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West Palm Beach Attractions:
Phipps Ocean Park
2145 S. Ocean Blvd
832-0731
Tours are given weekday mornings.
Free.
A beautiful beach, some picnic tables, and grills, plus a Palm Beach County landmark in the Little Red Schoolhouse. Dating from 1886, it was the first schoolhouse in what was then Dade County.
Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens
253 Barcelona Rd.
832-5328.
Wed.-Sun. 11-4 (call ahead; schedule is not always observed) or by appointment. This monument to the late American sculptor Ann Weaver Norton, second wife of Norton Museum founder Ralph H. Norton, consists of charming 3-acre grounds displaying seven granite figures and six brick megaliths. The plantings were designed by Norton, an environmentalist, to attract native bird life.
John D. Macarthur Beach State Park
Almost 2 miles of beach, good fishing and shelling, and one of the finest examples of subtropical coastal habitat remaining in southeast Florida can be found here. Guided walk is available to a mangrove estuary along the upper reaches of Lake Worth.
William T. Kirby Nature Center
Open Wednesday-Monday from 9 to 5and features exhibits on the coastal environment.
10900 Rte. A1A, North Palm Beach
624-6950
Lion Country Safari
Southern Blvd. West
793-1084
Van rentals available
Daily 9:30-5:30 last vehicle in by 4:30.
Drive (with car windows closed; no convertibles or pets) on 8 miles of paved roads through a 500-acre cageless zoo where 1,300 wild animals roam. Lions, elephants, white rhinoceroses, giraffes, zebras, antelopes, chimpanzees, and ostriches are among those in residence. Special exhibits include the Kalahari Bushvelt, designed after a South African plateau and containing water buffalo and Nilgai (the largest type of Asian antelope), and the Gir Forest, modeled after a game forest in India and showcasing a pride of lions. Stop by the petting zoo, or take a ride on the Safari Queen cruise.
Norton Museum Of Art
1451 S. Olive Ave.
832-5194.
Mon.-Sat. 10-5, Sun. 1-5 More Info
Constructed in 1941 by steel magnate Ralph H. Norton, this museum boasts an extensive permanent collection of 19th- and 20th-century American and European paintings with special emphasis on 19th-century French Impressionists. There are also Chinese bronze and jade sculptures, a sublime outdoor patio with sculptures on display in a tropical garden, and a library housing more than 3,000 art books and periodicals. Nine galleries showcase traveling exhibits as well as art from the permanent collection.
Palm Beach Zoo At Dreher Park
1301 Summit Blvd.
533-0887 or 547-9453.
Daily 9-5 (until 7 on spring and summer weekends).
This excellent zoo is a 23-acre complex with more than 500 animals representing more than 100 species, including Florida panthers, red kangaroos, and Bengal tigers. The newest exhibit, Tropics of America, has six acres of tropical rain forest plus Mayan ruins, an Amazon river village, and an aviary. Also of note are a nature trail, an Australian Outback exhibit, and a children's zoo.
Loggerhead Park Marine Life Center
1200 U.S. 1 (entrance on west side of park), Juno Beach, 627-8280. Donation welcome. Tues.-Sat. 10-4, Sun. noon-3.
Established by Eleanor N. Fletcher, "the turtle lady of Juno Beach," the center just south of Jupiter focuses on the natural history of sea turtles. Also on view are displays of coastal natural history, sharks, whales, and shells.
Lake Worth Municipal Park
Rte. A1A at end of Lake Worth Bridge
533-7367.
Pool. Daily 9-5.
This recreation area on the Atlantic Ocean has a beach, Olympic-size swimming pool, fishing pier, picnic areas, shuffleboard, restaurants, and shops.
Arthur R. Marshall-Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge
10119 Lee Rd., off U.S. 441 between Boynton Beach Blvd. (Rte. 804) and Atlantic Ave. (Rte. 806), west of Boynton Beach
734-8303
Daily 6 AM-sunset; visitor center weekdays 9-4, weekends 9-4:30
Entrance fees apply.
The refuge, established in 1951, is the last remnant of land in the northern Everglades in South Florida. It was acquired in an effort to protect migratory birds, endangered species and the remaining 147,368 acres of northern Everglades habitat. Celebrate Florida's National Wildlife Refuges. Discover the uniqueness of the Florida Everglades as you participate in a variety of programs offered free of charge. Be sure to bring a camera and binoculars to explore the nature trails or canoe trail. Look closely for anhingas, fulvous whistling ducks, smooth-billed anis, egrets, herons, alligators and turtles. Arthur R. Marshall Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge is full of surprises.
