Florida The Keys April 22-May 2, 2023

 Saturday April 22, 2023 Day 10

This was our last day at the Sea Gardens Resort in Pompano Beach. As we packed up and ate breakfast my son and family went to the pool. We said good-bye to them about 10 am at the pool and we headed out.

Our first destination was the Walgreens for OTC drugs and then a Dick's sporting goods store in Pembroke Pines to purchase snorkeling equipment. I anticipated going snorkeling in the Keys and recalled having to rent such equipment in St. Thomas and Hawaii. About $120 for two sets.

Then we went off the main road on to Card Sound Road through Mangrove swamps to eat lunch at Alabama Jacks. Although politically part of Key Large, geographically it is not part of the Keys. This is a local institution which allegedly has the best conch fritters in Florida. It is a very casual, river side dive bar taht attracts a very eclectic crowd. Lots of bikers. We had the fritters in Pompano Beach and they tasted like hush puppies. Not much difference here. But the mahi mahi was very good, the beer was cold, the key lime pie was tart, and the band was loud. It is a very casual eatery alongside a canal and caters to bikers and boaters who can dock right along the restaurant as some did during our meal. A classic restaurant and dive bar with plastic utensils, paper plates and paper towels for napkins. It has been around for over 70 years and is decorated with hundreds of old car license plates. It is completely open air and looks as if the next hurricane will blow the entire structure into the canal. It closes at 7 to avoid the evening onslaught of mosquitoes. There were lots of birds, red wing blackbirds, dive bombing gulls, flying around our waterside table looking for a fallen French fry.

After a hour and a half we resumed our trip driving south first over the Card Sound Bridge, which marks the entrance to the Keys and then onto US 1 into the Keys. We stopped for gasoline in Key Largo. I was told that gasoline was very expensive in the Keys, but it turned out not to be true and I paid more per gallon than the prices I saw during the rest of our time on the Keys. 

The Keys are a series of sand bar islands which comprise a 113-mile archipelago stretching southwest of mainland Florida. Initially we continued to pass mangrove tree forests, but that quickly gave way to lots of scrub vegetation and wild grasses. We passed through several nondescript towns with strip malls habituated by familiar American chains and billboards advertising tourist attractions. However, by the time we reached Islamorada the water was everywhere in a teal color. I thought that southern Florida had a lot of boats, but in the Keys, I saw large number of boats (although virtually no large yachts as I saw earlier in Florida) such that it probably has the largest ratio of boats to residents of any place in the US. 

The traffic was not as bad as we were advised it might be and after about 2 hours of driving, and a wrong turn that took us to Sombrero beach, we reached our hotel/resort, Skipjack resort and marina, in Marathon. It was an older property, but we were given a large suite with a balcony, and it had lots of free amenities, to go along with the resort fee. Bicycles, tennis, golf and a large pool. The latter was good for lap swimming up until the early afternoon when it filled up on the weekend with lots of floaters and kids. The only real negative was that it was over a mile to the beach.

Marathon is almost in the middle of the Keys. Although it was not incorporated until 1999, its history with European settlers goes back hundreds of years. It has a treacherous coastline which lead to the destruction of many sailing vessels during the period of Spanish rule over much of Latin America. The many shipwrecks, many laden with silver and other precious metals bound for Spain lead to one of the town's earliest industries, salvage wreaking. The town was named by the workers on the Overseas Railroad who reflecting the unrelenting pace of work referred to it as "a real marathon". The major economic activity in the area is sport fishing, followed by snorkeling and scuba diving. Surprisingly to me it has a permanent population of only about 10,000 and a median household income of about $36,000. I guess tourism here does not pay well. 

We ate dinner at the resort's restaurant, Blu Bistro. Lots of fish on the menu. After dinner I took a long walk into the sunset on Sombrero Blv'd. Lots of boats and roudy bars. 

Sunday, April 23, 2023 Day 11

A slow day. Started off with a very good complimentary breakfast at the Blu Bistro.  I was expecting a continental breakfast, but it offered a full, hot, cooked to order breakfast. We ate outside, poolside. We walked the resort and spent time at the pool, which was pretty crowded. No chance for lap swimming, or swimming of any kind with all the kids and floaters, many nursing drinks.

In the afternoon I took a bicycle ride down to and beyond the beach. The neighborhoods had a variety of houses, many of which were being offered for rent and many of which backed onto a canal and frequently had boats. I stopped at the beach and stuck my toe in the water. It was comfortably warm so i jumped in and swam for about 30 minutes. There were nice showers to wash off the salt and I air dried in the sun. The sand on Sombrero Beach was very white and fine, but the beach was not very wide by Hermosa Beach standards. From the beach I could see the Keys' largest lighthouse. $10 per hour to park a car. On the way back from the 6-mile R/T bike ride I cycled to the Publix and scouted it out. Returning to the hotel I returned the bike and took the car to the Publix buying food for lunches and dinners. We ate dinner in the hotel room.

After dinner I again walked down Sombrero Blv'd this time toward the golf course. There were two canal side very informal bar/restaurants, so I stopped for a drink and spoke with some boaters. Many were from out of town who had boated down the intercostal waterway.

Monday, April 24, 2023 Day 12

Good breakfast again at the Blu Bistro and swimming in the morning. After the weekend crowd left the pool in the morning was empty. I went on the tennis court in the late morning hitting balls against a tennis machine. It has been a long time since I lifted a tennis racket, and I did not have to move much. My shoulder hurt after the hour session.

After lunch I took a bike ride along the Overseas Highway. I stopped at several firms that provided snorkeling services to try to determine which offered the most desirable package. I also stopped at the Turtle Hospital. I viewed several recovering turtles but declined to take the 1 hour $30 tour. I rode over three miles to the beginning of the seven-mile bridge. On the way back I rode through an extensive athletic complex. In total I rode about 7 miles.

Dinner in the hotel room.

Tuesday April 25, 2023 Day 13

We awoke to a tremendous rainstorm. Sheets of rain were flowing from the sky. We plowed through the growing puddles over to breakfast. Ate inside. 

It rained most of the day. Neither of us were feeling good so we largely stayed in our hotel room. I finished reading The Grapes of Wrath. I much prefer Steinbeck to Hemingway. Ate dinner in the room.

Wednesday, April 26, 2023 Day 14

The sun was shining, but much of the grounds and the hotel road were covered in water. 

After breakfast we headed out on a 50-mile drive to Key West. It was largely a dual lane road, and it took us about 1.5 hours to get there. We quickly encountered the famous Seven Mile Bridge, one of the world's longest causeways. During this drive the bodies of water got wider, and the bridges got more impressive. Unlike the Upper Keys the islands here are varying degrees of small and all are narrow. The drive on the seven-mile bridge was both beautiful and nerve wracking as it was imperative to keep my eyes on the road.

The current Seven Mile Bridge is actually two structures, the modern one which handles vehicular traffic and whose current structure was completed in 1982, and the older one, formerly a railroad bridge, but now open for cyclists and walkers. The bridge was originally developed as a project of Henry Flager, owner of the Florida East Coast Railroad. Mr. Flager was one of the partners of John Rockefeller in the founding and growth of the Standard Oil Company. He perfected and implemented the rebate system which enabled Standard to undercut and eventually buy out its competitors. So, he was fabulously rich. and a cause of the Sherman Antitrust Act. 

