The southeastern coast of Florida is heavily populated so the plan is to skirt around all of those people before touching the Atlantic north of the major metropolitan areas at Fort Pierce.
The return drive north up the Overseas Hwy is just as stunning as the drive south so I can’t resist sharing some of the views heading back to the Florida mainland.
Coming down off the bridge from Key Largo north the Florida peninsula stretches out to the horizon.
I retrace my path north for about an hour, past the nursery farms and bingo parlor that marked my path east across the Everglades.
Striking northwest towards Lake Okeechobee we once again are crossing the Everglades. The area north of the national park is heavily managed with massive pump stations and canals dotting the seas of sawgrass.
Approaching the town of Belle Glade at the southern reach of Lake Okeechobee the ocean of grass is replaced by waves of sugar cane, currently in the midst of harvest.
Oregon friends will recognize the next sight, billowing plumes of smoke reaching into the sky. Turns out that much like grass farmers back in Oregon used to do, sugar cane farmers in Florida burn their fields after harvest to eliminate pests and disease.
Lake Okeechobee is the second largest freshwater lake in the lower United States and I had fantasies of a leisurely drive along the eastern shore enjoying dramatic views across the lake to the west. Not to be! The lake is so large and relatively shallow that it creates an inland storm surge during hurricanes, flooding surrounding areas. After two particularly catastrophic hurricanes during the 1920’s the federal government built a system of levees, gates and channels around the lake. My “scenic” drive along the lake consists of following along the bottom of the levee all along the eastern side of the lake. North of Belle Glade the levee (and lake behind) rise on the left and sugar cane fields sprawl on the right.
At the small hamlet of Pahokee there is an opportunity to drive up onto and over the levee to get to a marina on the lake. Here the Lunch Box is parked at the base of the lake side of the levee, the town is on the other side.
An extensive system of docks and fishing piers provide access to the lake.
From atop the levee I look east down into the rather disheveled little town of Pahokee.
Continuing north along the lake there is a rare opportunity to take a picture from an elevated spot, a bridge over the West Palm Beach Canal. To the west is the gate in the levee and the lake, east is the canal heading towards West Palm Beach, roughly 50 miles away on the Atlantic coast.
Another canal now runs along the base of the levee heading north.
At the north end of the lake our path veers east towards the Atlantic Ocean at Fort Pierce, passing through cattle country.
Fort Pierce
Fort Pierce, named for its first commander, was established in 1838 as a major military supply post during the Second Seminole War. The town is not actually on the ocean but rather fronts on the Indian River Lagoon, a 156 mile long stretch of water that separates the Florida mainland from barrier islands to the east. The lagoon varies in width from one-half mile to five miles along a stretch that covers 40% of Florida’s Atlantic coast. The actual village of Fort Pierce wasn’t formally incorporated until 1901 although Henry Flagler’s railroad reached the area in 1894 and during the Florida Land Boom of the early 1920’s the town blossomed into a Mediterranean style village. The beach across the lagoon was used by the navy to train the first individuals for underwater demolition teams (UDT), the precursor to the current Navy SEAL program. The town began a gentle decline in the 1960’s and many of the historic buildings were demolished. We enter the town from the west on Orange Street, dominated by a cluster of historic churches.
Wandering along side streets I have to stop for a local “resident”, who takes his (or her) time crossing the street…
The Mediterranean style architecture from the 1920’s becomes more prevalent along Orange Street as we continue to head east towards the docks.
The corner of Orange and 2nd Street is the center of town
2nd Street is anchored by two historic buildings, both built during the early 1920’s. To the south is the Sunrise Theater and on the north is the Raulerson Building.
In between the two the street is lined with shops, offices and restaurants.
A block east is Indian River Lagoon. Rock breakwaters built to protect from hurricane storm surges interrupt the blue waters as the condominium towers at the beach rise above the barrier island in the distance.
Just north is the city marina where a viewing tower gives me great views of the marina, lagoon, and barrier island beyond.
Of course, one can’t go to Florida without visiting the beach so we head across the bridge over Indian River Lagoon to the beach.
Condominum towers line the highway preventing access to the beach except for a few public access sites.
I find one of those with room for the Lunch Box and after a brief climb over a small ridge of sand emerge out onto the glorious Florida beach.
