Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Sebastian Inlet To Melbourne
The road from Moss Park to Sebastian Inlet weaves from St Cloud, to I 95 in Melbourne, south to Sebastian and over the bridge to the barrier islands that protect the mainland and back north to the Sebastian Inlet State Park and it’s distinctive two jetties that reach far out into the crashing Atlantic Ocean waves. Every day, each jetty is lined with hopeful folks hoping to successfully hook and reel in the great catch of the day. The longer jetty on the north side is braced with cement and has huge (at least 8 ft across), scary, OPEN grates that taunt those folks who walk over them (well, me anyway!) with the possibility of falling down thru any one of the 2 inch wide openings into the crashing surf below. The Inlet itself is a great place to watch boats drifting and fishing to whichever way the tide is going and also the glistening white charter fishing craft with their tall flying bridges and vertical stacked fishing equipment, heading for the deep blue open water of the Atlantic. Each day, H and I walked from the campground, along the winding sidewalk, past the fishing pier and the patiently waiting pelicans and wood storks, up past all the benches, lined up and facing the waterway, to the jetties and the stately bridge that rises elegantly up and over the blue water.
Thursday, February 24th was the long anticipated launching of the Discovery Space Shuttle. The day started clear and the sky was blue with only a 20% chance of rain later that afternoon. H decided we should drive the 20 miles north and join R&N at the Melbourne Beach and watch the lift off from there instead of from the break-wall at the state park. Unfortunately, it was hazy up along those crashing waves of salt water and a lot of other folks had decided to join R&N on the beach also! Then the gray clouds started rolling in from the west. The later the hour, the more cloudy the sky got, and more crowded the beach became. N was watching her cell phone for the official Nasa countdown when we almost missed the whole launch!! Someone in the standing room only crowd yelled, “ There it is!” I was standing behind a broad shouldered man and didn’t see where the fast rising shuttle was coming from, so H grabbed my shoulders and yanked me to the left and said “ There!” Just in time, I clicked a picture before the small but bright glow disappeared into the dark clouds. Disappointed a bit – but at least we saw it! From there we made a quick escape from the parking lot and met R&N at a really good Mexican restaurant down A1A. I don’t think I’ve ever had spinach in any enchilada before!
From Sebastian Inlet, back up A1A to Melbourne and across town to Wickham Park – one of H’s favorite campgrounds, was Friday’s project. SPFB – again! This large county park has 2 lakes for swimming and for model boat sailing races, an equestrian center, plenty of picnic and playground areas, and a Frisbee golf course, besides the two camping loops. The politics of the campground have not improved over the last few years and it upset H tremendously. There were several empty spots in both “electrical” loops and still we were stuck in the overflow area – a big bare field with lots of tenters (homeless?) and weekend partiers. In spite of all that, the one bright spot out in the field was the Gopher Tortoise that H found trying to make a “quick run” from the anthill dotted field to the woods on the opposite side of the fence. H interrupted his bid for freedom and held him while I snapped his picture several times.
Thankfully, we spent the whole day Saturday out of the park! Breakfast at Subway, then, off to the flea market where the boys went their way and we two girls got to shop without any male pressure! The guys headed off to the nearby gun club to try their skill at the skeet range while N and I headed for our favorite drapery/upholstery store that just happens to have fantastic prices. Dinner that night was at Fishbone Willy’s – more seafood, of course!
Sunday morning we said our good-byes to R&N over another good Subway breakfast sub. Ohhhhhh, they are tasty! We’re heading north to Apopka and Wekiwa Springs State Park.
Thursday, February 24th was the long anticipated launching of the Discovery Space Shuttle. The day started clear and the sky was blue with only a 20% chance of rain later that afternoon. H decided we should drive the 20 miles north and join R&N at the Melbourne Beach and watch the lift off from there instead of from the break-wall at the state park. Unfortunately, it was hazy up along those crashing waves of salt water and a lot of other folks had decided to join R&N on the beach also! Then the gray clouds started rolling in from the west. The later the hour, the more cloudy the sky got, and more crowded the beach became. N was watching her cell phone for the official Nasa countdown when we almost missed the whole launch!! Someone in the standing room only crowd yelled, “ There it is!” I was standing behind a broad shouldered man and didn’t see where the fast rising shuttle was coming from, so H grabbed my shoulders and yanked me to the left and said “ There!” Just in time, I clicked a picture before the small but bright glow disappeared into the dark clouds. Disappointed a bit – but at least we saw it! From there we made a quick escape from the parking lot and met R&N at a really good Mexican restaurant down A1A. I don’t think I’ve ever had spinach in any enchilada before!
From Sebastian Inlet, back up A1A to Melbourne and across town to Wickham Park – one of H’s favorite campgrounds, was Friday’s project. SPFB – again! This large county park has 2 lakes for swimming and for model boat sailing races, an equestrian center, plenty of picnic and playground areas, and a Frisbee golf course, besides the two camping loops. The politics of the campground have not improved over the last few years and it upset H tremendously. There were several empty spots in both “electrical” loops and still we were stuck in the overflow area – a big bare field with lots of tenters (homeless?) and weekend partiers. In spite of all that, the one bright spot out in the field was the Gopher Tortoise that H found trying to make a “quick run” from the anthill dotted field to the woods on the opposite side of the fence. H interrupted his bid for freedom and held him while I snapped his picture several times.
Thankfully, we spent the whole day Saturday out of the park! Breakfast at Subway, then, off to the flea market where the boys went their way and we two girls got to shop without any male pressure! The guys headed off to the nearby gun club to try their skill at the skeet range while N and I headed for our favorite drapery/upholstery store that just happens to have fantastic prices. Dinner that night was at Fishbone Willy’s – more seafood, of course!
Sunday morning we said our good-byes to R&N over another good Subway breakfast sub. Ohhhhhh, they are tasty! We’re heading north to Apopka and Wekiwa Springs State Park.
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