In the late 1870s, his first wife, Mary became ill, and it was recommended that they move to Jacksonville, Florida for the winter. Flagler fell in love with Florida and moved there permanently. His wife died in 1881 and two years later he married her caregiver. He unsuccessfully attempted to purchase the Villa Zorayad hotel for his honeymoon, but subsequently partnered with the owner to build or renovate a string of hotels along the Florida Atlantic coast. (Many of these hotels are still standing but have been repurposed as colleges or libraries.) In 1885 he left daily operations of Standard Oil to concentrate on his Florida developments. To facilitate transportation to his burgeoning hotel empire he purchased several short line Florida railroads and consolidated them into the newly formed the Florida East Coast Railroad. As part of his railroad upgrade and construction process he used convict leasing, the system many southern states used to replace slavery. As he pushed his railroad and hotels further into southern Florida, he was instrumental in the founding and development of Miami, along with Julia Tuttle, a former Cleveland resident who is the only American woman to help found a major American city.

With all his business and development activities Flager must have gotten bored with his second wife, so he got a friendly doctor to declare her insane and he bribed the Florida legislature to make insanity grounds for divorce. He was the only person divorced under this law and thereafter it was repealed. However, promptly after his divorce became final, he married his third wife, another Mary. As a wedding present he built a 60,000 sq foot mansion, Whitehall in Palm Beach, Florida, which is now the Flager Museum.

In 1905 Flager decided that he wanted to extend his railroad from Biscayne Bay to Key West. At that time, with 20,000 residents Key West was the largest city in Florida and it had the closest US deep water port to the developing Panama Canel. It took 7 years, $50 million and thousands of workers to complete the line, and was characterized as the eighth wonder of the world.  Flager took the first train to Key West and proclaimed: "now I can die a happy man." A year later he he got his wish and died after falling down the stairs at his Whitehall mansion.

The Overseas Railroad to Key West was not a commercial success. Although the daily passenger train from New York to Key West was well patronized, freight service was disappointing. In 1935 a powerful category 5 hurricane damaged or destroyed portions of the line. in the Upper and Middle Keys Rather than rebuild the Overseas line, the bankrupt company sold its infrastructure and right of way to the State of Florida for $640,000.

The State rebuilt the damaged portions of the right of way, in many cases using railroad tracks as guardrails on the new roadway and connected it to two existing roadways to complete the newly designated US 1, a 113-mile auto passageway between Key Largo and Key West. In subsequent years it has been refurbished and widened several times. After the new federal highway/bridge was completed in 1982, motorized traffic continued to be permitted on the older portion to Pigeon Key until 2008. This section was most recently reopened in January 2022. Every April the Bridge is closed for several hours for the Seven Mile Bridge Run.

We didn't stop at the several attractions along the way, most notably the National Ket Deer Refuge, home of small deer, on No Name Key because we didn't have enough time. On most of the trip we could see the roadway of the former rail tracks. There were fishermen, pedestrians and cyclists on it, but it was not a continuous structure. Florida has a plan to make it a continuous structure for non-motorized vehicles and pedestrians and fishermen.

Key West was long inhabited by Native Americans, before being colonized by Spain. The Spanish named it Cayo Hueso, bone island, since it was littered with bones by the natives who used part of the island as a communal cemetery. The last of the Native Americans were removed by Spain to Cuba in 1763. In that year as a result of the Treaty of Paris ending the French and Indian War Spain traded Havana, which the British had occupied, for Florida. The British weren't able to stick around very long. During the Revolutionary War Spain took advantage of England's preoccupation with the colonials and successfully invaded Florida. As part of the 1783 Treaty of Paris which ended the Revolutionary War Spain got all of Florida back. That didn't last long either. Spain was unsuccessful in attracting settlers to Florida and in 1821 it sold Florida to the US. After the sale the Spanish owner of the island was so eager to sell it he sold it twice. The Americans replaced the liberal racial polices followed by Spain with segregation and slavery. As a result, many Blacks relocated to Haiti.

Today Key West has about 26,000 permanent residents, who are very diverse. There are the descendants of the Loyalists who fled the US following the revolution, emigrants from the Bahamas and later Cubans who were displaced during several unsuccessful revolutions in their homeland. Their many small cigar factories and stores are still abundant.

Key West is only 4.4 sq. miles, but it is the southernmost point in the continental US. As we first drove and then walked around it was both bigger and less touristy than I imagined. (I really did not know what to image) Lots of the same strip malls, chain and big box stores that one would find in any mid-sized or suburban American city. I wish we had planned the visit better and spent more time here. A disappointment was not going to Dry Tortugas National Park. A boat trip for $185 to the Park that was 2.5 hours each way didn't seem practical, and in any event, I was unsuccessful in getting reservations. This is line with the fact that Key West is one of the most expensive vacation spots in the country.

We drove around for a bit looking for parking in the Historic district. Surprisingly we found a spot on Duvall Street, the main street, but it was $5 per hour on the meter. Took it. 

We walked over to the Hemingway House. It is a major tourist attraction and cost $18 to enter. No senior discount. We took a nice docent's tour. The house was built in three years from 1848-51 by Asa Tift. He was a New Englander who was trained as a marine architect but made his fortune in Key West as a salvage wrecker. At the time it was built it was the largest structure in Key West and rested on its second highest site. The highest site is 18ft. Its 18-inch limestone walls have enabled it to resist the numerous hurricanes Key West has experienced. His wife died in childbirth several years after the house was completed. 

Tift, along with his brother who founded Albany GA., was a confederate sympathizer, and the brothers financed the construction of an iron clad warship for the confederacy designed to lift the Union blockade. However, he had it blown up after Vicksburg fell to the Union forces. He also refused to refuel a Union ship and as a result of his actions he was expelled from Key West. He returned late in life and died in 1889.

The house was not sold and fell into disrepair over the next 5 decades. In the late 1920s Earnest Hemingway became enamored with deep sea fishing and moved to Key West from Paris, France along with his second wife, Pauline, a Vogue fashion editor and (former) friend of his first wife who Hemingway characterized as a home wreaker for breaking up his first marriage. They lived in rental housing for 3 years. Hemingway apparently had or retained little money. While characterizing it as "a dammed haunted house" Pauline nevertheless fell in love with the house. Her rich uncle purchased the house for the couple in 1931 for $8000 and financed its refurbishment and expansion. The couple lived in the house until 1940 and Hemingway wrote many of his best received works there from the privacy of the second story of the property's carriage house. 

While Hemmingway was away from1937 covering the Spanish Civil War, Pauline installed an inground swimming pool at the cost of $20,000. Hemingway had opposed the pool and upon his return he took a penny from his pocket, threw it on the ground and said, "You might as well take my last cent." (Pauline had paid for the pool.) However he liked it well enough to plant view blocking trees around it so he could swim nude in it. Hemingway met his third wife while in Spain and in 1940 he divorced Pauline and moved to Cuba. Pauline remained in the house until her death in 1951. The house remained vacant until 1961 when his three sons auctioned off the house for $80,000.

The new owners intended to live in the house, but there were so many visitors that in 1964 they turned it into a private, profit making museum. In 1968 it was placed on the National Historic Register.

Finally, the cats. There was lots of cats all over the property. We were told that there are currently 64 of them. There is a full-time veterinarian on staff and a pet cemetery on the premises. The vast majority of the cats are polydactyl, six toes on each paw. There are different accounts of how that occurred, but the cats are named for famous actors and lead a very privileged life.

