Sand sculpture

For her birthday, December 26, Lou wanted to see the sand sculptures at West Palm Beach. It is about an hour and a half drive if: (A) you don’t miss your turn and (B) you  know where you are going . Well, I missed the turn and only found the place by much searching. I had studied the map the night before leaving. I still don’t know how I miss Okeechobee Blvd.

I first drove us to Palm Beach rather than West Palm Beach. Well, it is a very upscale place. It cost $5 per hour at the parking meters along the ocean front drive. The vehicles that you see are mostly BMW, Lexus, Rolls Royce, etc. Much of the beach is private. There are tall thick hedges at curbside so that you can not view what the other half are doing.  The wind was blowing in off of the ocean and the temperature was 82 and sunny. A beautiful day to be at the beach. After we left I took us a scenic tour. (I did not know where the event was taking place.)

We arrived on Clematis Street and dined at the Tin Fish. We each had a nice fish and chips lunch. The Tin Fish is on the street across from the “Waterfront”. That is what they call their park.

The theme of the sand sculpture displays was to play on words using “sun” and “sand” for the “sea-sun” (season).

 

The center piece for the array of sculptures was a three story tall Christmas tree with lights, ornaments and presents under the tree. I took pictures from different sides as the gifts were neat. You have to look close to see some of them. The sand being of one color, you have to rely on shadows cast by the afternoon sun. (Remember to click on the image to get a closer look.) The inscription on the left that does not show well due to near vertical incidence on it reads “To WPB from Sanda-Claws”.

 

 

Note the size of the teddy bear. It helps to realize the size to the sculpture. They claim that there are 400 tons of sand in the tree sculpture. It had been up a couple of weeks when we saw it. It was still in good shape. I wonder what they add to the sand to keep the elements from eroding the surface details. I know that as they are piling the sand it is being watered in continuously by a couple of hoses. That makes the sand pack tightly. They watered in the sand behind my seawall when it was built.

There were a number of other sculpture around. I liked this one. Notice the palms in the background. It was very windy that day.

I may be a while before we travel with the motor home as we need to save up for our trip next summer. It is certainly uncertain at this time what fuel prices will be.