Back on the highway is the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum, unfortunately closed for the day. The facility sits behind a chain link fence patrolled by trained guard dogs.
Clearly these dogs mean business. I watched with interest as two of them decided to strip a tree of its’ lower branches, amazed at how high they could jump.
As I cross back over to the mainland at Vero Beach the interior of Florida spreads out before me.
My next stop is Dodgertown, which used to be the spring training camp of the Los Angeles Dodgers, aka the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Dodgertown
In 1948 the Brooklyn Dodgers were looking for a spring training facility in Florida and were lured to an old Naval Air Station in Vero Beach. Navy housing facilities were in already in place and a new baseball stadium was completed in 1953, the complex was dubbed “Dodgertown.” Even after the Brooklyn Dodgers became the Los Angeles Dodgers Vero Beach continued to host spring training until the team left in 2008 for a new spring training complex in Arizona. Today the facility is a multi-use sports destination for high school, college and minor league baseball teams. On the day that I visited a tournament was in progress.
The former administration building and hitting cages sit north of the main stadium with a massive balcony overlooking the playing field.
You can’t see the interior of the main stadium from the outside but I happen to slip through an open maintenance gate and peek over the backfield fence.
Other playing fields border the main stadium to the south and east.
East of those fields is the housing complex, converted to hotel accommodations and meeting rooms.
About ten miles north of Vero Beach is the small town of Sebastian. Driving along the Indian River Lagoon, which is considerably wider here than in Fort Pierce, extensive views open up to the east. Look closely behind the island and you can see the sliver of land that is the barrier island.
Highway 1 is the main highway along the coast and the traffic is pretty congested.
This section of the coast is called the Treasure Coast because in 1715 an armada of twelve Spanish ships laden with gold and jewels from the New World was caught in a hurricane off the coast here. Eleven of the twelve ships were lost along with approximately 1,500 men. Periodically gold coins and other hints of the treasure would wash ashore but incredibly on the same day in 1985 noted treasure hunter Mel Fisher had two crews strike it rich. One found the treasure ship “Atocha”, which had sunk in 1622 in a hurricane off Key West, and the other found remnants of the 1715 armada off Fort Pierce. A small museum in Sebastian contains a sample of the treasure that was found.
This is not the Smithsonian, just a quirky, small town museum that contains an interesting mixture of artifacts and displays from both the Atocha and the Fort Pierce fleet.
The probable flagship of the Spanish fleet was actually an English ship, the Hampton Court, captured by the Spanish in the war of the Spanish succession in 1712. This model of a cross-section of the ship shows how the treasure and ballast stones filled the bottom of the ship, keeping the major portion of the ship’s weight at the bottom, designed to keep the ship from rolling over in rough seas. Note the height of the main mast compared to the body of the ship! According to a survivor, this ship was the first to hit the reef on the morning of July 31, 1715.
Samples of the treasures found are on display around the gallery.
The Atocha did not have any emeralds on the manifest yet testimony in a court martial hearing of one of the survivors revealed that there were 70 pounds of emeralds on the ship. Approximately three pounds have been recovered to date. In addition gold bars were found that were also being smuggled, evidenced by the lack of tax stamps on them.
One of the more fascinating items recovered was a gold “poison” cup designed with a spike in the middle to hold a “bezoar” that would allegedly absorb any poison that might be present (a bezoar is a solid mass that forms in the digestive tracts of animals , like a cat’s hair ball.)
In addition to the treasure, displays document collections of items from ordinary life at the time.
An interesting little stop! I decided to check out the beach one more time and drive along Indian River Lagoon, lined with private docks belong to residents on the west side of the highway north of Sebastian.
Once over on the barrier island I find a public access spot and again enjoy glorious views of the Atlantic Ocean.
The weather has changed dramatically by the next day and I approach a much-anticipated stop, Kennedy Space Center, in a raging downpour.
Kennedy Space Center
Not often during my trip have I felt that the corona virus has seriously dampened the fun but that came to a screeching halt during my time at the Kennedy Space Center. Not only was it pouring down rain the entire time, but several of the pavilions were closed for safety reasons (i.e. in normal times people would be jammed in shoulder to shoulder and they couldn’t figure out how to do it otherwise). It was still interesting, and everyone had to wear a mask (and they enforced it), but at $60 a ticket I just expected more. Nevertheless, as Buzz Lightyear would say, “To Infinity and Beyond!”
