April 22, 2005

April 22, 2005

This morning we explored south Florida driving past Miami to Homestead. There we turn west into Everglades National Park. Just past the entrance we stop at the main Visitor Center and peruse their exhibits. We learn that the Everglades is a hundred-mile wide shallow river that drains water from central Florida southwest towards the ocean. With intensive Florida real estate development, much of this water flow has been diverted leaving little left for the Everglades.

The main road thru the Everglades dead-ends at the ghost town of Flamingo on the southwest coast. The Flamingo Visitor Center ranger suggested a canoe trip as a good way to see this part of the park. So we make arrangements to rent a canoe and have it dropped off at Hells Bay Trailhead. It is about ten miles back up the road. In the few minutes it takes us to put the canoe in the water, load it, and apply bug spray, we are bitten by a horde of mosquitoes. And this is the dry season! I would hate to be here in the rainy season. Fortunately after a few paddles in, the mosquitoes pretty much disappear. Fish must eat the mosquito larvae in deeper water.

The first section of this canoe trail is a narrow water path through a dense jungle-like mangrove forest. It is so narrow and winding we mostly just push our canoe forward instead of paddling. The Mangrove tree is unique being one of the few plants that can grow in either fresh or salt-contaminated (brackish) water. I thought this area was pretty cool. Aimee was scared that an alligator would swamp the canoe at any moment. I tried to reassure her that alligators only like fresh water, not the brackish water found close to the coast. What I didn’t tell her was that crocodiles infest the coastal brackish swamps.

Eventually the canoe trail opened up into a series of larger pools. We had to keep an eye out for the periodic PVC pipes that mark the trail so we don’t take a wrong turn and get lost in this watery maze. I started out thinking I should have brought a compass along in case we lose the trail. But since the trail is far from a straight line, I don’t think it would have helped. At this point it starts to drizzle. It is warm and we are sweating, so we don’t mind the rain. Unfortunately the farther we go the harder it seems to rain making it difficult to enjoy the scenery and solitude.

After paddling quite a ways the trail widens into more bay-like surroundings even though we are still far from the coast. The rain has finally stopped. Here we decide that, lacking a detailed map, we should probably turn around. Despite the rain, a canoe was a pretty cool way to see this very strange part of our country. For the more adventurous and better prepared, there is a multi-day 99-mile Wilderness Waterway canoe trail that winds its way through the southwestern Florida Mangrove forest. The Park Service has built platforms along the route for overnight camping.

Back at the trailhead, we abandon the canoe, and drive out the main park road. Along the way we stop at several hiking pullouts. Most of the park interior is a sea of grass with islands of trees. I would guess that in the rainy summer season, the grassy parts fill with water to some level. Near the park entrance we stop at the Royal Palm area, which contains a lake, crisscrossed with a boardwalk. Here we see lots of alligators. Some are a little too close for Aimee’s comfort. We are told that during the dry season, the alligators concentrate in isolated lakes like the one here. In the rainy season, they disperse out into the flooded grassland. 

April 23, 2005

April 23, 2005

This morning we check out of our Fort Lauderdale hotel and drive south to Miami Beach checking into the Avalon-Majestic Hotel. It is located in the Art Deco district called South Beach. The older hotels in this area have been renovated and have now become very chic and trendy. This area is definitely bustling. After settling in, we retrieve our car from the valet and drive to the suburb of Coconut Grove to visit Aimee’s cousin, Billy. After spending the afternoon with his wife, two young girls and two very large dogs, Billy takes us back into Miami Beach for dinner. We talk a little about his work as an accountant. He probably has the most dangerous job of anybody I know especially for a CPA. He is first generation Irish but speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese. As a result he has a thriving business traveling all over South America, including Columbia. He is nuts.

After dinner we hit the South Beach party circuit. We head to the nightclub at the Delano Hotel. The party is on mattresses that surround the hotel pool. The drinks are EXPENSIVE but well spent. Billy and I are impressed with the clientele. The place is wall-to-wall girls. We should have left Aimee at home.

April 24, 2005

April 24, 2005

We spend the day checking out the South Beach scene, lying on the beach across the street and strolling Ocean Drive. The place is a true melting pot of ethnicities, cultures, and economic levels. We see it all both on the beach and walking by the hotel. Our hotel has a porch where you can sit back and people watch. In the evening we eat dinner at Billy’s house with his family.

April 25, 2005

April 25, 2005

In the morning we head into Miami and tour the Vizcaya Museum. Like the Flagler Museum, this is a restored mansion from the days of the robber barons. It was the winter home of James Deering of International Harvester. Situated on Biscayne Bay, it was built in 1916 in the Mediterranean style and is very extravagant. The grounds are nice too with a large dock and sculpture garden. For lunch we eat in quaint downtown Coconut Grove.

Many of the South beach hotels on Ocean Drive convert their lobbies and sidewalks into fine restaurants at night. We eat at a very nice one (Caffe Milano) a block up from our hotel. It is so nice to be able to eat dinner outdoors in April!

May 14, 2005

May 14, 2005

I saw an article in the local paper about the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. This research center has a museum open to the public so we decided to visit this weekend. Most of the exhibits are about early civilizations that first started in the Middle East, especially Assyria and Persia. While the museum is not large, it is quite interesting and it has some monumental artifacts collected from their archeological digs.

Since we are in the Hyde Park neighborhood, we walk around the corner and sign up for a tour of Robie House, one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpieces. We have more interest and appreciation in his work after touring his studio in Oak Park a couple years ago. This very large 1910 house is very classic Prairie Style. In 2019, this and seven other examples of Wright design were named a World Heritage Site. Design is cool, colorful windows, but uncomfortable furniture

While walking the campus we also found the plaque commemorating Enrico Fermi’s nuclear experiment (Chicago Pile-1) conducted in a squash court under the now-demolished Stagg Field. In December 1942, Fermi built a 20-foot high stack of uranium and graphite starting a nuclear chain reaction. It was the first major technical achievement of the secret Manhattan Project. It is incredible that this potentially dangerous experiment was done in such a populated area. The experiments were then moved west to forest preserve property which became Argonne National Laboratory.

April-May 2005

April-May 2005

At our local community College of DuPage, I signed up for an experiential learning class called “Fossil Hunting Field Trip”.  I was intrigued by the idea that fossil specimens could be found near Chicago. Our instructor drove us in a van southwest to the site of a large barren hill just off I-55. I have passed it dozens of times on the drive to St. Louis and often wondered what it was. It is one of several coalmine tailing piles in the area, all famous for Mazon Creek fossils of the Carboniferous Period. This formation is one of the few spots in the world that soft-bodied organisms have been preserved. The most famous Mazon discovery is the Tully Monster, now the state fossil of Illinois.

We spent the day combing thru this gigantic rock pile looking for oval shaped ironstone concretions. I collected a bucketful. In the second class we were taught how to open them. By alternately freezing and thawing the rocks in water they can be coaxed into splitting apart. Over the next month, I unlocked a few 300 million-year old specimens. I think most are amorphous Jellyfish, but I could use the help of an expert to identify them. Too bad there is not a third class!

May 19-20, 2005

May 19-20, 2005

A fellow Nalco employee invited me on his annual fishing trip to Canada. Canada is a dream destination for avid anglers. Kirby and I left after work, met up with four other guys at a rest stop, and drove all night to the shore of Lac Seul. Lac Seul is a large 150-mile long lake in northwestern Ontario, four hours north of International Falls, Minnesota. In the tiny hamlet of Hudson, we loaded up a rental houseboat with supplies (mainly beer) and had it driven for us many hours north. We dragged three fishing boats behind.