Morikami Gardens & Museum

Another really fun day was the day that my cousin Rebecca and I went to the Morikami Museum & Gardens for the day. It was a long drive, but so very worth it!

The gardens were so beautiful - many different styles of gardens, running throughout Japanese history.

They also have some of the best Japanese food I've ever had!

The drive to Delray Beach from Palm Beach was in itself very fun, as Rebecca and I chatted our way there.

Thrift-storing in Florida -

(I'll bet you didn't know that was a verb, did you?)

One of my favorite parts in visiting Florida is in the great and numerous thrift stores in the greater Palm Beach area. There's this one store where I always have excellent luck finding work clothes, including the formal gowns I need for the opera. And every time I go to Florida, I can't remember which one it is! I remember that it's very close to the airport - but there are MANY in that category, so we end up visiting a lot of stores.

The good news is that this year was no exception - we finally found it - it's a Salvation Army, and I got their business card this time! - and I got two formals, 6 pairs of nice slacks, 4 shirts, a pant suit for work, and more - Ann Taylor, J.Jill, Sag Harbor, Liz Claiborne, and more, for $65. Yup. Easily over $1,000 worth of clothes. Score!

Walking in Mosquitoville... or We should have paid better attention.

Our last day in the Everglades included a trip to go for a hike in a nearby state park. We had a nice chat in the parking lot with a ranger who told us where the nearby trails were, and what we might see.

As we were going into the brush, Tam & I were slathering up with mosquito repellent, which prompted the ranger to comment that Johnson tests their mosquito repellent at their park. "Isn't that interesting?" was my only thought at the time. Big mistake.

On our first trail, we made it about 10 yards down a rather mucky trail before the mosquitoes started swarming. We beat a hasty retreat and headed out for a drier trail. We drove about 1/2 mile and tried again - with more repellent and high hopes.

We enjoyed the slightly different flora for a few minutes, trying to watch each others backs for the ever present skeeters. By this time, we're not talking a few - no, there were swarms following us - swooping in for landings.

We made it about 1/4 mile this time, and saw something that made it all worthwhile - a mama turtle laying her eggs in the soft, dry sand of the trail. We decided that was good enough, and beat-feet back to the protection of our car. After that, we decided the City of Naples was the best way to spend the rest of the day.

Spiders for chocolate (Post 2 of 2)

An addendum to our adventure through the mangrove swamp tunnels by kayak...

As we came out of the final mangrove tunnel, our guide Mary said to the male friend (boyfriend, husband???) of our spider-phobic kayaker: "You're going to have to do something big to make up for this one."
To which he replied "Yeah, this might require a chocolate brownie."
And my comment to him: "To heck with a brownie; this calls for chocolate mousse."
And his reply? "Chocolate mousse? Oh....."

I'm thinking perhaps he didn't understand just what it took his friend to make it through those spider-infested tunnels without a case of the screaming-meemies.

Posting backlog! (Post 1 of 2)

Returning to work has made it hard to get back into posting - I flew in to SFO last Thursday the 20th, having traveled PBI-ATL-Cincinatti-SFO. The flights took all day - leaving PBI at 10:30 a.m. and arriving SFO 6:30 p.m. After retrieving my luggage, Bob met me and we drove home to Atascadero. Ahhhhhh. Home. 11:30 p.m., to bed.

Now for most people, 11:30 is nothing - but for me it can put me in danger of a migraine, so I was a bit worried, but Friday I woke up raring to go, and put in a full day at work. Got up Saturday and did some housework, started the laundry, went grocery shopping - but felt kinda queasy by the time I got home. I managed to get a dinner stew started, along with a spaghetti sauce for another day, cut up some meat to freeze for stir fry dinner another night and put away most of the groceries before it became clear that this queasiness was getting bad. Went to bed.

Woke up 12 hours later, sick as a dog with a headache as bad as any I've had. Achy all over. I'm thinking flu, because it started with the upset stomach and achy muscles - but after suffering for another 5 hours, I got up the courage to take my migraine pill (I have to wait until I'm pretty sure that I will be able to keep it down - especially since that was my last pill!) - and low and behold an hour later, my headache was tolerable. Oh my. Last thing I need is a new type of headache onset. So I came out and watched Pride & Prejudice (Colin Firth one), then Pride & Prejuice (Keira Knightly one) and then Sense & Sensibility. Best way to get over an illness!

Anyway - all of this long story to tell you why I haven't finished posting about the trip! I have several more stories I want to share and soon some photos, too.

Taking the long way home…

Today we left Everglades City to return to Palm Beach Gardens, where we’re staying with Adele, our Dad’s friend. A very special lady, that Adele.

Anyway, we had a leisurely breakfast with a long chat with the host of Ivey House, David Harragan. He really knows the Everglades, having led tours there for quite a few years now. We enjoyed chatting with him about his adventures and travels, his family and their vacations. Great host. Great inn.

After leaving, we stopped by the Everglades City Chamber of Commerce, where we picked up a few little shells for Tam’s artwork. She has had some really interesting ideas about where her art may be going, which I look forward to seeing as they develop.

