A Coral Castle and heading north

Friday, December 14
We heard about the Coral Castle from one of our campground neighbors and decided we should see it for ourselves. It was only a few miles from the campground.

There is quite a story behind the Coral Castle. It was built by a guy named Ed Leedskalnin. He was a 5 foot, 100 pound Latvian immigrant who was spurned by the love of his life. He built his castle single-handed. He found a way to quarry, move and place coral blocks that weighed as much as 60,000 pounds using mostly handmade tools. Quite a feat and still a mystery that has been researched by numerous experts. He did most of his work at night and there is no record of anyone actually seeing him and his processes for moving the stones into place.

The only space that could be used out of the weather. His sleeping quarters above and his tool shed below.

Guided tours are included in the admission (about $17/each)

Some of his handmade tools. The steel plates are old suspension springs from cars and trucks of the 1920's. he used them as chisels to quarry the large coral stones.

His swinging chair.

Swinging bed

Ceiling beams. This is the only room with a roof.

Stairs leading from his living quarters.

The obelisk. Six feet in the ground and forty feet above, it weighs 57,000 pounds. How did he move and raise it single-handed??

The tree-ton gate. Moves with an easy push. He found the center of balance and mounted it on a model T axle. Cheryl is pushing it.

The guide showing us the Polaris telescope. There is a small hole in the wall (above the bush) and a large hole in the tower......

......look through the small hole and align the large hole and at night you will find the North Star.

Sun dial. It works from 9AM to 4PM. Quite accurate too.

This is the nine-ton gate. One person could swing it too, but unfortunately is now seized.

This was his cold-cellar. The round stone on the left could be rolled in front of the stairs to prevent animals form raiding the cellar.

The well. Still has cool water in it. You don'e have to dig very deep anywhere in Florida to hit fresh water.

This was his oven. Food would be placed in the metal housing (rear axle from a Model T)......

.....then a fire was lit below the housing. It was also used as a forge as it had a blower below it.

The North wall. Made up of three large stones the center one weighs 60,000 pounds. he was so proud of placing it by himself he proceeded to 'crown' it with the angled piece and the three smaller blocks on top of it. 

The planets. Mars on the left, Saturn, and the crescent moon.

The Florida table. Hard to tell from here but the table is in the shape of Florida. All the chairs are actually 'rockers' and weigh in at 1,000 pounds each. (for liability reasons they no longer 'rock'!)

Life-sized photo of Ed. He is five feet tall.

After a good look at the Coral Castle we decided to head out to Biscayne National park which was only about 10 miles or so east of here, on the coast. Biscayne is mostly a marine park with protected coral reefs but they had some interesting displays for us landlubbers. We met a couple of volunteers that spent last year at a national park in Arizona so we had a nice chat with them about various topics.

The road to Biscayne Park.

Beautiful views out towards the barrier islands.

This area was hit hard with a hurricane a few years back and they are still rehabilitating the shoreline (behind the orange fence)

Biscayne is noted for the underwater coral reefs and shipwrecks that are protected within the park.

Well sheltered dockage. Tours are offered on the pontoon boat....but not while we were there.

Nice displays in the visitor center.

One the way back to Miami we pass the Homestead race track NASCAR hold races here.

Saturday, December 15
We're heading home! Well actually it will be a few months yet but we are starting our slow progression north and westbound. Key West was our furthest point south and now that we've hooked up the trailer and turning its nose north we have reached our furthest southern camping spot here in Homestead, Florida.

We stayed at Miami Everglades RV Park in the far southwest end of Miami and just north of Homestead. It's not a bad campground but typical of many of the Encore, Sun RV and other Thousand Trails locations the campground is older and most sites are occupied by permanent or seasonal residents and the few remaining sites are rented out to transients like us. Just be aware of what you are getting into when you book these places. And be prepared to PAY big time. Florida is not a cheap place and this was the most expensive yet. We stayed 5 nights and with taxes we paid about $325 USD! That's with our camping membership discounts applied.

With some spotting help from our neighbor we were able to navigate out of the trees and out of the campground. We heard of rain in the forecast today so we weren't surprised when we hit some very heavy rain as we headed north on Hwy 27 which borders the Everglades.

Heavy rain on the roads today.

The Everglades on the side of the road. The rain subsided as we made our way north.

The rain subsided and we had a very pleasant drive in the Florida countryside. We passed lots of sugar cane fields and finally found the citrus groves we had been searching for since we entered Florida.

Truckloads of sugar cane.

Fields of sugar cane.

Smoke in the distance. They burn the sugar cane fields after it is harvested.

Finally! Orchards. Orange, grapefruit, and variations thereof.

Millions of oranges ready for harvest.

Bears?? Nope, never saw one.

Beautiful sunset over Arcadia, Florida. From our campsite.

We arrived at Toby's RV Resort in Arcadia and found the office closed at 1:30 in the afternoon, but they had our paperwork ready in late check-in bin. Lots of folks from Quebec in this park as well as other Canadian and Northern US plates.

Not a lot planned for the next four days, but we'll see what we can find that's interesting!

.....and that was Our View From Here!