Hillsboro of the Horrible Experience and Chihuly the Great

Friday, 5 January 2007

The next day after breakfast, we started out to try to find the Hillsboro LIghthouse.

Heated swimming pool at the Hampton Inn

I wanted to look and see whether the Riviera Beach Marina

City of Riviera Beach

was still in operation (after the hurricanes) at the same place,... but we got lost a couple of times (the computer kept telling us we were "Off Course") and so I abandoned that idea. I knew the lighthouse was near Lighthouse Point, but couldn't find a town named Hillsboro (except for Hillsboro Beach). I eventually determined that Hillsboro Inlet and also Hillsboro Lighthouse were in Pompano Beach

So we went out onto I-95,

Salamander decoration on the freeway walls

CSX train beside the road

and then ducked off at Deerfield Beach,

Greater Deerfield Beach Chamber of Commerce

crossed the ICW to A1A

A1A Junction

and drove down along beside expensive homes and boats,

Homes along the intercoastal

Boat on a lift

until we saw the lighthouse ahead of us in the distance

Lighthouse ahead

On our first venture down the ICW, we went out through the Hillsboro Inlet bridge by mistake.

This is what I wrote at the time of that first trip.
Disaster day - we only have 5 more bridges to do --- except that I mistake the first bridge and we go out the Hillsboro Inlet bridge instead of the 14ths St. bridge. Luckily the bridge tender put the bridge back up and let us back through

The reason we were so afraid to actually go out this inlet is that the inlet has a well deserved reputation for chewing up boats and spitting them out on the rocks. I hadn't really given the lighthouse much of a glance - I was too busy looking at the rocks. And after that, the only time we saw this lighthouse was from out in the ocean as we went offshore from Miami to Fort Pierce

Hillsboro Lighthouse from the Atlantic

I knew where the inlet was on the charts, but I could not figure out from the internet exactly where I could go to see it. One of the sites gave places along the road to the south of the inlet where he said views could be had, but that area was completely built up.

We drove down US A1A and across the drawbridge

Approaching the bridge by car

and the whole length of the road and back without finding any place that looked like we could get to the coastline without going across someone's property. On the way back we almost ran into Hillsboro Inlet Park

Hillsboro Inlet Park sign

Anchor in the park

This park had free parking, playground equipment

Playground equipment

benches

Benches in the park

and people (and some birds) were fishing from beside the inlet, and it also had a really good view of the Hillsboro Inlet bridge. And of course it was a good vantage point to take pictures of the lighthouse.

Lighthouse and helicopter

The timeline for the lighthouse goes as follows:

• 1906—lighthouse completed in Detroit. Shipped via Lake Erie, Lake Michigan, Illinois and Mississippi River, Gulf Mexico, & Key West. 4,000 Nautical-Mile trip. Meanwhile, J.H. Gardner Construction Co. of New Orleans gets awarded the contract for clearing the land/laying foundation/re-assembling and erection, cost $16,792.
• 1907—March 07. Lighthouse is placed into service

From inside the inlet looking out

Closeups

Close-up of the light

Inlet and Lighthouse from the park

The bridge tender gets her own parking space. Bridge tenders usually have to drive to the bridge and park their car someplace. Once in awhile the bridge tender can actually park ON the bridge if has wide shoulders, but the tender usually parks and walks to the bridge control building. Sometimes they just park on the shoulder of the road next to the bridge. Bridge tenders have actually been killed by cars on their bridges when going to their duty station

Sign at the parking spot

This is a dangerous inlet in some weathers. A half dozen boaters die each year using South Florida Inlets.The Hillsboro Inlet requires skill and some local knowledge. Strong currents and shoaling (in the inlets and just beyond the jetties) are common Florida inlet dangers.

Tip: When using an inlet, wait for a locally-based boat that is larger that your boat. Follow that bigger boat at a safe distance. This will help you avoid shoaling and dangerous currents. Watch for shoaling near the Light (to the north side, just outside the jetty.) The inlet is reasonably wide and navigable.

Hillsboro Inlet

Sea Tow boat waiting to rescue someone

The other side of the inlet from the lighthouse against the sun

Most of the boats in the inlet are power boats.

Bridge closed

Boat waiting for the bridge and the lighthouse

Bridge opening

Power boat going through the drawbridge

Because of shoaling, the inlet has to be constantly dredged, so there is a little barge that pumps the sand and some floating pipes right at the entrance.

Dredge, lighthouse and a power boat

It is a tricky inlet in some conditions such as an opposing tide and wind which makes really steep short waves. It can be difficult to control a boat under such circumstances and sailboats which are often large heavy boats with a relatively tiny motor have more difficulty than power boats with their larger engine to boat ratio.

I took a series of pictures of a large cruising sailboat which was going out the inlet when the wind was from the east blowing into the inlet, and the tide was going out against the wind.

Sailboat approaching the inlet

Dredge on the let and sailboat approaching the inlet

Tide going out against wind from the east - Sailboat wallowing in the short steep waves

Dredge and sailboat successfully outside the inlet

We stayed at the park about an hour talking to an old man that was fishing

Fishing spot and looking under the bridge

and taking pictures. And also we used the bathrooms. Then we drove on down toward Miami to visit grandchildren. We stopped at McDonalds for lunch,

Big Mac

and I noticed these fans in the ceiling.

Ceiling fans in McDonalds

We got to our daughter's house about 2 pm,

Team water bottle

Granddaughter playing baseball

and went to watch our granddaughter play baseball that afternoon. Then we checked into the Quality Inn for the night. Our original reservation was at the Best Western, but our daughter said it was a bad area, and told us to stay at the Quality Inn instead.

Quality Inn

Saturday January 6, 2007

Looking out the door of our room

My daughter had to work in the morning (she's a pilot), so I spent time uploading pictures that I had taken, and then in the afternoon we went back over to her house and watched our granddaughter at soccer practice,

Soccer

and our grandson play in a ballgame.

Grandson playing baseball

Bob sitting at the game with my pocketbook

Sunday, January 7, 2007

We usually visit some tourist attraction while we are in Miami, and our granddaughter wanted to go to see the Chihuly glass at Fairchild gardens. We suggested going to the Deering Estate, but our grandson told us that it was really boring, so we gave in and went to Fairchild even though we had been there previously.

Towering glass sculpture

'Boat' in the gardens

Blue glass ice

We took the tram ride around the grounds, and really the glasswork was spectacular. We were glad that we came.This exhibit was much better than anything that could be done in a museum.

Big floating balls

Red spikes

Red spikes in the desert

At the end of the garden

Suspended yellow sun

Strange bush

Pink glass tower

Floating glass balls

Yellow tower

White glass

sculptures appear to float on a lake

sticking up out of the foliage

After that visit Chihuly became one of my favorite contemporary artists. Whenever we saw intriguing glass sculpture after that, we looked to see if he was the artist. He has done some of the atrium sculptures for some of the cruise ships we have been on.So keep an eye out for a Chihuly exhibit at a garden near you.

We got off the tram at the cafe, and had lunch at this little place which is one of the tram stops.

The website says "Light lunches and cold drinks are available at the Garden Café daily from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Enjoy a snack under the sapodilla tree or observe the conservatory nursery through the large windows of the cafe"

We ate outside on a picnic table, observed by a chameleon.

Chameleon

You ordered at the window, and took a table marker

Table marker

and they brought you the food when it was ready. Our daughter had a salad,

My daughter's salad and My quiche

and I had the quiche of the day for $4, which I think was spinach and cheese, and Bob and my granddaughter had one of the sandwiches for $6-7.00.

Sandwiches

and then walked to visit in the greenhouses.

Showing my granddaughter fern spores underneath the fern fronds

Orchid

Real Flower in the greenhouse

Multiple fruits

Yellow glass apple

Red glass ball

Hanging in the greenhouse

Green glass plants

Glass flower

Real flower

Green glass worms

Green glass

Blue glass

Orange worms

There was other artwork on the grounds, but the glass works were the best.
==

Colorful vases

These 'vases' were in the greenhouses, and I do not think they were Chihuly, but they are one of the best of the 'other' artwork.

Then we walked back to the entrance.

Monday, January 8, 2007

My daughter's family all had work and school on Monday, so we checked out and drove across

Leaving Miami

via Lake Okeechobee to Highland Hammock's State Park in Sebring on our way to Winter Garden.