Floridian
Favourites.....
And so we begin
again... three months in a car together.... this time with a focus on the
eastern states of the USA. Unlike our last road trip of the western states
where we visited six states in the first four weeks, we were to spend our first
four weeks in the beautiful state of Florida. Here are the highlights (and as before I will add any observations in italics - Mike)....
Prior to the road trip......
The obvious
highlight of this trip was the wedding of our beautiful Tasha and her wonderful
fella Sean. A heap of family and friends from the UK, (eternally grateful for
the efforts people made), and the local area came together on April 5th to
witness the ceremony on the beach at Dune Allen point. It was perfect.... great
weather, a perfect location, a stunning bride, a dashing groom, beautiful bridesmaids,
a cowboy best man and then there was Daniel.... the groomsman... dressed in a
shirt bought by the groom in the UK and not tried on until shortly before they
were due to leave for the ceremony ......Wendy has not mentioned the arrival at the reception of two local policemen in response to two complaints about the noise. They left after being quoted local noise ordnance rules and once some of the English had taken the opportunity to take selfies.
A magical day... well done Tash for the amazing work you put into the organisation of the event and to you Sean for working so hard to help pay for it. We love you both very much.
A magical day... well done Tash for the amazing work you put into the organisation of the event and to you Sean for working so hard to help pay for it. We love you both very much.
The wedding
allowed us to have 12 wonderful days with Nicola, Ben and our darling grandson
Cooper as well as spending some lovely days and evenings with my mum, sisters
Barbara and Linda, brother in law Keith and WESOG, Cheryl, Amber and Auntie
Margaret. Such family time is precious. Through the time spent with Nic and Ben
we were able to see the amazing parents they have become in such a short space
of time... Cooper is so lucky to have them as his mum and dad and us as Grandparents. We are so proud of you both.
Clearwater Bay
Having had a
tearful farewell with Nic, Ben and Cooper on April 9th, we began our road-trip
for real.... making our way to Clearwater Bay, stopping at Tallahassee en
route. I had forgotten how much I missed Wendy's constant encouragement as we drive: "you do realise you are driving at 1 mph over the speed limit" , "did you see that car on our left?", "stop looking at the alligators, focus on driving" and so on. My driving is certainly improving with this non stop advice. My facebook post on Tuesday 10th April showed the monsoon rain that
accompanied us to Clearwater, followed later by incredible thunder and
lightening storms. So when Tash and Sean joined us in the 'Sports Legends' bar
to watch the second leg of the Man City v Liverpool Champions League game there
was only one thing to do..... We spent the next day recovering on the beautiful beach at Clearwater, the weather having vastly improved. On the drive out the following day we got to go across the Sky bridge... amazing!
Bonita Springs and Naples
As we headed south towards the Everglades we based ourselves just north of Naples in Bonita Springs. What a gem of a place this was. Not only were we treated to a fabulous beach and beautiful warm sea but we also ate the best pizza of our lives from Grandpa's Pizza! I ordered the Calzone but Grandpa must have heard, "make me a Calzone that will feed a small family of illegal Mexicans that have managed to get past Homeland Security". I tried to eat it all, I failed. We took advantage of our close proximity to Naples by visiting one of the quieter beaches at sunset... spectacular.
The Everglades
So it turns out The Everglades covers 1.5 million acres of wetland in the southern section of Florida. We were able to access the most northerly entrance via Everglades City. I'm not a fan of alligators or snakes or mosquitoes so I wasn't particularly looking forward to the trip. The anxiety I felt was further heightened when we popped into a visitors centre and were told that, in the event we bumped into a bear or panther- sorry but what the frigging hell are they doing here in addition to the alligators, snakes and mosquitoes- that we needed to respect their space and remember they were likely to be more scared of us than we were of them. Not going to lie..... this put me right off walking any sort of trail. Instead we got on board with Captain Jack and his mangrove airboat tour, grassland airboat tour and swamp buggy tour. Great fun and a safe distance from those horrible gators. A little bonus on the way out of Everglades City was being able to buy some stamps from the smallest post office in the USA!!! Not sure why this was a bonus because I doubt Wendy will send any postcards. The truth is that she felt sorry for the man cooped up in that small shop all day, "we can't get him to take our photos without buying his stamps". Er, yes we can Wendy
Kennedy Space Centre/Melbourne
As we travelled from the beautiful Gulf West of Florida to the more raging Atlantic East, we had a one night stop over at Boca Raton. It wasn't our favourite place..... very built up.... very affluent but we did stay in a great hotel which served up the best breakfast the next day! From Boca Raton we travelled north to the Kennedy Space Centre. This was one of Mike's treat days but actually I loved it just as much! Just not sure I understood much of what I was being told. I am certain she did not. As I said on Facebook ''wish I'd listened more in my Maths and Physics classes''. After a few hours at KSC I started to feel the pain that Wendy's maths teacher must have felt on a daily basis. A bit like starting a lesson on Tuesday with 10M7 and someone says, "have we ever done this before?" and you reply, "yesterday?" The centre itself has heaps of great things to see... brilliant displays and exhibitions, exciting and thought provoking films and a fabulous bus tour of some of the launch pads. We also had the opportunity to meet a retired astronaut- Frederick D Gregory who flew three of the shuttle missions- what an amazing guy!! Our son-in-law Ben has a wish that one day his gorgeous son- our beautiful grandson Cooper- will one day fly to Mars. So that gave me the perfect excuse to do a bit of shopping for our gorgeous grandson.... just trying to inspire him after all. I believe that KSC no longer rely on public funding. There is no need after Wendy went shopping. How many interesting artefacts can you buy anyway?
