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Heh - took me a long time to realise that an avatar was different to a photo… but you’re right about the freckles, I grow them just by looking at sunshine.
6 miles from yesterday. Not going to be any today, it’s karate night.
I don’t know how I’ve missed this thread but it sure is fun. I want to add my 4 miles from yesterday.
Where are we at right now? Have you gotten near Milwaukee yet? (I’m in a suburb just southwest of it) I figure if Scott is walking with us he might like to check out the home of his Harley-Davidson. Tours are available, you know! And we have a small plane manufacturer near my home (American Craft, I think it’s called.) Oh...and Penzey’s Spices is from here as well. We all know how important it is to add spices so we can get flavor with out all the saturated fat! Admit it, you all want to visit me, don’t you?
I could add more great reasons to stop by but I’ll just leave it at that until you “get here”.
Welcome to our little stroll around North America!
We started out in Maine and have made our way down the East Coast and right now we’re hanging out at the Mariott Resort on South Hutchison Island in Florida.
My attention has been drawn away from our walk this past week by my adopting two new kittens (see my 100 Days Thread for all the cute pictures and details about how amazingly outstanding they are!!)
I intend to move us forward over the weekend, so your miles are a great addition.
It will take us a LONG time to make it all the way around to Milwaukee, but just think how fit we’ll all be by then!
P.S. I’m a big-time Penzey’s fan! I started out buying from them online, but they were wonderful and opened up a store right here in Houston a couple of years ago!
Just as everyone started to think we’d be lazing around the Marriott forever, Judy blew her whistle and roused the troops! Hallelujah! We were off again! Heading to Miami Beach!
We started by walking south down Hutchinson Island as it got narrower and narrower. At the tip it broadened out and we strolled through the Sailfish Point Golf Club.
We had reached the southern tip of the island, so it was time to pull out the Virtual Kayaks and start paddling. We headed across the St. Lucie Inlet and instead of going straight for land, we continued paddling down into what our map labeled “Great Pocket,” which is part of the Intracoastal Waterway. We had the mainland to our right and the St. Lucie Inlet State Park on Jupiter Island to our left and we continued paddling south. Once past the park we noticed a lot of really big and expensive homes (and boats) on Jupiter Island, including this one owned by golf king Tiger Woods.
Further south we entered Peck Lake and we decided to get back onto land. So we hauled the VKs up near the Loblolly Pines Golf Course and hiked across to Highway A1A and started walking south.
We soon passed through the unincorporated community of Gomez. I doubt seriously it was named for this guy. But you never know!
Soon we reached the unincorporated community of Hobe Sound, named for the Spanish pronunciation (“ho-bay”) of the name of the Indians (the Jobe tribe) who lived in the area. Being Americans, the current residents pronounce it like the word “robe.”
Before continuing on, we stopped here to grab a bite to eat. Oh, and pick up a T-shirt or two as souvenirs! (Click on the “Harry’s Forecast” shirt for a laugh!)
Turns out that the Loxahatchee River is the first Florida River nationally-designated as a “Wild and Scenic” river. We sure got a good look at the wild part as we paddled! After many twists and turns, we found ourselves in the main channel of the river as it approached the sea and broadened out. After passing the village of Tequesta on our left, we spotted the Jupiter Lighthouse to our left. Quite a sight!
We had had enough paddling for a while, so we headed for the southern shore of the river and came ashore in Burt Reynolds Park. This time we knew that it was named for that famous Florida native. As we hiked south on Highway 1, we decided to stop in at this museum.
Having had enough of Burt Reynolds for one day, we turned right onto Route 706 (Indiantown Road) and headed inland. It didn’t take long for the surroundings to become quite rural. We passed River Bend Park on our left and then it was a lot of straight road ahead of us with a lot of flat land on either side. So we switched to our Virtual Bicycles to make better time.
Pedaling furiously, we made record time! We made a branching right turn up onto Route 710 (the Bee Line Highway) and we made a beeline down that road until we came to Route 76 (SW Kanner Highway). After turning left, we noticed we were riding alongside a big canal. Turns out it was a stretch of the Okeechobee Waterway, a 152-mile long canal linking the eastern and western coasts of Florida. Sure enough, we soon came to Port Mayaca and we could see the huge (HUGE) lake ahead. Lake Okeechobee, named for the Seminole word meaning “big water” covers over 700 square miles.
