I went to Orlando for Christmas this year as I always do, but this year I drove and stayed longer. While I was there I also visited Fort Lauderdale to see some friends. Besides just hanging out a lot, I did a couple of things that I would like to blog about.
On my way back from Fort Lauderdale to Orlando, I decided to forgo the turnpike and take back roads through the Everglades and past Lake Okeechobee. I stopped about 20 miles west of Fort Lauderdale at the Sawgrass Recreation Park on US Hwy 27. The park is situated in the northeast corner of the vast Everglades and has both a boat launch and a small zoo. I took an air boat ride first. I have always wanted to go on one but until then had never even been to the Everglades despite having grown up in Florida. The boat took us out for about a half an hour over the sawgrass swamp where we saw a couple of alligators and some birds. The Everglades used to be a giant 60 foot wide slow moving waterway that went from Lake Okeechobee down to Florida Bay at the end of the state. But because of all the levies, canals, and roads that have been built over them, most of the glades are now a non-moving marsh. Such was the condition of the swamp we were seeing. We also stopped at an island where some Malaluca trees had been planted and an Osprey was resting on one. These foreign trees were at one time planted all over the everglades in the hope that they would drink up the water and help convert the land to farmland. The trees reproduced like crazy and now the state is trying all kinds of methods to try and kill them. After the boat ride, I walked around the small zoo and saw more alligators and a Florida Panther, the state animal. I also read a display about efforts to "restore" the Everglades, which basically involve more dams, canals, and pumping stations to try to recreate the natural flow. I'll believe it when I see it. You can read more about Sawgrass Recreation Park at their website: http://www.evergladestours.com.
After my air boat adventure, I headed north on Hwy 27 toward Lake Okeechobee. On my way there I passed more swamp which eventually gave way to sugarcane fields as far as I could see in both directions. Eventually I did pass other farms including several palm tree farms where several varieties were being grown to be used later for landscaping. At the southeast corner of the lake, I passed through the town of Belle Glade. Although it is in Palm Beach county, it must be one of the poorest cities in the state. It was certainly the poorest place in Florida that I remember visiting. I took a wrong turn at one point and ended up going through downtown and then through a neighborhood that reminded me of some of the poverty I have seen in Honduras. You know things are bad when the main store downtown is the Goodwill. Apparently most of the economy comes from people working on the sugarcane fields. God bless them. In Pahokee, I drove up on the levy surrounding the lake and walked around the marina. Lake Okeechobee is the second largest lake in the US that is entirely within the US. It is so large that I could not see across it. As I continued on and drove around it, I did not see much more of the lake as it is surrounded by a high levy to prevent flooding during hurricanes. While it serves its purpose it has damaged the Everglades ecosystem south of it, which depended on it flooding. So I drove north with the levy on my left and passed numerous Sabal Palms (the state tree) and Live Oaks and fishing camps and felt like I was in the "real" Florida.
On the Monday after Christmas, my parents and I went to Lake Wales to see Bok Tower and its surrounding gardens, about an hour southwest of Orlando. It is situated on a hill known locally as iron mountain which rises 342 feet above sea level, making it the highest point in peninsular Florida and the second highest point in the state. The tower was built in the 1920s for Edward Bok and the gardens surrounding it were designed by Frank Law Olmstead, Jr. After Bok's death, it was given to the State of Florida. Although one cannot go up in the tower we did get to hear the 60 bell carillon give a concert and we enjoyed walking around the grounds taking in the views of the surrounding orange groves and enjoying the scenery of the ponds and native Florida trees. We also visited the Pinewood Estate property next door and enjoyed seeing the house professionally decorated for the holidays. The house was at onetime the winter home of C. Austin Buck, the one-time president of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. Although the Christmas decorations were very pretty, we would have rather been there on an ordinary day when they give the regular tour which would have been more informative. You can read more about Bok Tower and the Pinewood Estate at their website: http://www.boktowergardens.org.
I have posted an album on Facebook with some of my pictures from my trip. You do not need to be a member of Facebook to view these photos. Just click on the following link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=47835&id=1410030498&l=999cc50b56
After our visit to Bok Tower, we went to the nearby Spook Hill. I had always heard of Spook Hill, a hill where it appears that one can roll backwards up a hill. It is really just an optical illusion but it sure seemed real when we were there. Here is a video of my parents' car rolling backwards "up" the hill:
