Wanderung 1

Key West or Bust

Holts Take Time in Toyota Truck to Tramp Together in Tepid Temperatures!

January-February 2003

Wednesday, January 22, 2003
We decided to go south and try out the Palm Beach walks. On the way down we drove A1A and again found it to be a pleasant residential street with many high-rises and little traffic. What was striking was the difference between West Palm Beach on the western side of the Intracoastal and Palm Beach along the Atlantic Coast. West Palm Beach started out looking seedy, just a little run down at the heels, but then progressed to looking downright slummy with many shuttered shops, bars on businesses, and so forth. In contrast, Palm Beach was definitely upper crust and proud of it. There were no McDonalds or any other type of fast food in the city limits. Parking was at a premium with many areas placarded for residential permits or 30-minute to 1-hour time spans. Fortunately, we could park in the lot of Green’s Pharmacy which was the start/finish point.

The Palm Beach walk started from Green’s Pharmacy and ventured north for a short loop to the oceanfront before returning to the middle of the city and over to the lake front along Lake Worth. We went south on the lakeside trail that gave excellent views of the lake and nice houses along the lakeshore. Along the way we saw a very large, old banyan tree beside Sea Gull Cottage, Palm Beach’s oldest house.

The lakeshore section of the trail ended at a major shopping street, which we then walked to the east. The shopping district was full of expensive boutiques but also offered many nicely landscaped atria and passageways. Jewelry stores, antique stores, and women’s clothing stores predominated. I was amused to see a super-sized limousine parked outside of Tiffany’s jewelry store—somehow it seemed so appropriate.

From the shopping district we worked out way back north along Ocean Boulevard which gave us nice views of the ocean to the right and “mansion row” to the left. Altho many people in Palm Beach were quite reserved, we passed an elderly gentleman on this stretch who apologized for blocking our way, told us he lived 3 houses down the street, and finally wished us a nice walk. The next major landmark was the Breakers Resort. It was so posh that we felt distinctly uncomfortable in walking thru the lobby to the courtyard for the second checkpoint. I overheard the doorman talking about “Richard Gere” (whoever he is) and how he impressed people who met him. Obviously this was a watering hole for the rich and famous, and we felt like riff-raff. From the Breakers we returned to Green’s Pharmacy along A1A to complete the walk.

We were hungry for lunch and had checked the restaurants in Palm Beach, but sandwiches for lunch started at $15.00 minimum, which would have been a budget buster. We drove inland to Route 1 looking for food before attempting the Lake Worth walk, but couldn’t find any of the normal fast food places except for Kentucky Fried Chicken. However, we found a Jon’s Sub Shop which looked decent and had plenty of cars in the parking lot, so we stopped there for lunch. It was good choice because Monika’s steak and cheese and my grilled Teriyaki chicken were both very good and even the fries were well done—similar to McDonald’s fries which is my touchstone for good-tasting fries.

Thus fortified, we drove to the start point for the Lake Worth walk, a very pretty park lying right on the inside shore of Lake Worth. We both pretty tired and Monika still had a blister from previous walks, so we decided to make this a 5 km walk by walking the first ¼ of the route and doubling back to the start point. The walk went thru the park and along Lakeview Drive which had a nice set of lakeside houses. We enjoyed the “Birthday Cottage” because it was decorated in a festive fashion. I also enjoyed a brightly-painted camel set among the cacti at the front of another lakeside cottage. We doubled back to the starting point and began a leisurely drive back to Jonathan Dickinson Park.

Inside the park we made a detour before driving to our campsite to visit a site with a high likelihood of alligators. When we parked and walked over we found a mommy alligator with at least 4 youngsters of different sizes. She posed with her mouth agape for some photos, so I got some nice shots of her and the babies. We spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the fire before turning in for the evening in preparation for our big trip to the Florida Keys the next day.

Copyright 2002 by Robert W. Holt
Prolog
January 2003
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