Lantana Public Beach 100 N. Ocean Ave.
no phone.
Daily 9-4:45.
Morikami Museum And Japanese Gardens
4000 Morikami Park Rd
495-0233.
Park and museum Fee charged except free Sun. 10-noon. Park daily sunrise-sunset; museum Tues.-Sun. 10-5; café Tues.-Sun. 10-5.
At this 200-acre cultural and recreational facility, there is a beautiful Japanese imperial-style villa with a display that recalls the Yamato Colony, an agricultural community of Japanese settlers who came to Florida in 1905. Gardens include the only known collection of bonsai Florida plants. There are also programs and exhibits in a lakeside museum and theater, as well as a nature trail, picnic pavilions, a library and audiovisual center, and a snack bar. Café serves light Asian fare.
International Museum Of Cartoon Art
201 Plaza Real
391-2200
Tues.-Sat. 10-6, Sun. noon-6.
Telephone first to verify hours.
Championed by Beetle Bailey cartoonist Mort Walker, this is the only museum of its kind in the world. It showcases more than 160,000 pieces of art created over two centuries by more than 1,000 artists from more than 50 countries: everything from turn-of-the-century Buster Brown cartoons to the Road Runner to Charles Schulz's Peanuts.
Boca Raton Museum of Art
Mizner Park, Boca Raton
Designed by Fort Lauderdale architect Donald Singer, the museum is on a sliver of land at the north end of Mizner Park. It is a two-story, 44,000-square-foot facility.
In 1999, two children passed a paper cup around Mizner Park, collecting $4 in change for a proposed new museum. They proudly presented their gift to the Museum which at that time was in crowded, temporary quarters. From that important beginning, it took three years to raise roughly $13.3 million in cash and pledges, which was over and above the project's original $10 million goal.
The handsome new building was recently unveiled in Mizner Park. Not only did the new museum open mortgage-free, but there was enough money left over to support an operating endowment, renovate the museum's old building on Palmetto Park Road into an art school and pay off the mortgage on the original expansion property at 700 Banyan Trail.
With room for larger temporary exhibitions on the first floor and chunks of the permanent collection on the second, the museum can show off more of its roughly 4,000 objects. Only about 3 percent of the collection could be exhibited at any one time in the old building, which also wasn't big enough to house some popular traveling shows. (The museum celebrated the opening with a large exhibition devoted to Pablo Picasso.)
The building also has an outdoor sculpture garden, an auditorium, children's education center, library and those indispensable amenities for a modern museum -- a big gift shop and a "grand hall" to host fund raising social benefits.
The American Orchid Society
487-6552.
Once housed in a Palm Beach mansion, the Orchid Society recently opened at its new headquarters on the grounds of the Morikami Museum
Featured are hundreds of breeds of orchids, the most common of which is the traditional prom corsage orchid, and the decorative dendrobium, a long stalk ranging from 4-18 inches with multiple flowers.
Christopher's Christmas Shoppe
North Palm Beach
848-4500
Visit the elaborate indoor/outdoor holiday displays, caroling by local choirs, surprise visits by Santa Claus for youngsters. A 13,000-square-foot building features quaint year-round Christmas Shoppe with large selections of trees, lights, ornaments of European glass, speciality ornaments and collectables such as Polonaise, Christopher Radko, Dean Griff, Winters Eve, Enesco, Pooh & Disney. Other collectables include a department of 56 villages and accessories, Seraphim, angels and snowbabies. Order or purchase custom designed wreaths and decorations. Go back in time with genuine Antique Christmas Ornaments and decorations.
Gumbo Limbo Nature Center
1801 N. Ocean Blvd.
338-1473
Donation welcome; turtle tours extra (tickets must be obtained in advance). Mon.-Sat. 9-4, Sun. noon-4; turtle tours late May-mid-July, Mon.-Thurs. 9 PM-midnight.
Children enjoy are the four huge saltwater sea tanks containing an abundance of sealife -- from coral to stingrays. A long boardwalk winds through dense forest to a 50-ft tower you can climb to overlook the tree canopy. In the spring and early summer, staff members lead nighttime turtle walks to see nesting females come ashore and lay their eggs.
