tallahassee. Founded in 1654 it was mainly a mission to the Apalachee Indians, the strongest tribe in this area. In 1704 the British from South Carolina attacked and the village was burned by its own residents to prevent it falling into British hands. The inhabitants scattered. Some of the Indians went west to live with the French in Mobile. Some scattered into the forest. The Spanish also split up. Some went back to St. Augustine and got yellow fever there and died. Others went to Mexico City or Havana. They had lots of contact with Spanish colonies in Mexico. The Apalachee Indians built a meeting house that was a log cone covered with thatch. The one built here was the largest individual Indian building in the American Southeast. The picture above shows the rebuilt size. In the tree shadow you can just barely make out the door, normal size to give a perspective of how big this thing is. The Spanish eventually built a stockade. Since both societies had commons this worked very well with Indian meeting house, stockade, and mission church all built around the commons.

I noted that the story of the real first Thanksgiving as told by the people of Florida does not involve Massachusetts but rather St. Augustine, Florida. In the year 1565, the grateful Spanish and their Indian friends of New Spain held a thanksgiving feast together 56 years before those Johnny-come-latelies, the Pilgrims of New England.

Jupiter Springs

Friday 11 March 2011
We hunted for the Blowing Rocks near Jupiter Florida. Instead we found windswept rocks by a channel and a nice beach. Then we drove a long way to the Ocala National Forest and found a beautiful swimming hole that just happened to be called Jupiter Springs. The CCC built a water mill to help keep the swimming hole level the same. Water bubbles up out of a spring here and forms a gorgeous pool. BJ went swimming in the 70 degree water but I thought it was a tad too chilly for me so I only went in up to my ankles. BJ found a picture of this place in her guide book and has wanted to visit it ever since.

Little Cuba, Miami Beach, Ft. Lauderdale

Thursday 10 March 2011
We visited a little Cuban eatery in Miami called Palacio de los Jugos. Then we drove through Coral Gables a bit more up-scale with "Mediterranean" style housing. Then we drove to Miami Beach in a downpour. I was floored by the opulent high rise hotels next to the beach. I have never seen so much wealth concentrated in one space, not even on Waikiki in Hawaii. It was much more highrise than Hawaii and cram packed in together. BJ was a little freaked out by the combination of being in a highrise canyon crowded with people and the flooding driving through about four inches of rain on the road. So we left and went to Ft. Lauderdale. There we walked on the beach at a state park that kept the highrise hotels at a distance, see the beach picture. It was much more calm and relaxing. Finally we drove to a KOA near the Lion Country Safari.

Southernmost

Wednesday 9 March 2011
We returned to Key West and did a walkabout. We visited the "Southernmost Point" monument. It really isn't southernmost but the laid back Key West attitude is that details like that are not important. And we walked Duval Street a little. It has lots of shops. I was happy to see a few tourists with ashes smeared on their foreheads (good Catholics). BJ snorkeled John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and saw several fish. We sleep in Homestead, Florida on the mainland tonight, which took a direct hit from hurricane Andrew.