A couple days ago, I decided the hell with it — I was tired of just hanging out here, tired of taking photos of palm trees and such. I mean, that’s all very well and good per se, I just needed a little variety. The Missus and The Stepdaughter were out getting dolled up (well, their nails were), so I just decided to head out somewhere.

My initial destination was a site commonly referred to as just “Jupiter Lighthouse.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to climb to the top — among other things, the weather was a bit dicey (I kept seeing lightning flashes from that direction). But as you can see if you followed that link, it’s still picturesque as hell. (In fact, I got a shot of it from the far side of the inlet, during our previous visit down here a couple months ago. Obviously the thing has a way of attracting “interesting” weather!)

Again, though, the weather was determined to put obstacles in my way: I had no GPS signal at all, hence no Google Maps to guide me. Luckily, I’d already looked at the route a day before, so I had a general sense of how to get to the Jupiter area. I just used that as a starting point, and headed out…

Well, between one thing and another, I opted not to visit the lighthouse that day. Instead, on the way, I came across a state park. Jonathan Dickinson led a Quaker mission to this general area in the late 17th century; as you can see from the photo on the left, things didn’t work out for him quite as he’d hoped, but at least he got this park named for him. (Maybe we’ll have one named for us someday.)

It’s a fairly small park, with a campground for RVs and such and a handful of “points of interest.” Scenic? Well, sort of… The Florida peninsula doesn’t spring naturally to mind when you think “scenery” — it’s so flat. But here at Dickinson State Park, there’s at least a little relief… a whole blooming mountain, at that. All 86 feet of it!

I did not, in the event, go all the way to the top of the tower (although I did get about halfway up into it). I thought you might appreciate a glimpse of the trek. The photo below is actually about a 180-degree panorama, squeezed to fit here; the boardwalk/path extended a little bit behind me from this vantage point.

I’ll be posting other photos of my visit to the park at my Instagram account for the next few days. In the meantime, here’s one more shot taken that night. It was the night of the full moon known as the “Buck Moon,” so-called (says one source) “because the antlers of male deer (bucks) are in full-growth mode at this time.”

We’ll almost certainly be leaving the area sometime in the next few days. I may be posting an update before then… but no promises!