After that 2.5-hour visit, we walked to Books & Books @The Studios of Key West. The independent bookstore is owned by the teenage book author Judy Bloom who has lived in Key West with her third husband for several years. It shares a building (and bathroom) with an art gallery which I visited, along with the bathroom. The bookstore had an eclectic collection. I purchased a Lonely Plant book on epic road trips in the Americas. I have already planned the Oregon Booze trail trip based on the book. The studios host about a dozen artist's studios and have monthly art shows.

Leaving the bookshop, we walked up Duval St which is the major business district and the heart of Old Town. The area has many classic bungalows and old mansions. We ended up at Flamingo Crossing, where we had very good, rich and creamy, but expensive gelato and ice cream. Like many places in Key West, it only accepted cash, no credit cards.

We then walked to the Tennessee Williams Museum. Key West attracted many artists and Williams lived here parts of the year for three decades. At his death he had three other homes. Willimas actually lived a block away, but the small museum displayed many of his artifacts and a doll sized model of his actual home. The caretaker of the museum spent a great deal of time regaling us with stories about Williams and recounting his contributions to the theatrical and literary worlds.

We walked back to our car and drove a short distance to Louie's Backyard, a restaurant very near to, but not at the southernmost point (open to the public, the actual southern most point is on a military base) in the continental US. There we met friends of my spouse for dinner. Oceanfront dining with very good, but expensive food. 

The drive back on the overseas highway was very dark.

Thursday April 27, 2023 Day 15

Snorkeling day. Got up and going early for the 9:00 am boat departure. Arrived as requested at Spirit Snorkeling at 8:30 and then waited around for 30 minutes. This was one of the places I visited during my bike ride. $49 for the 3-hour boat ride and $11 in fuel and taxes. (They also offered a 6-hour ride and a non-snorkeling twilight tour.) There were about 25 people, plus a three-person crew on the 35 ft. catamaran. We initially sailed north into the bay but then turned south as we went under the seven-mile bridge headed towards the Sombrero Reef Marine Sanctuary and Lighthouse. This is the third largest barrier reef in the world whose 30-acre coral reef covers 30 acres and is 2 to 30 ft deep. The Lighthouse is one of a string along the Keys built prior to the Civil War. It was originally manned, but today it operates as an unmanned aid to mariners. There are lots of shipwrecks in the area.

It was a 25-minute ride to the reef, not too choppy. I had a discussion with a "couple", an older man and young woman who were traveling together from Oregon who didn't seem to be a couple, but they deflected my indirect questions about their relationship. He was telling me about a fishing charter in Biscayne Bay earlier in their trip during which they caught many fish but cost $1500. She was a state park ranger who was moving to a national park this summer. When we arrived at the snorkeling spot, we got the safety briefing and were advised to stay away from the lighthouse. After putting on my new snorkeling equipment I plunged into the water. The water temperature was warm and comfortable. The snorkeling was fabulous. This coral reef is among the most biologically diverse in the world, rainforests of the sea. It didn't disappoint, lots of fish of all sizes and colors. From single fish to large schools. They swam right past me, almost close enough to touch, but never succeeded in doing that. I did not see any turtles but saw lots of crabs and other things crawling on the bottom.  I was in the water for about 75 minutes and then came out because I was taking in too much salt water. I stayed on the boat for about 15 minutes consuming water and salty snacks and then plunged into the water again for about 30 minutes. More of the same, but I got tired. When I got back on to the boat most of the guests were back and the adult drinks cooler was open and being liberally consumed. I tried a hard seltzer but didn't like it and settled for a domestic beer. Reminded me of why I try to drink craft beers.

We returned to land about noon. Maybe too many beers. As I was returning to the hotel, I had to back up in a gas station and gently bumped into a concrete block. No damage to the block, but I dented the bumper and cracked a light. I figured that would cost me.

After lunch I went for a bike ride along the Overseas Highway again. However, this time I went as far west as I could on the seven-mile bridge. The roadway ended at Pigeon Key, a 2.2-mile ride. Along the way I saw many lizards, several quite large slithering across the bike path. That Key was used by Flager as a base to house the railroad construction workers. It was an 11-mile R/T ride, and it was uncomfortable at the end due to the absence of a bathroom. We ate dinner at the Blu Bistro. The sushi place at the hotel was not open contrary to promises. Dinner was not as good as breakfast.

Friday, April 28, 2023 Day 16

After another good and filling breakfast, although by this time we had sampled all the choices and were on repeat, we drove over to the Crane Point Hammack Museum and Nature Center a 63-acre tropical oasis. It was less than a mile away just north of the Overseas Highway.

A hammack is a stand of hardwood trees and this is the largest such stand remaining in the Keys. A Bahamian immigrant, George Adderley moved here in the early 20th century with his family and established a homestead in 1906. His main sources of income were selling charcoal he made from the hardwood trees and sponges he captured from the ocean. He was followed by other Bahamian families who established a fishing and farming village that became known as Adderly Town. As the price for the railroad traversing their lands, the railroad agreed to put in a rail station. 

The Crane family purchased the property in 1949 and built a very modern looking house at the end point. They added tropical plants and orchids. Lots of floor to ceiling windows. but it was under repair so we could not enter the house. The Florida Land and Sea Trust bought the property in 1989 to save it from development.

It cost $3 to enter. There are two small museums including a Natural History of the Keys on the property and the Adderley house has been restored. But the highlight for me were the 2.5 miles of interpretive trails and wooden walkways crisscrossing the property. The Palm trail showcased the Florida thatch palm hammack an endangered tree which cannot tolerate cold weather. the autograph tree starts out growing on another tree or a rock and then strangles its host by growing above it with ariel roots depriving the host of light. The Mangrove trail went through a tunnel of mangroves on a board walk. There was also a wild bird center for injured birds and a turtle correl. We stayed there until after 5 and then ate dinner again at the Blu Bistro.

Saturday, April 29, 2023 Day 17

We checked out of the hotel about 10:30 and retraced our driving going east on the Overseas Highway. After about 1.5 hours we arrived at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo at mile marker 102.5. This is the country's first underwater park. Along with the adjacent Florida Keys National Marine Sanctury, it comprises 178 square miles. Although the Park has a nice beach, campsites and a large parking lot, the highlights of the park are its underwater areas mostly of coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangrove swamps. There are guided tours along several nature trails, but we did not have time for that. Cost us $8 to enter. The Park is named for John Pennekamp who as a Miami newspaper editor was instrumental in the establishment of this park and the everglades as a National Park.

We arrived too later for the noon boat trips, so while we waited for the next tours I went to the beach and then the museum/aquarium. We ate lunch at the Blue Heron Cafe. I went on the snorkel boat while my spouse went on the glass bottom boat. The former cost $39 (rental equipment extra, but I had equipment) and the latter $32.

The tours were about 2.5 hrs. On my tour we passed through waterways lined with mangrove forests and seagrass beds. It took about 40 minutes to get to the snorkeling site. A bigger boat, more passengers and fewer staff than on my earlier snorkeling tour. Plus, no snacks or drinks. Fortunately, I brought my water bottle. The fish I saw were less dense, but more diverse and colorful than on my prior tour. The coral seemed to be bigger and longer. I got a bit-tired swimming around it. Overall, a very pleasant experience seeing lots of colorful fish. My spouse said that she also saw turtles on her tour.

