Last Saturday, Amanda and I drove to Fort Lauderdale to visit Kelley and Ruben. I had just been down 3 weeks earlier and had a blast, so I couldn't wait to make another trip down there.
The main thing we had planned for the day was to go see the Coral Castle down in Homestead, about an hours drive south of Kelley and Ruben's place. Amanda already knew what to expect having researched it on the web, but I didn't have any idea what to expect. It turned out to be a really cool place.
See this creepy looking dude on the left? His name was Ed, and he built the Coral Castle by himself over a span of 30 years. He was a petite man, just 5' tall and weighing a mere 100 pounds, yet he managed to carve, move and erect slabs of coral weighing up to 30 tons each. The entire castle consists of over 1,100 tons of coral. He lived in this castle, working on it mainly at night. He didn't want others to see how he was able to accomplish this feat of engineering. Some say he had secret powers, such as the ability of levitate objects. He just claimed that he understood physics and leverage.
There are many interesting objects inside the Coral Castle. One of these is the '9 ton gate' located on the east castle wall. It is a giant slab of coral weighing 9 tons, and it revolves like a revolving door. They claim you can move it just by pushing on it with your finger. As Kelley found out, it isn't quite that easy. Still, a person can open this door without too much effort. Nobody understands how Ed was able to accomplish this. A door such as this using modern bearings would be difficult to construct.
We had a great time at the Coral Castle. Later that night, we went out to eat at a place called the 15th Street Fisheries. We ate outside, right above the dock where hundreds of fish swim and get fed by people at the restaurant. Giant tarpon are often seen and they are huge, some growing up to 8 feet long and weighing 400 pounds. The food was incredible. I'd love to go back there again some day.
Thank you Kelley and Ruben for having us. We had a blast!
Yes Thank you Kelley and Ruben it was VIP all the way...I really enjoyed spending time with you all it was really FUN!!! Too bad I couldn't try my luck on the slots at the Hard Rock : (
Looks like a place I want to see. Of course I looked up Ed Leedskalnin. He comes from a family of stone masons and worked as a lumberjack in Canada. I think he, as he claimed, knew a thing or two about how to move heavy objects using leverage and was pretty comfortable doing so. As a showcase of his talent it is pretty amazing.
Yes Thank you Kelley and Ruben it was VIP all the way...I really enjoyed spending time with you all it was really FUN!!! Too bad I couldn't try my luck on the slots at the Hard Rock : (
ReplyDeleteLooks like a place I want to see. Of course I looked up Ed Leedskalnin. He comes from a family of stone masons and worked as a lumberjack in Canada. I think he, as he claimed, knew a thing or two about how to move heavy objects using leverage and was pretty comfortable doing so. As a showcase of his talent it is pretty amazing.
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