At Port Mayaca we turned left onto the road along the side of the lake and continued south down SW Conners Highway. Soon we came to the community of Canal Point, where the highway (Route 700) turned back toward the east and away from the lake. We noticed a lot of sugarcane fields around. It turns out that this is the main source of employment in the area and has been for many years. Migrant laborers have worked these fields for many, many years. Here’s an example of where they lived in 1939 during the depths of the Depression.
We pedaled as fast a we could through all those flat, flat acres, heading southeast back towards the Atlantic. Along the way we passed the turn-off onto Muck City Road, but we decided that was not where we wanted to go! So we kept pedaling. We eventually passed by the northern tip of the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge but we decided we’d had enough alligators and swamps and cypress trees for a while. We kept pedaling and soon started to enter some civilization again!
In Florida, “civilization” often means a golf course. Sure enough we passed the Binks Forest Golf Club on our right. Soon we had entered Wellington in Palm Beach County. According to Wikipedia, Wellington was originally the world’s largest strawberry patch, the Flying C.O.W. Ranch (owned by Charles Oliver Wellington)! Nowadays its claim to fame is that it is host to the world’s largest horse show each January through March.
As we continued down Route 700 (now known as Southern Blvd.) we ran out of miles just as we came to the South Florida Fairgrounds. Lots of space to pitch our tents and lots of things to see while we accumulate some more miles!
Great trip, Judy - thanks :D I have some images from the Loxahatchee River tucked away in my head to meditate with, one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen anywhere in the world - and when we’ve visited, it’s been empty!
Hubby and I have entirely differing views on flat land. He hates it, and thinks a landscape is only complete with a mountain or two visible - although he enjoyed Florida too I was born on the African high plateau, and now choose to live in East Anglia in England, which is flat as flat can be. Flatlands lift my spirits, because of the immensity of the sky and the beautiful cloudscapes.
I have been walking recently, honest - just not posting! 12 days since I posted last. That would involve 3 days’ karate training, when I don’t walk much; and I’ve been in London for a series of meetings, so have only walked sporadically for another 4 days of that. But that leaves 5 days when I wouldn’t have walked fewer than 3 miles each day. Hope we get out of the fairground by the 29th, that flea market looks scary!
Well, we didn’t leave the South Florida Fairgrounds in time to avoid that giant Garage Sale on September 29. There was WAY more junk than we knew what to do with, so we just hung out around our tents.
It was just Nicky and me accumulating the miles, so when we headed off, we knew we weren’t going to get very far!
We headed east down Southern Blvd., past the strangely-named subdivision of “Gun Club Estates.” Hmmmmm. That somehow doesn’t make me want to live there.
We passed through the tiny town of Glen Ridge (population under 300), which is represented by this woman in the Florida State Legislature. She also represents the town of Cloud Lake which is even smaller (population under 200). We kept hiking on through because we could begin to smell the scent of the ocean!
It wasn’t long before we found ourselves on the shores of Lake Worth. This is what the stretch of the Intracoastal Waterway is called. It’s named for this gentleman who led the American forces in the Second Seminole War. He was really quite something. He went on to become second in command under General Zachary Taylor in the Mexican-American War. There is a large monument to him in Worth Square in Manhattan. And to top it all off, the city of Fort Worth, Texas is named for him. Pretty amazing for the child of two pacifist Quakers from Hudson, New York.
After standing there on the shores amazed for a while, we continued hiking across the bridge. We crossed over the Bingham Island in the center of the lake which house a bird sanctuary. Soon we were across the lake and on the barrier island. We turned right and started heading south, enjoying the views of the beach.
We decided to switch to our Virtual Bicycles since we had a pretty straight shot down the beach. Soon we pedaled past Phipps Ocean Park on our left and then we pedaled straight through the Town of Palm Beach’s Par 3 Golf Course. We didn’t get hit by any stray golf balls, but our retinas were badly burned by this sight .
Rubbing our eyes to take away the sting, we continued pedaling south. After flying past Barton Park we arrived in South Palm Beach.