When driving into the park I noticed that the dashboard on our rental car flashed a light calling for an oil change. I called the car rental agency, and it turned out that the only location it had that would be open after we left the park and ate dinner was at the Miami airport.

After showering we left the park at about 6 and ate dinner at the Fish House, a restaurant just outside the park entrance on the main street. A brief wait for a table and then an encounter with a waiter whom we found difficult to understand and completely confused us about the menu and its pricing. Apparently some of the fish had a mark-up over the menu price. I had mahi mahi and both dishes were very good. Good key lime pie for dessert.

Starting about 8 we then drove about 60 miles through the Florida "Gold Coast" on toll roads to Miami Internataional Airport to swap out the Enterprise rental car. I did not know the area well and were largely on toll roads so I missed filling up the gas tank. I expected a big charge, but Enterprise staff were very helpful, cooperative and eager to please. They even gave us $50 for our inconveninece. . No charge for gasoline or the bumper bump. We were given and even bigger vehicle (those were the only ones available) After about 45 minutes were again on our way on more toll roads for 25 more miles to the Wyndham Garden hotel at the Ft. Lauderdale airport. We arrived late. 

The hotel was very busy as it is also near the cruise port and there were numerous airline crews, many from Sprit Airlines staying there. It was a nice hotel and our room was spacious. I didn't see a garden.

Sunday, April 30, 2023 Day 18

We awaken late and after a breakfast at a local diner we set out for the 60-mile drive to Everglades National Park. I had not preplanned this part of the trip and made an arbitrary decision to go to the Park's Shark Valley entrance and Visitor Center, one of nine entrances to the park. We didn't arrive until 12:45.The Visitor center had a small museum.

Everglades National Park is the largest subtropical wilderness left in the US. It encompasses 2356 sq. miles. It was authorized as a national park in 1934 but was not established until 1947. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Shark Valley is a 100-mile river of grass. It is home to the cypress, hardwood and riverine sections of the park. It is a more jungly section of the park than my preconceived notions of grassy fields and forest homes. We walked on the Bobcat trail, a .6-mile board walk that meandered through seagrass and trees. I rented a bicycle and my wife, less desirous of exerting herself with her aching knee, took a tram tour. The former was $15, with a stern warning that I had to return it by 5 pm, and the latter was $25. There was a paved 15-mile loop that the tram followed with a stop at the 50 ft. tall Observation Tower. Conscious of the time and heat, I did not make it to the Tower. However, I did see lots of birds, tmedium sized urtles and alligators. The latter were mainly observed in the waters along the trail where they were largely stationary. They looked like logs until they open their mouths or sank back into the water. I saw one lying on the bank, but he scurried back into the water as I approached. The turtles were usually hanging out on the banks, but I saw two that were slowly crossing the trail. They sped up as I approached. I feared they would become road kill

We left the Park about 5:30 for the hour drive back to the hotel. We walked about 400 yards south to the Fish Grill for dinner. It was a nice meal and an animated waiter. It was reasonably priced, and we had a good key lemon pie. 

After packing I went out to try unsuccessfully to return an adult diaper package (my condition had greatly improved) and get some milk shakes. I was able to get a Frosty at a Wendy's. Tried unsuccessfully to go to sleep early for the middle of the night departure from the hotel for our very early morning flight.

Monday, May 1, 2023 Day 19

This was a very frustrating day. We had a 5;30 am flight departure, so we got up very early. It was so early that I did not return the rental card the prior evening since the hotel shuttle was not running yet. So we dropped off the car at the Enterprise lot in the dark and took the van to the terminal. There were lots of passengers in the Southwest check-in area and after checking my phone I saw a message from 1:30 am that our flight had been delayed. Who looks at their phone for flight updates at 1:30 am? After a few more delays the Southwest representatives alleged that high winds the prior day had caused many flight cancellations, thereby disrupting many of today's flights. By 6:00 am Southwest informed us that we could not be rebooked until the following day. Initially it offered hours us no compensation claiming that the delays were out of their control. Ultimately after much complaining and discussions with a supervisor we given a hotel voucher and $400 in fight credits. 

So, in the early morning light we went to the Four Seasons Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale. Fortunately, it had a hotel shuttle and a room available for us at that early hour. We ate their very good, but expensive, buffet breakfast and went to sleep in the room. It was a nice hotel.

In the early afternoon I took a walk toward the ocean. I encountered a bicycle rack at an Embassy Suites and the custodian allowed me to borrow a bicycle. I rode a bridge across the intercostal waterway and out to the beach. On the way I passed the luxury Marriott where my son and daughter-in-law had  stayed during their get-a-way. A nice beach with well-maintained showers and bathrooms. On the way back after returning the bike I picked up some cookies and finger food at the Publix that severed as dinner.

Tuesday May 2, 2023 Day 20

Our rebooked flight was schedule for takeoff at 8:30 am, so after the buffet breakfast we were able to take the hotel shuttle to the airport. The uneventful flight through Dallas returned us to Salt Lake City on schedule at 11:30 am. We took an Uber home from the airport and went to sleep.

Florida Pompano Beach April 13-21, 2023

Thursday April 13. 2023 Day 1 Aborted Departure

This was the day we were supposed to go to Florida. However, Southwest Airlines, and the weather had other ideas. There were severe thunderstorms in Ft. Lauderdale to the point that the airport was underwater. We initially heard that the airport was closed in the morning and our flight was delayed. So we drove down to Murry to drop off the car, the Bolt, that we were reluctantly selling to the dealership. The Bolt is a terrific electric car. It has 250 miles of range and has fast charging which is slow by today's standards. Plus, it doesn't have four-wheel drive which made it difficult on some wintery Utah days to drive up to work in Park City. Since none of the offspring wanted it, we sold it since it would not be practical to have three cars.

As the morning wore on Southwest delayed our one-stop flight twice more and then canceled it. That sparked a round of travel adjustment calls. Initially to Southwest which could not rebook us until Saturday. Then I thought that I had to cancel our hotel rooms, but the hotel said we did not have a reservation. Finally, the Enterprise people cheerfully pushed back our car rental reservation two days without penalty and did not charge us for the two days.

Friday April 14, 2023 Day 2

A bonus day in Salt Lake City. I made some refinements to my packing and did some shopping for items that I would need to address my still lingering bowel movement condition. Not an exciting day.

Saturday April 15, 2023 Day 3

Our rebooked flight had us departing for Florida at 8:30 am now going through and changing planes in Baltimore so we had to get up early to get to the airport 2 hours ahead of the re-scheduled departure. The first flight to Baltimore departed a few minutes late but was otherwise uneventful. However, the flight to Ft. Lauderdale was delayed for several hours due to weather conditions. My son and his family were flying to Florida to meet us there from Washington National airport and they too were encountering weather delays. 

We ate in the airport and finally took off about 4:30. Arriving in Ft. Lauderdale we were delayed further because our (and others) luggage was placed on a subsequent flight. There were lots of cruise ship passengers waiting along with us. It took us 1.5 hours, almost 10:00 pm, to get our luggage. Thanks Southwest.