We took a different route home, so as Tam was looking over the map, she spied something called “Flamingo Gardens”, a non-profit botanical garden and small wild animal rescue place. On the spur of the moment, we decided to go check it out, and boy are we ever glad we did! We really had fun – the Gardens had several mini-habitats from all different parts of Florida, and many animals to represent them. The birds were usually there because they had been injured and were not able to be returned to the wild, or because they had been raised by humans and then given away – also unable to go into the wild because they had no skills to fend for themselves. Anyway, the cages were large and clean, and the animals seemed uniformly content and healthy. There were also two BIG gators, several turtles, three playing otters – and I think there was a panther, but we weren’t terribly motivated to go see him/her, and we ran out of steam anyway. We arrived at the otter pen right after they had been given a fun treat – sardines frozen into large chunks of ice, so they could play with the ice while getting their food. We really enjoyed watching them play and eat – they really seemed to be having a good time: just like otters usually do!

I think my highlight was the fact that they let us feed the flamingos! There were little food dispensers, and the flamingos came right up to the edge of their pen and ate right out of your hand! Did you know that flamingos are as gentle as hens are when they nibble up the food? I was so surprised! And just like chickens (which of course, Tam and I are very familiar with, having raised them for years), they all seem to have their own personalities. There was this one really large one – we think it might have been the grandma – who everyone else deferred to. And if you tried to offer her your empty hand, she would check it out for treats that might be stuck between your fingers, but then she’d knock you hand away! What a funny girl.

Mikele in a BOAT

Yes, it’s true; the most seasick person I know (ME) went in a boat yesterday! We were checking out the Everglades National Park office/store and decided on the spur of the moment to do one of their boat tours. The boat was wide and sturdy, and the water looked just as smooth as can be. And wow, am I ever glad I did. We went out into the open waters around the mangrove forest, into an area called the 10,000 islands. Lots of different birds, a few dolphins and a lot of learning about the mangrove trees. Did you know there are three kinds of mangroves, and they each handle the salt of the estuary waters differently? One type takes the salt in, and then excretes it in a few of its leaves – the ‘sacrificial leaves’ that die when they reach a certain level of salt. Another type uses a type of reverse osmosis to exclude 80% of the salt. I can’t remember the third off-hand, but I found it so interesting!

We actually went almost out into the Gulf of Mexico – it was really amazing. The breeze was enough to keep us cool (and me, not seasick) in the warm sun. We watched rain showers out over the gulf – big black clouds extending all the way down to the ocean. Fun!

Addendum to yesterday’s trip: the adventure of the spiders…

One thing about mangroves that I didn’t know is that spiders really, really love the mangrove forest – and one of the other kayakers really, really didn’t like spiders! Luckily for her, there were several kayaks before her, taking down the webs as we went. That included me. It wasn’t too bad, though – the spiders were higher than us for the most part.

Another aspect of the trip was that since I have a bum right shoulder, Tam had to do nearly all of the paddling for us. And therefore we had to use a two-person kayak, which has a much longer turning radius than the single-person kayaks. So we ended up with our nose in the mangrove roots at every single sharp turn – mangrove roots which were full of spider webs. Oh yeah, that was fun.

I have to say that the positive attitude of our arachnaphobic fellow kayaker was so brave. I would have been a screaming meemie by then, I think.

At the end of our trip, our leader found a HUGE wolf spider crawling on her boat. And by huge, I mean three inches across. ::shudder:: Good thing it didn’t fall on anyone else’s boat!!!

Sunset kayak trip

Okay, imagine this. It’s late afternoon, and you’re out on the water in a kayak. You enter a mangrove tunnel – the roots and brush catch your paddle each time you miss a turn – and if you look up, you can see the most amazing groupings of spiders and webs you’ll ever want to see.

From time to time, herons, egrets, osprey and kingfishers fly by on their way to new fishing. You can hear the occasional cicada amidst the birdcalls, too.

The water is smooth and cool, with bugs flying in the air and on the surface of the water. A little ways off, you see a silvery fish flipping itself up into the air for some reason known only to itself.

The only sounds are those of the paddles, dipping, dipping. There is a break in the mangrove, and you join the other kayaks in a large lake – at the far end is a large tree where you see many different types of fishing birds landing to roost for the night. The kayakers gather to watch the sunset and slap mosquitoes. Dark falls, and the guide hands out headlamps, and attaches glowsticks to the back of each kayak – you follow each other back through the tunnels with only headlamps lighting the way. Spider webs brushing your faces – mosquitoes buzzing – and a full moon occasionally peeking through the clouds to light the waters before you.

I think I’ve just had one of the most memorable experiences of my long and adventurous life.

Greetings from the Everglades!

Otamay and I are having a marvelous time! We just got there this afternoon, and after getting settled, spent the afternoon wandering around Everglades City, one of the sweetest little towns you could ever imagine. We ended up at a little restaurant with a deck hanging over the water. We sat facing the water at the rail, and watched as a gater slowly swam by. Amazing.

We've been enjoying all the waterbirds too - gazillions of 'em! We hope to get up close and personal with some tomorrow...

We're staying at Ivey House, a very nice, and eco-friendly, B&B. Free Wi-Fi - woo hoo!