Friday morning was a time to hang out around the Doodle and get some chores done. At noon our friends Marie and Ernie drove down from Deland for a visit. We hadn’t seen them since our 50th Anniversary a year ago as Marie officiated at our renewal ceremony. It was great catching up on everything. We went off to the Chubby Mullet grille for an afternoon lunch. We were able to sit outside and Harper came along and was a very well behaved puppy, We chatted through the afternoon and returned to the Doodle where Tom and Debbie joined us. We had a great afternoon with friends, this is what it is all about.
Saturday was our 51st Anniversary. Fifty one years ago, at six in the evening, on a snowy Massachusetts Friday evening, we both said ‘I do’ and here it is all those years later and am thinking that we would say the same thing today. Our reception in 1970 was held in the local German restaurant, Schwartz Wald Haus, is it is only fitting that we found a local German restaurant here in Florida. Tom and Debbie joined us and we had a delicious dinner, lots of spetzel, Weiner Snitzel and such. It was a fine evening with lots of good conversation and food, who could ask for any thing more.
During the day Carol, Harper and I took a nice long drive. Our day had begun at a restaurant for breakfast, where we could sit outside with Harper and enjoy the morning. The restaurant was about a block from the beach. Breakfast was very good and of course we shared a bit with our little four legged friend. The restaurant was also a bakery and Carol couldn’t resist purchasing a few goodies for later.
After breakfast, we drove the outer barrier along A1A once again, this time stopping several times along the way. Our first stop was a the Barrier Island Sanctuary where we walked a short trail and visited the exhibits inside. Harper was intent on watching a turtle swim in it’s aquarium.
From there we ambled down the road the Sebastian Inlet State Park, and, being a warm Saturday morning it was busy. We waited in line to pay the $8 entrance fee and made our way to the water. We saw lots of boat traffic coming angling through the inlet, lots of folks on the beaches and many fishing the inlet. We saw pelicans and egrets and Ibis and even a large turtle lumbering across the lawn. We then drove over the bridge to check out the camping area and it was awesome too, there is likely a stay for us here next year. We really liked this park, very accommodating and very Florida.
From here and little ways further down A1A we came to the Jungle trail, a nearly 8 mile long sandy road that runs through the forest, although just through the trees there are houses and golf courses..so not too jungliee . . . We had a great drive and stopped and did a very short hike as we found that dogs are not allowed. So we sat and had a snack before crossing the bridge over to Sebastian where we attended an art show in the park. The art was that of the local art club and the degrees of talent and vision varied but it was a fun time. It is always a great time at any art shoe, so much energy going into the works, so very nice to see. And then we drove back up US1 to the RV park and ‘home’ again to get ready for our evening at the German restaurant. What a great day and a fine celebration of 51 years. Thanks Carol for sharing those years with me.
Sunday morning we had an agenda. Our friend Marie had told Carol about a liquor store called Total Wine and More, so we had to go since it was only about twenty minutes up the highway. Harper and I waited, walking the parking lot and listening to music as Carol shopped..and she came back to the car with a bag of goodies. On the way up we had passed a ‘flea and farmers market’ and thought that we should stop and check it out. It was crowded and very few people had masks on so we didn’t stay too long, it seemed dirty and filled with cheap stuff from China. We turned and walked out, and then headed for the Canova Dog Beach once again.
What a grand thing dog beaches are. It was Sunday afternoon and the place was packed but we were still able to keep a good social distance, and have an afternoon on the beach and with Harper. She was a very well behaved little pup, a few low woofs now and then but not a yappy dog by any stretch. There were dogs large and small, old and young - this was a very diverse population of pups. We had a great afternoon and to our great delight a SpaceX launch was scheduled for Sunday evening. We planned a Mediterranean themed pot luck dinner for prelaunch. The cooking was amazing and of course hanging out with with friends is always fun. However as we gathered on the little hill to watch the launch, listening to the countdown, a groan went through the crowd as the launch was scrubbed at 1 minute to launch and rescheduled for Monday night, and as we gathered Monday night, it was scrubbed until Tuesday night and as I am writing this Tuesday evening it was just moved to Thursday evening, so I guess we will miss it. Oh well… Tom thinks they are just messing’ with us. . .
Monday we did some early morning shopping, and had an ice cream at lunchtime, and shared with Harper of course. I had to return the car in the early afternoon and that ll went well. Carol and Debbie hung out at the pool, I worked on the memorial video and hangout with Harper. We walked around the park several times and just generally had fun. As I mentioned Tom and Debbie arrived in time to have drinks and snacks to find out the launch was canceled. It was another a good evening. Today I finished up the video and did some cleanup around the Doodle in preparation of heading north tomorrow morning. So I will wrap this up so I can get a post out before we leave, wishing everyone well from sunny Florida, one last time for the season.
Below is a gallery of images from the past few days,
sorry no captions this time but I’m sure you can work it out