We then picked up our car from Enterprise. Theer was no electric car that I had requested, perhaps because we arrived so late, and we ended up with an oversized SUV. With all our delays I had to call the hotel to allow my son to check in since the reservation was in my name. Traffic was moving briskly on the highway up to Pompano Beach and after exiting that road we drove on a virtually deserted Atlantic Ave. to the Wyndham Sea Gardens Hotel arriving about 10:30 pm. Fortunately, my son had picked up some food, but the grandson was sound asleep.

Pompano Beach is a beachfront city with about 112,000 residents. It is the product of the 1947 merger of the cities of Pompano and Pompano Beach. he latter was first settled in 1896 by two railroad workers and their families. They named it after the Florida pompano fish. The beach area is lined with high rises, primarily condos, but also hotels and resorts. As you go west of the intercoastal waterway there are lots of small single-family homes.

A fun fact about Pompano Beach is that Al Goldstein lived there for a number of years. The New York Times obituary of Goldstein described him "a cartoonishly vituperative amalgam of Borscht Belt comic, free-range and social critic and sex-obsessed loser who seemed to embody a moment in New York City's cultural history: the sleaze and decay of Times Square in the 1960s and ‘70s." 

I knew him as my landlord from 1972-74 when I was in law school and lived on the top three floors of his west village townhouse with my 5 roommates while he lived in the bottom two floors with his third wife, he eventually had five, and son. He was a fine landlord and threw fun parties.

For almost 20 years he worked at an eclectic list of jobs and even ended up in jail in Cuba for taking an unauthorized picture of Castro. In 1968 he was the co-founder of Screw magazine, a weekly NYC tabloid. It featured reviews of elements of the adult entertainment industry, eg. porn movies, peep shows, brothels and escort services and was interspersed with news about sexual topics. At its peak it sold 140,000 copies, but it engendered massive prosecutorial assaults against him. He was arrested on obscenity charges 19 times. Once he was even indicted in Wichita Kansas as the prosecutor sought a favorable venue. spent millions of dollars defending these suits on First Amendment grounds, always prevailing. He then built an empire of media properties, TV, Midnight Blue, magazines and movies which focused on pornography.

In the 1980s he built a 10,000 sq ft mansion in Pompano Beach which featured an eleven-foot statute in the back yard facing the intercoastal waterway with a raised middle finger. He died penniless in NYC living on the funds of his friend Penn Jillette.

It was also the home for many years of Mark Gilbert, who holds the distinction of being the only person who was both a major league baseball player, albeit briefly for the White Sox in 1985, and a US ambassador to New Zealand, 2013-15.

Sunday April 16, 2023  Day 4

We were on the 10th floor in a spacious two-bedroom unit with a good west view of the Pompano Beach airport and a view of the ocean from the balcony. It was an older but well-maintained property with two pools. It is a very short walk to the beach. After breakfast in the room, we spent most of the morning in the pool. Lots of time devoted to trying to get the grandson to swim while also throwing him around the pool between the adults. Lots of potty training occurring and so a portable potty was always in the vicinity.

The hotel grounds were lavishly and beautifully landscaped. At the second pool they were handing out free shaved ice drinks which the grandson consumed during our slow walk back to the room. The walk time was lengthened by our grandson's frequent stops to observe and touch the lizards and othe animals we encountered along the path. Upon arriving at the room the grandson took his afternoon nap, a daily occurrence that is rejuvenating to both him and his caretakers. 

After the nap my son and the grandson walked to the beach. Very nice sand and a wide beach. Very few people were there in the late afternoon. The waves were gentle and the water comfortably warm so I swam for about 20 minutes. However, tas he grandson found the sand too hot to walk on, he road across the beach in a large wagon, and he was not happy about being placed into the ocean. 

The view of the airplane landings and takeoffs from the balcony was a source of endless enjoyment to the grandson. The airport is the home of the Goodyear blimp Spirt of Innovation which we saw parked at the airport. We prepared and ate dinner in the room.

Monday April 17, 2023 Day 5

After breakfast I took the grandson for an intended walk to the beach. He was again reluctant to go there so we walked south on the adjacent strand. He is a good, but in this instance, a slow walker. As we walked south toward the pier and the center of Pompano Beach, he greeted many other pedestrians and always the dog walkers.

There were several openings to the beach which the grandson continued to resist. We finally arrived at the Fischer Family Pier, about a .5-mile walk. The pier is named after a former Pompano Beach mayor and has been recently renovated. It has a bait and tackle shop and has lots of people fishing off of it. We walked part of the way out onto the pier. The grandson threw rocks into the ocean where we saw many fish and lots of birds, many pelicans, looking for food.   After exhausting our rock pile, we walked a few hundred yards further south and went into a playground. By about noon the grandson was getting tired. I had forgotten to put sunscreen on him, so I called his dad who picked us up in the car and drove us back to the hotel.

After lunch and his nap my spouse and I drove a short distance down the beach to another Wyndham property, Royal Vista, that was right on the beach for a sales presentation. In exchange for the two hours of pushing us to purchase more points we received four grass boat tickets and two cabana tickets. We agreed to realignment of our ownership to be signed off in the evening.

When we returned to our hotel my son and his wife took off for a brief getaway in Ft. Lauderdale. So we played some games and music with the grandson and after dinner we did stories and songs and put him to sleep in his blackout tent, albeit later than his normal bedtime. No drama.

Tuesday April 18, 2023 Day 6

The parents were still away so it was just us and the grandson with some new routines for breakfast. Only 2 eggs and an assortment of fruit and bread. After breakfast we loaded up the car with little kid stuff and drove inland to the Pompano Community Park. It was a big complex with a pool, various courts, tennis etc, fields, baseball etc, and an amphitheater. We passed all that and went to the playground which the grandson loved. He was all sun screened up and wore his hat. They were also setting up for the Seafood Festival that would occur later that week. We didn't attend that.

After about two hours at the park, we piled back into the car and went shopping, first at Walgreensfor my continuing c-diff issues and then for food at Publix. That was followed by a big lunch and a nap. Again, easy to put him down following books and songs. He sings to himself for a while but eventually goes to sleep. Again, no drama, easy to put down. After the nap we went to the pool with the grandson. and practiced swimming. We were playing with a big water gun and sharing it with an older kid. That boy inadvertently broke it to the consternation of the grandson.  The mother of the kid went back to her room and returned with a dolphin water gun which the grandson loved and carried around for a few days.

We had salmon for dinner in the room. The grandson ate it. Then we watched a little MSNBC on TV. The grandson was fascinated by the talking heads. No difficulty putting him to sleep on time. 

Wednesday, April 19, 2023 Day 7

The grandson gets up regularly at 7. More eggs and fruit for breakfast. We took a walk around the hotel grounds and got some shaved ice. Then we piled into the car and drove a short distance south to another Wyndham property, the Royal Vista, which is on the beach and has a kiddy swimming pool.  We first tried the beach, but the grandson, who was sunscreened up,  didn't want to walk on the sand. The kiddy pool was nice, but it was in the shade and not warm enough for the grandson's liking. We went into the larger pool which was bathed in sunshine and that he liked. We stayed there for two hours while he swam around with me and made friends with two other children, both girls who were 4 and 5 and doted on him.

We returned to the hotel about 12:30 for lunch and a nap. His parents returned during the nap and after the grandson woke up, we walked down to the beach. This time he went on to the sand, but not the water. Dinner in the hotel room.

