Travel Blog

On our way home Saturday, to balance our visit to a historic downtown, we stopped in a modern, planned one: Abacoa in Jupiter. After finally finding a parking space – we’d passed a festival on our way in – we walked down leafy streets lined with three-story apartment houses, some of the residents sitting on their balconies. “Three stories is a good height for Florida,” Hania said, as we turned into a street that, one block in, turned pedestrian. Families and young people sat outside restaurants and breweries in a perfect New Urbanism tableau.

The crowds increased as we reached the park, which was hosting a Cajun Festival ($55 for entry). Across the street stood Roger Dean Stadium, and as we walked over to check it out I had the sensation I was in an idealized version of a big city, one that had taken the main attractions – main street, park, festival, ballpark – and put them all in close proximity. Adding to my delight was the sight of people in the concourse.

“What’s going on?” I shouted to a man walking with his son. “There’s a game,” he said. I had forgotten that Palm Beach County has minor league baseball. We purchased tickets – $10 for seniors – and walked into a sweetheart of a stadium. Rather than find our seats, we took two about eight rows behind the home team’s dugout, halfway between home and first. The Palm Beach Cardinals, I quickly discovered, were playing the St. Lucie Mets, and the Cards pitcher had an early no-hitter.

It had been a long time since I’d been to a ballgame (almost two years), and even longer since I’d been to one outside. A soft breeze made the temperature almost cool. And because of the small crowd, all the sounds were beautifully amplified: the ball landing in the catcher’s mitt, the chatter in Spanish from one of the Cards’ benchwarmers, the gentle razzing, from the two women behind us, of the Mets pitcher.

It didn’t matter that the division was Low-A, the lowest in the minors. It was an idyllic evening, made even more so by being unplanned. On the way out I bought a Jupiter Hammerheads cap and vowed to return this summer and see them play (they’re the Marlins affiliate), ideally against the Ft. Meyers Mighty Mussels.