The entrance plaza hints at things to come, the rocket garden rises to the left and the space shuttle Atlantis building’s orange tip to the right.
A cute touch, the self-service ticket kiosks are little rockets.
The first photo-op…
Once through the gates I follow my time-tested practice when visiting theme parks, head to the best display first before the crowds build. In this case, the headliner attraction is the space shuttle Atlantis pavilion, located at the far corner of the complex. The path to Atlantis passes by the Heroes and Legends pavilion, Rocket Garden, Universe Theater and through the food court.
Finally the Atlantis pavilion stands before us. The actual sized orange fuel tank and white booster rocks form the center piece of the building.
There is no line so I take refuge from the rain and enter the first theater. Normally this room would be shoulder to shoulder with people but the combination of an early arrival and heading to the back of the complex has paid off! The first presentation, on three large screens, presents the history of the space program to a sparse crowd.
Once that video is done, the small group that I am with is ushered into a second theater, a large room with geometric panels on the walls and ceiling. Here the development of the space shuttle program is detailed all around us.
Finally the doors open and we enter the main gallery, the original Atlantis space shuttle hanging from the ceiling and dominating the enormous space.
Surrounding the Atlantis are a series of galleries detailing the history of the program, explanations of specific items, and multi-sensory experiences.
In the 20 years that the space shuttle was in use it participated in 33 missions, flew 126 million miles, and spent 307 days in space. The last mission of the space shuttle program occurred in July 2011. The ground floor underneath the hanging Atlantis has a variety of displays elaborating on all facets of the space program.
These are the actual tires from a space shuttle mission, designed to take three times the load of a Boeing 747 tire.
The Astrovan carried astronauts in their bulky space suits to the Launchpad for training and launches for 27 years, starting with the ninth Space Shuttle mission.
A somber gallery honors the crews of the Challenger and the Columbia, two space travel attempts that ended with disaster, resulting in all on board losing their lives.
A quote from President Ronald Reagan pays homage to their courage. “The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted, it belongs to the brave.”
Hanging along the Atlantis is a model of the space station for people to explore as well as a model of the Hubble space telescope.
Really a fascinating experience, made even more memorable by the lack of crowds! Leaving the pavilion I take one last picture of the orange fuel tank and white booster rockers that powered the space shuttle into space.
Wending my way back through the complex I peek into the Journey to Mars Experience but decided that the crowd has grown too much for me to linger.
Passing back through the food court on my left the door to the gift shop is flanked by models of the Mars Exploration Rover and the moon buggy.
The rain has let up a bit as I retrace my path towards the entrance. A line is building as parents wait to take a picture of their child in a space capsule.
The Nature and Technology building across from the rocket garden explains the history and ecology of Merritt Island, home to the Kennedy Space Center.
My last stop is the Heroes and Legends pavilion, home to the story of the astronauts who risk their lives to expand our knowledge of space.
They are only letting in 25 people at a time and the line is outside so I decided to take my place in line and wait.
Once inside the first space is essentially a holding room, entertaining us with a brief video about the space system before open the doors to the main gallery.
The main gallery consists of individual modules dedicated to the characteristics displayed by an astronaut. Each module contains individual artifacts from astronauts and the space program.
A model of the actual control room of the 1962 Mercury Mission is on display.
The United States Astronaut Hall of Fame honors every astronaut who has ever participated in the United States Space Program. The entrance is dominated by a statue of Alan Shepherd, the first American in space.
Approximately shaped like the number 8, the gallery honors each astronaut with their picture as well as a shoulder patch from every mission that they flew on.
Two examples show that some men have participated in multiple missions.
A sober reminder that real heroes do still exist…
One final look at the Kennedy Space Visitor Center from the parking lot. Note all the empty space, the rain and corona virus have really kept people away.
The visitor complex is surrounded by the actual working space center with enormous buildings rising from behind high security fences.
Under stormy skies we head back to the Florida mainland, ready to take on the next adventure!
Next up: Polly want a “cracker?”
Post a Comment