I swam in the ocean for about 20 minutes. The water was warm, but i had to go out into the ocean a significsant distance to get enough clearance to swim.

Nice sunset.

Thursday, April 20, 2023 Day 8

We got out of the hotel and into the car for a one-hour drive to Sawgrass recreation center. This commercial airboat operation is located on the edge of the Everglades, but outside the National Park. The boat ride tickets were our reward for enduring the Wyndham sales pitch. At 10:30 we boarded a large boast that could hold up to about 20 passengers. It was about 3/4s full. The ride and terrain were sort of as I imagined. We zipped over the water that flowed around the fields of seagrass. It was a bright, sunny and scenic ride. The captain was talkative, but mainly chatty, not too informative. We saw a lot of birds, but only one alligator. The ride was a bit over 30 minutes.

We then went to the reptile exhibit. It had many alligators of various sizes and ages, along with turtles and iguanas. The gradson enjoyed that.

We drove back to the hotel for lunch and the nap, barely getting there before the grandson fell asleep in the car.

After nap in the tent, as usual, he is very regular, from about 2-5, we walked down to the pier, with the grandson in the stroller. We ate at the Lucky Fish which is at the pier and right on the beach. This is an informal beach bar and grill serving a variety of fish, burgers, wings and conch fritters (of which my daughter-in-law is a big fan but I found them to be mushy and like hush puppies.) and served by scantily clad waitresses. The grandson mainly ate French fries. After a reasonable period at the table, he meandered off to the playground. We walked back and returned to the hotel about 8:15

Friday, April 21, 2023 Day 9

We went to the beach in the morning and got our complimentary cabana, again part of our bribery package from Wyndham for attending the sales pitch. The grandson played in the sand and made a brief and limited foray into the ocean. I had a nice long swim although I had to go a long way out into the ocean to get to swimmable depth. We stayed through lunch and returned to the hotel for nap time.

We returned to the Lucky Fish for dinner. The grandson had less patience tonight, so he left the table early and ran off to the beach. Packed for departure the following morning.

 

Minneapolis June 25-July 2, 2022

Saturday June 25, 2022

The boys woke up early and we built forts out of the pillows in the basement. I cooked a big breakfast of pancakes, chocolate chip and strawberries which seemed to be a big hit. 

After breakfast we took the two older boys to Hyland Lake Park Reserve. This is a large park/recreation area about 11 miles from my son's home, a 30-minute drive, in the City of Bloomington, administered by the Three Rivers Park District. I had been to this park in February to take the boys downhill skiing, with limited learning success, but had not gone to the playground area then.  Over its 2600 acres, in addition to its downhill ski area, the park contains a large lake, lots of trails and a magnificent play area. 

The layout of the playground is very creative. It has three tiers with platforms, hexagonal climbers, swings and slides up to 50 feet long. The boys immediately set out for climbing, swinging, sliding and jumping. It was hard to keep track of them, but I felt confident in letting them run freely since it was a semi-confined area. Being a Saturday, it was well attended with kids and lots of parents standing around holding their coffee cups. Toward the end of our 2+ hour stay the older grandson went over to the merry-go-round. After pushing for a while, I began to talk to another dad. The grandson and another kid on the structure then got into a big argument after which my spouse declared that it was time to go. We paid a visit to the restrooms which was next to the concession stand. The boys wanted snacks there, but since it was past lunch time we decide, the adults, to go to the Great Harvest Bread Company. It is a big operation getting them into the car seats. 

We had been to that Bread company outlet; it is a chain which also has an outlet in SLC which is a sponsor of the SLC marathon/10K, so we had also patronized that store in SLC, several years ago and taken the boys to lunch there. Alas, not only did I make a few wrong turns trying to get there on memory, but when we arrived, we learned the store no longer offered lunch. Instead, we purchased some fresh bread and a large package of trail mix and then headed out to find another place for lunch. Lots of opinions about where we should eat as we walked the neighborhood. We finally settled on the Zumbro Cafe. We ate outdoors and were served by a very understanding and tolerant waitress. 

Resisting the urge to get dessert at the cafe, although we repeatedly dipped into the trail mix bag, we retraced our steps and went to Sebastain Joe's Ice Cream Shop. We had previously been here too and appreciated the tasty, albeit pricy, ice cream. The turtle and other outdoor structures are also nice. The visit required much scrubbing of hands and washing faces. Walking back to the car we stopped off at Pinwheels and Play Toys, a toy store. We got the boys revved up for future shopping for their upcoming birthday presents.

From there we took a short drive to another playground, albeit a more traditional one, Baird's Plaisance, (Pleasure Ground) which overlooks Lake Harriet. It was named for Beard because in 1884 he donated the land upon which the park was built. It was later determined that he did not own the land and thus it was his to give away, but wrongdoings were forgiven and in 1893 the park was named in his honor.

From there we traveled to Target for some grocery shopping. Lots of I wants from the boys followed by repeated rejections. 

Home by 6 for dinner and the bedtime ritual.  

Sunday June 26, 2022

It was decided to order breakfast from the Hot Plate, a Mexican restaurant a few blocks from my son's home. They go there regularly, but this time we ordered food to be picked up. Shortly thereafter the order was ready and following a short walk there and back for the pickup we had breakfast.

I the early afternoon I took my spouse to the airport. She was flying over to France before me to go on a tour of Provance that would be led by her daughter.

The boys and I then drove to Goodwill Industries to scout out the toys there as potential birthday presents. We walked across the street to the Cub Foods market and picked up some dinner items.

We spent the afternoon playing in the backyard. 

Monday June 27, 2022

My son took the day off. After an oatmeal breakfast we took the two older boys up to the Tamarack Nature Center in White Bear Lake. It was about a 45-minute drive and the boys were reasonably well behaved during the drive. The 320-acre park is an awesome place for kids who like to get dirty. It has many trails and green acres, but the highlights for the grandsons were a mountain rock climbing area and an artificial sandy stream. The former offered many avenues to climb while the latter provided an opportunity to get wet and dirty while building dams in the stream, creating new streams, building lakes and generally immersing oneself in mud. We stayed there for several hours and left only because the boys got hungry, and we forgot to bring any food.

In the late afternoon we walked to Lake Nokomis and swam in the lake. We had dinner at the concession stand at the beach. It was a late return to home.

Tuesday June 28, 2022

Today was my day with the older grandson. We left early and I took him on a trip to the Interstate Park, about a 1hour and 15-minute drive mostly along highway 8. He was pretty good during the drive, and we talked about his preschool, favorite TV shows, movies and video games. 

I had visited Interstate Park for several days in 2019, so I was somewhat familiar with the town and the area. The park, as its name implies spans two states, Minnesota and Wisconsen, with bookend towns Taylor Falls and St. Croix respectively on both sides of the St Croix River which divides the two states.

