It is once again time to leave Denver and its 100-degree plus temperatures for Stuart, Florida. Granted, it can be a tad humid in Stuart these days, and there are those afternoon showers (i.e. tropical downpours) that occur during the summer, but those cool breezes off the ocean make up for all that, and the crowds of people that are there during "the season" are long gone. We started the day out with the Uber being 15 minutes late, and then when it did arrive, it was nowhere to be seen. The driver called and told me he didn't see anyone out front and drove to the back door, and so I told him my sister Susan and I would meet him there. And when we got there, the car wasn't there either. He had returned to the front. Where we went next. There was not room enough in the trunk for our two suitcases, two carry-on bags, and Susan's walker, and the driver informed me I should have ordered an SUV. There was construction going on around the intersection by the freeway entrance, which delayed us a bit more, and the driver told me I should have ordered an earlier car, even though the Uber app told me 8:30 A.M. was the recommended time. After that, we made good progress but had to wait in line to check the bags and wait for a wheelchair to arrive. We made it to the gate just as the plane was beginning to board. After arriving in Baltimore to catch our connecting flight, we saw that the plane's departure would be delayed from 6:30pm until 7:30pm. Then 8:30. And then 9:30. And finally, evidently 10:30pm became the magic time, and we arrived at President Donald J. Trump International Airport (don't you just love that? Unbelievable) in West Palm Beach at 1:03 A.M. And the name of this airline that gave no explanation for this 4-hour delay will remain anonymous. Please don't look at the photograph on the left or I could be sued.
Jan, a neighbor at our condo complex, who was originally going to pick us up at 8:50pm., said she would still meet us at 1:00am, bless her heart, and dropped us off at our condo around 2:00. Jan evidently had never been out that late in Stuart before and was amazed at how deserted the town was at that hour. When Susan and I would visit our mother Mary in Stuart, we never once ventured outside the condo after sunset. I just assumed the place must have been plagued by vampires. In any case, the next day, after sleeping a bit longer than usual, we headed around town to see what was happening around the city. Downtown seemed to be hopping, all the restaurants doing a good business, but the rest of the area seemed pretty low key. I drove to Stuart Beach, where there were a few people, but not that many (it was a weekday afternoon after all), and then drove to the House of Refuge, the oldest building in Martin County, now a museum, and seen in the photograph on the right. It was built in 1876, one of 10 havens for shipwrecked sailors along the Atlantic coast of Florida. It has been undergoing a renovation for quite a while and recently reopened. During the renovation, the entire parking lot was closed off, making it impossible to visit without a long hike down the beach. Happily, it is finally back to normal and looking good. And no snowbirds in sight. Perfect!
















