Santa Came Early

Christmas arrived nine days early at the Folly this year, with a visit from Florian and Arko. We hadn't seen each other in more than four years, and Thom was kind enough to lend them the cabana.  They were tickled to have escaped the frigid weather in Chicago.

We began the Palm Beach County Grand Tour on Worth Avenue.  Oddly, Tiffany's doesn't seem to decorate for the holidays, at least outside the building's elegant coquina exterior.

Christmas wreaths and alligators are about as asynchronous

. . . as decorated pine trees and palms.

At the Manatee Lagoon, Florian was lucky enough to spot one.  It took me three visits.

Next up, late-afternoon  'gator hunting at the Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.

Florian did find a BIG one where we'd been told to look by a fisherman, but the poor creature had a floater embedded in the tip of its snout,  making it look like Rudolf the Red-Nosed Alligator.  I prefer photographing uninjured wildlife.

Visitors gathered on the viewing platform to watch the sunset over the Everglades.

Park signage conveys the diversity of Florida's fauna, although it doesn't necessarily protect those depicted.  I passed a tire-squashed snake on the opposite side of the road.

Florian struck a happy pose at the Norton Museum where we caught a traveling Rembrandt show.  He took almost as many pictures of the art as I did.

We dined at Oceano Kitchen where the coconut cream pie looked a little bit like a crab but tasted heavenly.

On Friday, we headed to MacArthur Park.

While Florian and Arko frolicked in the surf, I walked the length of the only undeveloped stretch of beachfront in the county.

Upon return, I retrieved Arko's stick from the ocean.

The boardwalk was much busier than during my last visit.

Florian took me to brunch at John G's, an "old Florida" restaurant now under new management, where we enjoyed delicious cranberry mimosas.  If the waitress hadn't screwed up my order, I would have taken a picture of my eggs Benedict with crab cakes. Afterward, we drove an hour to Wynwood, where Florian took a picture for his friend Uwe who gets a kick out of signs that don't make sense.

Wynwood Walls changes less each time I go.

Back at the Folly, we dined on fresh branzino, purchased the night before after checking out the Loggerhead Marine Life Center and perfectly prepared by Florian.

I'm sure he felt a little bit like this kid after I took him to the airport on Sunday.