The geology of the park is very interesting and contains some unique geological features. The story, according to geologists, begins about 11 million years ago when the North American continent began to tear apart along a line from present day Lake Superior to Iowa. Lava flowed from these cracks in intermittent waves forming layers of basalt. After the rift closed and the lava flows stopped the area became an inland sea. Erosion of the basalt created Cambrian sand and later Franconia sandstone which contains lots of fossils. The final part of the geological story was the last, or Wisconsen Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago. The water from the melting glacier, which covered most of present-day Minnesota and Wisconsen carved out the St. Croix valley and created the St. Croix River. At the same time Glacial Lake Duluth, the ancestor of Lake Superior, was dammed up at its eastern end by glacier deposited moraine so it kept rising. Once the lake began to overflow the water poured out gouging out the gorge which lies at the center of Interstate Park and creating the cliffs on both sides of the St. Croix River. The north end of the park is called The Dalles of the St. Croix. It was originally a waterfall as the water cut through the rock creating the ancestor of Taylor's Falls. However, the turbulent flowing water eroded the falls until all that is left today is a series of rapids. The lower rapids are visible from the highway bridge connecting the two states, but the upper rapids are covered by a hydroelectric dam built in the 1920s.

None of this was of interest to my grandson, nor was he impressed by the towering cliffs. What did greatly impress and engage him as we hiked through the Minnesota side of the park were the potholes. Over the years was the rushing water from the St. Croix River, which ran faster than any current North American river, swirled over the cliffs it carried pebbles and rocks which when the water eddied gouged out potholes. Theer are over 200 potholes of varying sizes, some as wide as 20 feet and some as deep as 80 feet.  Many contained water. Interstate Park contains more and larger potholes in a smaller area than any other location in the world. As we walked through the park, we chucked many a rock into the potholes and while doing so I walked into a protruding rock and gouged my head. Lots of blood. I had my grandson wear one of my long-sleeved ski school shirts to avoid lathering sunscreen on him and to minimize rock scrapes.

After about 2 hours of hiking and rock chucking, we walked through the interpretive center and then drove into town. The town was named for Jesse Taylor who built a sawmill in what is now Taylor's Falls. It is a one stop light town, but there is a nearby ski mountain and the town does a brisk tourist business during the summer. We ate lunch at the Juneberry Cafe and the wandered through a craft shop where my grandson picked out a smooth rock.

We then drove over to the Wisconsen side and into the town of St. Croix. It is considerably bigger than Taylor's Falls. We stopped in the library for story hour and then drove up to the St. Croix National Riverway Visitor Center. The ranger was very patient.

Before leaving the area, we drove a mile further north to a riverside park. After using the playground equipment, we took a short walk at the beginning of the Ice Age Trail. This is a 1400-mile trail that meanders across northern Wisconsen marking the southernmost boundary of the last ice age.

During the drive back my grandson fought it, but quickly fell asleep. We arrived back at my son's home at about 4:30 to be greeted with the announcement that the grandsons' mother had secured an appointment for the three boys to be vaccinated later that afternoon. However, she was at work. So, I and the daughter-in-law's mother bundled the three boys into the car for the trip. With the three of them lined up elbow to elbow in their car seats in the rear seat it was chaos. Incredible teasing and hitting and shouting. Even promises of a visit to Target after the shots was not enough to temper the mayhem. I was driving and thought that I would lose my mind by the time we arrived at the hospital.

The vaccination process was bad. The oldest grandson had a prior unhappy vaccination experience, so we had to drag him out from under the table and hold him down to get vaccinated. The middle grandson howled prior to the shot but then was fine. The little guy was fine. Not a peep out of him even after he received the shot. After all that we took them to Target for presents, but that was unsatisfying since their desires were bigger than our present budget. We did not get home until 7:30. 

Wednesday June 29, 2022

Another fun packed day with an early start. We got out by 8:30 and I took the three boys to a pool at the St. Louis Park Recreation Center. We drove in the van this time so with the multiple rear seats and stashing the oldest by himself in the rear seat we minimized the mayhem during the car trip. We arrived 3 minutes prior to the opening but had to wait for 30 minutes when the facility was reserved for seniors. I protested to no avail that I was a senior and therefore we should be let in. During the wait we watched the ice hockey practice. Amazing that we have outdoor ice-skating during summer heat.

After applying copious amounts of sunscreen to the boys we were one of the first charging into the pool. A large pool that the boys thoroughly enjoyed. The two older boys waded and paddled around in the pool, ran under the various sprinklers and played in a giant sandbox while I managed the youngest grandson. At mid-day the daughter-in-law arrived with lunch. Her presence made it easier to engage with the older boys. By the afternoon they had gathered enough courage to go on the various slides, one of which was pretty big and covered along the ride. Shades of Wild Rivers Park in CA.  We stayed at the pool for 7 hours.

In the evening I visited with a friend from LA who was moving into an apartment after selling her beautiful house following a divorce. We had a late dinner at the Redstone American Grill.

Thursday June 30, 2022.

This was my day with the middle grandson. Over breakfast of cereal and fruit we had long discussions about what to do. Difficult to rationalize with a 3.5-year-old. We finally decide on a bicycle ride around Lake Nokomis and going to the beach there. We didn't get started until about 10:30 and the walk down to the lake was laborious as the grandson regularly stopped to investigate and inquire about virtually every natural phenomenon we passed. Flowers, trees, bugs, nothing escaped his inquires. 

When we arrived at the lake, we rented a 4-wheel petacycle. Little did I realize that they are difficult to peddle and that I would get zero assistance from the grandson. It took me a leisurely, and laborious 1.75 hours to circumvent the 9 miles around the lake and the side trips that interested the grandson. 

After our cycle trip we played on the playground equipment at the beach and then had some lunch at the concession stand.  

In the evening we had a barbeque dinner on the deck.

Friday July 1, 2022

Low activity level today. I made a pancake breakfast and then I played with the grandsons in the basement and then in the backyard. There is an elaborate playhouse built by the other grandfather that we also cavorted in.

My son and his wife took the afternoon off, so we took the boys to the Lake Harriet bandshell in the afternoon.  There is a nice playground there. We ate dinner there and enjoyed a concert.  

Saturday July 2, 2022 

My departure day to Paris, France. In the morning we played in the house, the backyard and the playhouse.

My flight to Paris was scheduled to leave at 4:40. Because of the numerous ongoing cancellations of flights and disruptions at airports over the July 4 weekend. I arrived at the airport at 1:20. Surprisingly I was able to check in, check my bags and go through security in about 30 minutes, so I headed for the Delta Lounge.  It was not too crowded, had good food and drink, fast internet and I thought this trip would get off to a good start. However, nothing went to plan. The flight was delayed repeatedly, and I was getting tired of eating and drinking the same food and drink. I was able to read all the NY Times and catch up on a week's worth of emails. The flight departed about 4 hours late, but at least it was not cancelled, and all the lounge food fortified me for the 8 1/4-hour flight to Paris.

Beginning the Trip June 23-24

 June 23, 2022, Thursday 

This is the beginning of a trip that will span and include: two hemispheres; the Atlantic Ocean; two continents; five countries; six airplane flights, five car rentals; eight residential rentals; and three inter-city train trips. 

After movie night at the condo the prior evening we actually got started almost on time, Left the house about 8:15. The car was partially gassed and had a full battery, the latter of which was used up quickly as we climbed up I-80 past Park City. With respect to the former I hoped to purchase lower priced gasoline in Wyoming (Recall this was the time of $5 per gallon gasoline.) The drive to the Utah Wyoming border was uneventful, but into Wyoming we began to encounter frequent highway repairs/construction which resulted in lane closures, one lane driving and much slower than normal highway speeds. Typically, this would not be a major concern, except that as the HOA Board President I was supposed to chair the monthly general membership meeting.  I had planned to arrive early enough to do that from the Rapid City SD hotel which promised good internet, but I had to get there on time.