After whizzing through town, we decided to head back across Lake Worth and onto the mainland for a while. We had spotted a couple of intriguing names on the map and wanted to check them out. After turning right onto E. Ocean Avenue and crossing Lake Worth, we found ourselves in Lantana, named for one of the most beautiful flowering shrubs around. Butterflies and hummingbirds love it, too!
We decided to stop here to get a bite to eat. Yum!
Then we came to the place whose name intrigued us on the map – Hypoluxo! What a fantastic name for a place! As much as we wanted it to be some indication of “hyper luxury,” it turns out that the name derived from a Seminole word meaning “water all ‘round – no get out.” Oh well. It’s still a pretty quirky place, calling itself “Home of the Barefoot Mailman.”
Interesting stuff! But we needed to move on.
We continued pedaling down Route 1 until we arrived in Boynton Beach. We had to stop there because Boynton is an ancestral surname on Judy’s mother’s family tree! Turns out that the original founder was a gentleman named Boynton from Michigan, so if any of the modern-day Boyntons are still around, they might be very distant relations.
One fun fact to know and tell about Boynton Beach is that it is the home of this real estate broker, who was the winner on season 3 of “The Apprentice.”
We decided to head back out towards the beach again. So we turned left onto E. Ocean Avenue and soon found ourselves in Ocean Ridge. Heading south again, we pedaled and pedaled until we arrived in Briny Breezes.
Briny Breezes has been in the news in the past couple of years. It is a town made up of about 488 mobile homes, right on the ocean, occupied mostly by retirees. Most of the lots were originally purchased between 1958 and 1963 for about $2,000-$2,500. Even today, each median home value is only about $129,000. What made the news was that in 2005 a developer made an offer to buy the whole town for $500 million. That would have made each lot owner an instant millionaire. In July of this year, the deal was called off by the developer after disputes with the town’s management.
We didn’t stick around to commiserate with the residents, and we pedaled on south. We passed through the town of Gulf Stream and noticed this little cottage for sale. Not too shabby for a mere $17.5 million.
Further down the road we passed through the edge of the Gulf Stream Golf Club. Again we were blinded! Are those guys following us?
With our eyes watering, we pedaled on. We soon arrived in Delray Beach . We stopped in here for a quick snack and some liquid refreshment (an “adult beverage” as Scott calls it!) before heading on south.
Soon we were touring this place in Highland Beach. Maybe we could put our pennies together to buy it, but right now we’re not ready to settle down. So on we pedaled.
Oops. Maybe we won’t pedal for too long! Looks like we’ve run out of miles. Fortunately, we just entered Spanish River Park so we decided to pitch our tents on the beach and enjoy the sound of the surf for a while.
Oh, I’ve been bad! Sorry, have been running around instead of walking My pedometer says, for the last 6 days; 2, 2.5, 4,5.5,3, and 4.5 miles, total 21.5. None today, its a) raining and b) karate night, I’m going to go and show off my new belt
What a nice trip we’ve been on, though! Those golfing guys are definitely weird… I love that trailer park story. Their community sounds something worth preserving; I’m glad it’s not me someone’s offering a million bucks to! I hope they thrive, and that the storms avoid them… I enjoyed the history lessons about Mr Worth and the barefoot mailmen too. I love exercising my mind as well as my body!!
Thanks for doing this, Judy. I think it’s great - and I love camping on the beach :D
We have spent a whole month camped out here in Spanish River Park! We are heartily tired of hearing the seagulls every day, and we’re getting close to being tired of looking at the ocean. But not quite!
After packing up the tents, we hit Highway 1A and headed south. We passed by the interestingly-named Gumbo Limbo Nature Center but didn’t stop to visit. As we passed the Red Reef Executive Golf Course we realized we had entered the City of Boca Raton. Off to the west, across the Intracoastal Waterway, we could see the famous 28-story pink hotel – the Boca Raton Hotel – whose pink color is known as “Boca Pink.”
We decided to take a closer look at Boca Raton, so we turned right onto West Palmetto Park Road and headed inland. We toured the grounds of the Boca Raton Resort, enjoying the sight of the gorgeous old, original hotel opened in 1926.
We turned left onto N. Federal Highway and headed south, past the Royal Palms Country Club. Oh no! Not them again! We thought we had lost those guys a long time ago.
