Day 114, Year 11: Having Fun with Good Friends
Date: Saturday, February 13, 2016
Weather: Another Beautiful, Sunny Day, High 70’s, Low 50’s
Location: At Anchor in West Palm Beach City Anchorage, FL
Our good friends from New Hampshire, Alan and Helaine Kanegsberg, arrived this just before noon. They have been in Florida for about two weeks and when they arrived here today we were all praising the beautiful warm weather. It was time for lunch, so we walked through the Fresh Fest, a festival celebrating healthy living, in the park in search of healthy food for lunch. We didn’t find anything there. So we walked over to the Saturday GreenMarket and found Maryland crab cakes and shrimp salad. We walked down to the waterfront to eat our yummy finds and then headed back to the parking garage. Alan and Helaine had read about the Lego display at Mounts Botanical Garden in my log and wanted to go see it. This time we drove and arrived in 15 minutes instead of an hour and a half via bus. We enjoyed the walk through the garden but two things were different today—one good, one not so good. There were more people today, including lots of children, and the children made looking at the Lego displays more fun. But the prevailing winds today put the botanical garden right under the flight path from the Palm Beach airport and some of the take-offs were very noisy. Either the number of flights lessened or we just got used to the noise because eventually we didn’t notice it any more. I forgot to ask Alan and Helaine which Lego display was their favorite, so I’ll have to do that in the morning and report tomorrow night.
From the botanical garden we drove across to Palm Beach to visit the sculpture garden at The Society for the Four Arts. But we were met with disappointment. The sculpture garden was closed with a sign saying the site was being readied for a special event. When I check their website, I see nothing about this, but there sure were enough workmen laying what looked like a ballroom dance floor to convince me that something is going to be happening there. Since that didn’t work out, Alan suggested that we drive to The Breakers and take a look around. This imposing structure dominates the Palm Beach skyline and seashore as it is located right on the beach. It was built by railroad magnate (not to mention oil and real estate), Henry Flagler. The original hotel on this spot was opened in 1896 and was called the The Palm Beach Inn. It was a wooden structure and in 1903 it burned to the ground. Flagler quickly had the new hotel built in the Italian-renaissance style and it was open for business only a year later. It has weathered the years beautifully and is quite impressive. Alan and Helaine attended conferences at The Breakers back in the 1970’s and knew we would appreciate its beauty. Unfortunately Alan had to stay in the car as there was no general parking area, only valet parking for guests. But Helaine gave us a lovely tour. From The Breakers, we drove back across the waterway to West Palm Beach to visit the lovely ‘hotel’ Windbird. We enjoyed the late afternoon sunshine in the cockpit and then went below for dinner. Mark did a great job of grilling steaks and veggie kabobs which we all enjoyed.
Tomorrow morning Alan and Helaine are driving to Fort Lauderdale and will take Mark to the airport for his flight to Boston. I have thought up so many things to keep me busy during his absence that I have no idea how to decide which things to do first. So I think my first job will be to make a list and prioritize the jobs. That should keep me busy for at least an hour!
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| 160213 Day 115 Florida, USA–Back to Mounts Botanical; The Breakers |