As the lane closures continued, I toyed with the idea of leaving I-80 prematurely and taking secondary roads, but I did not see a good time saving alternative. We exited I-80 about 100 miles east of Evanston as the gas gauge was dropping too close to empty in Mountain View to get gas. Alas it was a very small town with high gas prices, but at least the station had good bathrooms and friendly service. It was also a long way between exiting and returning to the freeway.

250 miles later we arrived in Casper WY and stopped at a Smiths gas station where we refueled while using up a large number of grocery "gasoline points" that reduced the price. We also picked up some prepared sandwiches for lunch at the grocery store which we ate while stopping at a local park.

As we drove through rural Wyoming, I noticed lots of billboards and signs for Harriet Hageman, Liz Chaney's opponent in the upcoming Republican congressional primary. Probably does not bode well for Chaney, although we did see signs for Chaney in Casper.

After Casper there was a lot of driving through rural Wyoming, but we arrived in Rapid City in time for me to make the call into the Board meeting. 9.5 hours of driving.

As we entered Rapid City it was in the midst of a festival. It is the second largest city in South Dekota. The city got its start as a result of the discovery of gold in the Black Hills by George Custer in (before Little Big Horn) 1874. It became known as the Gateway to the Black Hills, but when tourism declined following the onset of the Depression, the city invited Al Capone to live there with sanctuary. He declined. It got a further boost in tourism after WWII following the completion of Mount Rushmore. In 1980 the US Supreme Court ruled that the US had stolen the Black Hills including the land upon which Rapid City sits from the Sioux Indians in violation of a treaty. The US offered money to settle, but the Sioux refused the offered. To date the dispute remains unresolved and the settlement offer continues to accrue interest.

Our Wyndham hotel was just outside downtown on the side of a hill. As promised it had good internet and I had a successful HOA Zoom call. I was able to plug into an external electrical outlet on the rear of the hotel after we had dinner at a local restaurant.

July 24, 2022, Friday arrival in Minneapolis 

Following a pretty good breakfast in the hotel, (Too many hotels now have cancelled their breakfast of drastically reduced the offerings' allegedly due to Covid, but I suspect it is just a vehicle to reduce costs.) we got on the road with 37 electric miles a few minutes after 9. It was a long, boring, slog across South Dakota on I-90 and even when we passed into Minnestoa we still did not get to my son's house in Minneapolis until 6:59 pm (We lost an hour crossing the time zone.) All three grandsons were up so there was a lot of noise, jumping on us and general chaos when we arrived.  

Fort Apache May 16

Sunday, May 16, 2021 Day 12

After breakfast in the condo I went swimming. The pool and hot tub area were empty. The water temperature was fine and the air temperature in the morning was crisp. 

In the mid morning I set out for the Fort Apache Historic Park which is located on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation which is the home to the White Mountain Apache Tribe. I traveled south on route 260 and shortly thereafter entered the reservation. After about 3 miles I came to a fork. The Hon-Dah Hotel and Casino was located there. It is owned by the Indian Tribes and although the weather was mild and sunny on a Sunday morning, there were a lot of cars in the parking lot. The church of gambling. 

I turned southwest on route 73 continuing into the reservation. The land was dry, rocky and had lots of pine trees. The buildings, mostly small groups of residences, appeared to be old, small and run down. There were pockets of abandoned vehicles. Lots of trailer homes. After about 15 miles I came to Whiteriver, the reservation capital. It had several government buildings and a few commercial establishments. I saw very few people.

Another 5 miles down the road and passing through China Town (just a collection of trailer homes) I made a left turn on to Ft. Apache Rd. (away from the town of Ft. Apache) to go a brief distance to the Ft. Apache Historical Park.

The Park is located on the site of the former Fort Apache and is now on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. I initially went to the White Mountain Apache Cultural Center and Museum. It was closed, but a car was aprked there so I knocked on the door and avery old Indian finally opened the door. He said the place was closed due to the covid. I told him I had been double vaccinated, that I had traveled a long way and could he just let me in. He finally agreed and gave me a long tour of the small facility, with a long talk about the history of the site. It is called Nohwike Bagowa, House of our Footprints.

The Fort was established in 1870 as a temporary military camp and 10 years later it became a permanent facility. Initially its purpose was to support the army in its Indian Wars in the late 19th century, primarily against the Apaches. These included Victorio's War and the Ghost DanceWar. The Buffalo Soldiers served in these from the fort. That role culminated in the Battle of Fort Apache in 1881 after which the Apaches under Geronimo fled to northern Mexico. His surrender in 1886 largely ended the Apache wars. Subsequently the Apaches served as scouts in wars against the other tribes.

Entering the 20th century things calmed down in the southwest and in 1923 as the fort's use as a military facility was no longer needed, it was turned over to the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The Bureau established the Theodore Roosevelt boarding school for Indian children. However the Bureau educated Navajo children in the school even though it was located on an Apache reservation in an effort to instill Anglo customs in the students. My "guide" said this practice was hated by the tribes. The Apache tribe still uses the building as a school for its children.

Theer was a 1948 Fort Apache movie directed by John Ford, starring John Wayne, Henry Fonda and Shirley Temple,  and a 1981 movie titled Fort Apache about the devistation in the south Bronx.

There are many remaining structures that surround a rectangular parade grounds. I was able to walk around the grounds by myself. I encountered no one else until the end of my visit when a maintenance man appeared in his truck. 

The school

The commanders house

Leaving the fort and retracing my route back through Whiteriver, at the casino (more cars in the parking lot) I took a right continuing on route 260 and drove down to the Sunrise Ski resort. It bills itself as Arizona's biggest, and premier ski resort. It was closed, preparing for a late May summer opening, and from the bottom looked reasonably large. 

I then drove back to the resort where we were staying and after connecting up the car at the maintenance shed, I took another hike. This time time I went right along the Old Hactery Trail. I passed a meadow and a small clear cut area and ended up at the highway.

We ate dinner in the room. Lots of stars.

Pine-Top May 15

May 15, 2021, Saturday Day 11

It was a slow day today. Just relaxing after the traveling the past few days. 

I went into town and ended up in the welcome center. I spoke with the volunteer who told me that the town's hyphenated name resulted from the 1984 merger of Pine Top and Lakeside. It has a small year-round population of less than 5000, but greatly expands in the summer, and to a lesser extent in the winter, when residents of desert Arizona flee to the mountains to escape the heat or to go skiing. It is forested and has lots of vacation and second homes. 

I then went shopping for food for our stay. The local supermarket had competitive prices.

After breakfast in the condo, I went swimming in the large pool and then lounged in the hot tub. Both facilities were empty in the morning. After air drying in the sun as the temperature began to rise, I checked out a basketball and practiced shooting on the basketball court. My skills have deteriorated from lack of use.

In the afternoon I hiked on the Old Hactery Trail. This was accessed through a gate in the back of the resort which placed me in the middle of the trail. It was a relatively short trail, only 3.6 miles, but part of the much larger White Mountains trail system. I elected to go left, which I thought was the shorter portion. The trail was a rocky and I had to pass through several gates along the route. I crossed a stream and passed a fish hatchery. I ended up at the Poplar Drive trailhead. An adjoining trail took me up to the end of the resort. I retraced my steps and returned after about 1.5 hours.

  

We prepared and ate a barbeque dinner featuring chicken kabobs.