With our eyes stinging, we continued south, on through the cities of Deerfield Beach and Lighthouse Point. Further down the road we passed the Pompano Citi Centre building which was created out of the old Pompano Fashion Square mall. Right next door was the Pompano Beach Golf Course, which we hurried by in order to avoid seeing any more loud golf pants.
We decided to head back towards the ocean, so we turned left onto NE 14th Street and soon found ourselves back at Highway A1A (also known as Ocean Avenue) and headed south. It looked like a pretty straight shot for a while, so we decided to hop onto our Virtual Bicycles and pedal down the road. We passed through Terra Mar, where we could have stayed here . But we had plenty of miles left, so we kept pedaling.
We spotted this home in the village of Sea Ranch Lakes, but decided we would hold out for something bigger before we coughed up the cash to buy anything. Just down the road, we arrived in the town of Lauderdale-by-the-Sea. While we were there, we decided to take a quick scuba diving trip to visit the wreck of the S.S. Copenhagen.
After our dive, we stopped here for a bite to eat. Mmmmmmm.
We then continued zooming down the road on our Virtual Bicycles. Soon we spotted the Hugh Taylor Birch State Recreation Area and we stopped in for a visit. Then, we decided to head inland again, so we turned right on E. Sunrise Blvd.
We soon found ourselves smack dab in the center of Fort Lauderdale. Fort Lauderdale is known as the “Venice of America” because of the extensive canal system in the city. It was also known for some time as “Fort Liquordale” because of all of its restaurants and bars and the over 350,000 college students who used to descend every spring for Spring Break. The city passed a lot of strict ordinances and has really clamped down in recent years and the Spring Break count has dropped drastically. But we decided to celebrate its old reputation by stopping here to have an adult beverage.
After our brief tour of the city, we headed back out towards the ocean on E. Las Olas Blvd. and then back heading south on Highway AIA. The road curved back in towards the Intracoastal Waterway and we decided to stop to visit this historic old house.
We saw that we’d either have to head back inland to keep going south, or take to our Virtual Kayaks to cross the entrance to Port Everglades. Guess which we picked!
We hit the water paddling and after dodging huge container ships and cruise ships, we made it across and entered the Intracoastal Waterway. We paddled down along John U. Lloyd State Park until we came to the entrance of Whiskey Creek. We paddled into the inlet and continued down Whiskey Creek until we came to the park road. What’s really cool about kayaking down Whiskey Creek is that it’s a manatee sanctuary! So we spotted several of those wonderful creatures on our way.
Back on the road again, we continued heading south where we enjoyed the sights of West Lake Park alongside the road. We passed through Hollywood. No, not that Hollywood. This Hollywood.
Further down the road we came to Hallandale Beach and spotted the signs directing us here. So we had to veer inland just a bit to squander some of our wealth at the races and in the casino! After winning a ton of money, we hit the road again, passing by the Turnberry Isle Golf Course. With all of our winnings, we could easily afford to stay for the night at the resort, but we still had some miles to burn so we headed on.
Soon we were back alongside the ocean. We came to the charmingly-named Sunny Isles Beach which calls itself “Florida’s Riviera.” It’s also a major center for South Florida’s Russian community, so it’s also known as “Little Moscow” because of all of the Russian shops and restaurants along the road. It’s also home to Donald Trump’s Sonesta Beach Resort. We looked, but we didn’t spot him and his weird hair.
Just down the road we came to Bal Harbour where we stopped in at the Bal Harbour Shops an open-air shopping mall noted for its luxury retailers. In 2002, Bal Harbour Shops was the most profitable shopping mall in the country and they have a two-year waiting list for new retailers who want to open a store. Fortunately, we had won all that money at Gulfstream Park, so we shopped to our hearts’ content!
Then, we headed back down the road and soon realized we were nearly out of miles! Spotting a discreet sign pointing to the right, we turned onto 91st Street and soon found ourselves facing the entrance to Indian Creek Village, a very exclusive country club community that occupies the whole of Indian Creek Island. The village’s population is under 40, but it maintains its own public safety department.
We pulled out big wads of bills from our pockets and managed to bribe our way onto the island! After strolling around, we spotted this home for sale and decided to camp out while we accumulated some more miles. Oh, and if we get tired of squatting there, we could move here instead. Not too shabby, huh?
Lots of new freckles from all of our walking. 
