Sunday, January 6, 2013

Jupiter - Out of this World

We had two great weeks in Jupiter with our friend, Mary Lou.  We really like the area because there is so much to do and there are many very good restaurants.  Mary Lou had us over for dinner a few times but most nights we went out.  It is wonderful to be able to sit outside and have dinner, especially in late December.  We also watched several movies as Mary Lou is in charge of movie night in her condo.  We saw The Magnificent Marigold Hotel and a great dog story, Red Dog, at the condo and we went to the theater to see Silver Lining Playbook (good) and on Christmas day we went to see Les Miserables and I must say I was "les miserable."  Nanc and Mary Lou loved it. 
We did a couple of bike rides from the campground.  Jonathon Dickinson is a great place to ride and see a lot of wildlife.
There are a lot of gopher turtles in the park.
Here are a Great Blue and Little Blue Heron doing a little fishing. 
In the same spot was this osprey.  Check out the claws.
On Christmas day we walked on the beach and found this sandman.  So much neater than any s**nman I have ever seen. 
I got to take my Christmas day swim in the Atlantic.  The water was wonderful. 
After les miserable movie we returned to Mary Lou's for a fantastic Christmas dinner.  Wonderful salmon with all the fixins. 
Another day we took a bike ride on Jupiter Island, one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the country.  I checked home prices on Zillow at this intersection and the prices ranged from a low of 2.5 million up to 20 million.  This is a 1% community.  Many of the homes have the names of the owner on these little signs along the road.  I don't know how the Service family made their money, but they seem to own a lot of homes here.  Tiger Woods, Bill Gates and Celine Deon do not have their names in front of their homes.
A gator in the lake across from where the rig was parked.  You never really know what is in the water in Florida.  Every time we have been here there is a story of some out of state visitor throwing a stick in the water for their dog and the dog getting eaten by a gator.  We also saw three different snakes, but stayed to far away to get any pictures.
The Jupiter lighthouse at night with holiday decorations.  We went to the top for the great view of the area on our first visit.
We did a trip to Lion Country Safari to see the many animals.  It was a drive through exhibit so you did get up close and personal with many different animals.  Here is a web album of the many animals we saw.
A high point of the visit for the ladies was feeding the giraffes.  Mary Lou got really close.
Nanc after she fed this giraffe.  There is a picture of her feeding the giraffe on the web album.  We really loved the visit to Lion Country Safari.  The animals were much more active than I thought they would be and you can get really close to many of them because they roam freely. 
New Years Eve was our last day in Jupiter and we celebrated with a great dinner at the Kee Grill and a laugh filled evening with the Capitol Steps, a political comedy group that is a must see for anyone who loves to laugh at our political leaders.  At Midnight we all watched the ball drop in Time Square and had a toast to Jack with Makers Mark.  We had a great visit to Jupiter and spending the holidays with Mary Lou.  We have now moved to the Keys for the month of January.  Our daily view is the picture that is the header of the blog.  Life is Good!!!!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!