Years ago, when Dave and I drove down the east coast of Florida to Miami, I remember blitzing through a wealthy, elegant town on the beach. Later, I learned that the relatives of President John Kennedy own a compound in Palm Beach, and this is still the town where rich New Yorkers come to spend the winter. Dad and I were weary of theme parks, and drove south to explore.
Our first stop was Henry Flagler's Gilded Age winter home. Flagler was a partner with John D. Rockefeller in Standard Oil, and he was convinced that Florida could be the next Monte Carlo. He had the money and friends to make that dream happen. The same crowd that summered in the mansions of Newport, Rhode Island, wintered in Palm Beach, Florida.
The Breakers dates back to the Gilded Age of the 1880s and 1890s, but it is still an elegant resort hotel today. The Atlantic surf literally breaks at the back door of The Breakers.
Next stop was the Norton Museum, a jewel box of an art museum, so far from New York, Boston, or other major U.S. cities.
I discovered works by my very favorite artists. Bougereau was a Frenchman who painted breathtakingly beautiful, realistic portraits during the 1860s and 1870s. He is notorious as the authority who kept the Impressionists out of the big art shows of the time. His style was waning, but I don't care--I absolutely love his works.
This is a portrait by George Romney, our relative who was one of the "big four" portrait painters in England during the 1700s. The others in the "big four" were Sir Joshua Reynolds, T.E. Lawrence, and Gainsborough.
I love the way Renoir softens and brightens all his portraits with a touch of red. Notice his loose brush strokes and casual finish, compared to Bougereau.
You've all heard how Van Gogh cut off his ear, after a fight with his friend, Gauguin. Gauguin was so horrified that he left Van Gogh and never came back. Van Gogh retired to a home for the mentally ill. This picture was painted by Gauguin soon after leaving Van Gogh. As the critics explain, Gauguin combines, in the face and red hair of Jesus, aspects of both Van Gogh and himself. Gaugin is expressing his pain, love, and complicated feelings for Van Gogh.
After all the man-made beauty and sophistication of the museum, Dave and I loosened up at Lupita's, a mom and pop Mexican restaurant near the beach. The tamarind juice and cheese enchiladas were great.
We finally spent a whole afternoon with the Eberts, after just saying "hi" in the parks, eating supper together, and seeing each other at reunion parties. We visited Kennedy Space Center to get new perspectives on both space and on earth, that "beautiful blue ball," as one of the astronauts described it.
But first things first. We girded ourselves for the rigors of sightseeing with pretzels and mustard.
We rode a bus to see the launch sites and the "loaders," which carry the shuttles, at 1 mph, to the launch site. The top picture shows a launch site. The bottom picture shows a loader in the foreground and the huge shuttle silo, tall as a 40 story building, in the background.
We peered at a space suit, touched a moon rock, and appreciated the immensity and complexity of the equipment for the shuttles.
We also admired the patience, judgment, and sheer grit Steve and Camille showed in maneuvering their six children through the Space Center. "Does Ezra resent the new baby?" I asked Camille. "No, he seems fine with her," she replied. No wonder. Whenever Ezra wants to be babied, Camille picks him up and carries Ezra, as well as Mia!
The Eberts lingered to see a rocket launch, with its plumes of smoke spiraling through the Florida sky. Dave and I arrived back at Orlando just in time to join the reunion crowd in celebrating the birthday of Ira, Josh and Jodi's six-year-old son. Josh made a cake. Josh also let us try some of the homemade cheese he learned to make while working as a physics professor in Wisconsin. We all hugged goodbye and agreed to reconvene, in the summer of 2011--probably at a beach resort on the Gulf Coast. Jeanine, who is in charge of the reunion in 2011, lives in Alabama.
My favorite of all the rides was Mission Space. Somehow, Epcot created the sensation of blastng off in a rocket for Mars--the heavy pressure during lift-off, the release and weightlessness. The physical sensations were accompanied by dramatic video so I really felt I was there.
I enjoyed the other science rides, too, from the General Motors Test Track to the Nemo fanatasy at the Living Sea pavilion.
Another favorite was the "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience!" performance in the Imagination pavilion. All of a sudden, we were tiny and the actor's dog was huge!
I loved the country pavilions, and I watched giant screen movies about China, Norway, Canada, and France.
In the evening, we watched the Newlywed Game with four teams competing--Steve and Camille, Jill and Brent, Josh and Jodi, and Jeanine and Todd. Some of the guesses were wild--Josh thought Jodi's hip measurement was 27 inches! Surprisingly, the couples who could answer the most accurately were the ones who were just married, rather than old-timers like Steve and Camille and Jeanine and Todd. "I just have a lot more experiences and information to remember," Steve said.
The Morelands, from Houston, contributed this fine shirt, colored like the Texas flag. Brent Clark, Jill's new husband, bought it, but Jono was sorely tempted to buy it for Steve for Father's Day.
Instead, Jono picked up another, roomy shirt for himself.
Emilie bought a group of empty notebooks Dave characterized as "Gretta's jourals" (he also sold "the teddy bear Lindy sleeps with every night" and "the mirror Nancy loved best as a little girl.").
Annelise had a great time playing with Charlotte.
The little guys--Ezra and Jodi's son, Asa--just hung out in their finery.
Dave modeled some bright green Mardi Gras beads that Grandma Spendlove snapped up and wore the rest of the trip!
Everyone got acquainted with Mia, the youngest member of the tribe--just one month old