The next day we planned to watch a rocket launch at 6.32pm from the great viewing point of Coco beach. This meant we got to hang out on a beautiful beach just north of Melbourne for the day. Unfortunately, I was removed from this beach at 1.30pm to watch West Ham v Stoke........... at least when we watch West Ham we can stay awake And, as if the day couldn't get any worse, when we arrived at Coco beach at 6pm to watch the launch we were told it had just been cancelled. GUTTED!
Saint Augustine
So the drive to Saint Augustine was initially one filled with disappointment after our cancelled rocket launch. This was short lived..... the drive along the coastal road into Saint Augustine at sunset was just STUNNING. In addition to the fact that heaps of people had recommended we stop here, we were also able to catch up with the gorgeous Suzanne and her husband Bruce who lived here. Sue had been best friends with Robert, Mike's brother, and was one of four amazing angels who cared for Robert in Milan, in his final weeks of his terminal illness.
One of the things that makes St Augustine so special is that it has a distinct centre and is advertised as the United States' oldest city. We wandered around the beautiful centre with our guides, who took us to a lovely restaurant at lunch. Another bonus was that our hotel lay one hundred yards from the beach so we could stroll down and sunbathe the next day after breakfast. That evening Sue and Bruce took us to a delightful restaurant on the inter-coastal waters where locals go to watch the sunset. The food was delicious and the views spectacular.
As we travelled from the beautiful Gulf West of Florida to the more raging Atlantic East, we had a one night stop over at Boca Raton. It wasn't our favourite place..... very built up.... very affluent but we did stay in a great hotel which served up the best breakfast the next day! From Boca Raton we travelled north to the Kennedy Space Centre. This was one of Mike's treat days but actually I loved it just as much! Just not sure I understood much of what I was being told. I am certain she did not. As I said on Facebook ''wish I'd listened more in my Maths and Physics classes''. After a few hours at KSC I started to feel the pain that Wendy's maths teacher must have felt on a daily basis. A bit like starting a lesson on Tuesday with 10M7 and someone says, "have we ever done this before?" and you reply, "yesterday?" The centre itself has heaps of great things to see... brilliant displays and exhibitions, exciting and thought provoking films and a fabulous bus tour of some of the launch pads. We also had the opportunity to meet a retired astronaut- Frederick D Gregory who flew three of the shuttle missions- what an amazing guy!! Our son-in-law Ben has a wish that one day his gorgeous son- our beautiful grandson Cooper- will one day fly to Mars. So that gave me the perfect excuse to do a bit of shopping for our gorgeous grandson.... just trying to inspire him after all. I believe that KSC no longer rely on public funding. There is no need after Wendy went shopping. How many interesting artefacts can you buy anyway?
The next day we planned to watch a rocket launch at 6.32pm from the great viewing point of Coco beach. This meant we got to hang out on a beautiful beach just north of Melbourne for the day. Unfortunately, I was removed from this beach at 1.30pm to watch West Ham v Stoke........... at least when we watch West Ham we can stay awake And, as if the day couldn't get any worse, when we arrived at Coco beach at 6pm to watch the launch we were told it had just been cancelled. GUTTED!
Saint Augustine
So the drive to Saint Augustine was initially one filled with disappointment after our cancelled rocket launch. This was short lived..... the drive along the coastal road into Saint Augustine at sunset was just STUNNING. In addition to the fact that heaps of people had recommended we stop here, we were also able to catch up with the gorgeous Suzanne and her husband Bruce who lived here. Sue had been best friends with Robert, Mike's brother, and was one of four amazing angels who cared for Robert in Milan, in his final weeks of his terminal illness.
One of the things that makes St Augustine so special is that it has a distinct centre and is advertised as the United States' oldest city. We wandered around the beautiful centre with our guides, who took us to a lovely restaurant at lunch. Another bonus was that our hotel lay one hundred yards from the beach so we could stroll down and sunbathe the next day after breakfast. That evening Sue and Bruce took us to a delightful restaurant on the inter-coastal waters where locals go to watch the sunset. The food was delicious and the views spectacular.
So arrived back in Fort Walton beach on Thursday 20th April with the intention of heading off for the rest of our road trip on Sunday 22nd April. The adenovirus has currently put paid to those plans.... Mike has been hit with awful viral conjunctivitis whilst I have the milder eye issue but full on flu symptoms...... 8 days later and we still haven't been able to leave. We hope to be back on the road again soon.
31 days gone.... 54 days to go..... we were feeling blessed... will get back to you on that one.
31 days gone.... 54 days to go..... we were feeling blessed... will get back to you on that one.