Herbert Hoover Dike
115 East Main Street, Pahokee
924-5579
Named after the late president, it was built after the devastating hurricane of 1928 when various man-made dikes failed to control the high waters of Lake Okeechobee. The Dike is surrounded by the beautiful Lake Okeechobee, the second largest lake in the United States, with 730 sq. miles of shoreline. Picnic area and campground available.
The Historical Society of Palm Beach County
400 North Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, 832-4164
Located in downtown West Palm Beach, the Historical Society is primarily an archive and research facility. It is dedicated toward collecting and preserving all materials, especially primary source materials, pertaining to the history of Florida and in particular Palm Beach County. The Society's collection is diverse, including letters, diaries and journals, periodicals, photographs, scrapbooks, postcards, maps and one of Florida's largest collection of architectural drawings. There is a winter lecture series. Stop in, visit and see Florida in the past. Hours 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. Tuesday- Friday. Membership available.
Hoffman's Chocolate Shoppe & Gardens
5190 Lake Worth Road
Greenacres
967-2213
For generations, the Hoffman family has been creating the most luscious chocolate masterpieces using only the finest ingredients. Each year more than 150,000 visitors are received at the Hoffman's Bavarian-style Tudor factory to watch the creations being made and to tantalize their senses with more than 80 varieties of confections. Located just in the back of our chocolate factory are the lush tropical gardens through which visitors stroll alongside colorful foliage, stopping to view the waterfall, fish pond, and a G-scale train village with 500 feet of track, while enjoying a chocolate treat. From Thanksgiving through the New Year, Hoffman's transforms the gardens into a Winter Wonderland with over 200,000 lights and brilliant displays. Visitors from near and far arrive at Hoffman's to view and enjoy this free event.
Jungle Queen Riverboat Cruises
801 Seabreeze Boulevard
Ft. Lauderdale
954-462-5596
BBQ Dinner Cruises departs nightly 7 p.m. - 11 p.m. also daily sight-seeing cruises through the Fort Lauderdale area depart from Bahia Mar Yachting Center on Highway A1A. Daily Cruises 10 a.m. & 2 p.m. Open all year.
Jupiter Lighthouse
U.S. Highway 1 and Highway A1A, Jupiter, 747-8380
The oldest existing structure in Palm Beach County and one of the most photographed structures in South Florida. Open Sunday - Wednesday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. (Last tour begins 3:15 p.m.) weather permitting. It is a strenuous climb. Visitors must be in good health and at least 48 inches tall. For your safety, please wear shoes fastened in the back.
Knollwood Groves / Hallpatee Seminole Village
8053 Lawrence Road
Boynton Beach 734-4800 or (800) 222-9696
Open all year.
Discover a taste of "Old Florida" at Palm Beach County's oldest working orange grove. Enjoy a tram ride through the grove & tropical flowering jungle and visit a Native Indian village and alligator pit. Live alligator handling show every Saturday. gift shop & fresh fruit market.
The Last Galleon
Jupiter, 747-7700
The only facility in the U.S. where the public is invited to watch the archeological process on artifacts being recovered from what is believed to be the oldest Spanish Galleon found in Florida waters. Please call in advance.
Lion Country Safari
2003 Lion Country Safari Road
Loxahatchee, 793-1084
America's first "cageless zoo." Enjoy an exciting drive through one of the world's great wild animal preserves with more than 1,200 wild animals roaming free within inches of your car. Then visit Safari World amusement park with narrated boat cruise, miniature golf, animal and bird displays, paddleboats, reptile park, petting zoo, picnic area, restaurant, gift shops, a new carousel and Lory feeding aviary. While the African Lion is still a prominent species in the preserve, Lion Country also provides a home where rare and endangered animals can live and reproduce. Lion Country is one of America's leading centers for the education and preservation of wildlife. Rare births at Lion Country, such as the African elephant, white rhinoceros and giraffes, are some examples of the success of the cageless zoo prototype that has helped revolutionize the zoo industry.
Loxahatchee Everglades Tour
Boca Raton
482-0313
Enjoy air boat tours, and see Florida the way it used to be. Loxahatchee Everglades Tours are open to the public.. Guided tours are available every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. A one-hour environmental tour is available for reservations of parties 15 or more.
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