My sister, Doris, is down in Florida for a few weeks from Missouri. She stayed with us for five days and we didn't sit still long. It's a two day trip so she used Monday to get rested up and adjust to our heat. She loves Florida so that didn't take long.
Monday, we went to Keel and Curley winery. We both bought a couple bottles of wine, and we got two free. Great wines and they also have beers. We had dinner at Ford's Garage, one of our go to places. The Ford outside the door with both of us. (Click on the pictures to enlarge).
Tuesday, we stayed close to home but went to Lakeland to see the swans at Morton Lake. Read about how they came to Lakeland HERE
The black swan is gorgeous. None of them are afraid of people till you try to touch them, then they move.
There's several swans and some other birds and ducks. It's a great place to relax and watch.
Wednesday, we were up early and headed to Kennedy Space Center. The traffic was stop and go on I- 4. It took about two hours to get there. The crowd was nothing like it was in December. No waiting lines even for the tour bus was quick. When we were with the kids in December, the Government had shut down part of the activities. We got to see the launch pads and drove all around the VAB building along with the what we did before. It was so different and wonderful.
At the entrance
At the bus tour entrance.
The vehicle assembly building, back and front. There's a lot of activity inside and out.
Transporters that take the rockets to the launch pads.
Both tracks are gravel for the transporters.
More on the way to and from the launch pads.
The new Space X assembly is built horizontal instead of vertical. They move the rocket to the launching pad differently and it's closer.
The launch pad for Space X
This is minor but if you enlarge the picture there's a bird on each pole. It's as if they were watching over the complex.
Back at the Kennedy Center we went through the other complexes. The Atlantis was my favorite.
Control Center
If you're interested in more info on the Kennedy Center the blog from December has more info when we went with the kids.
https://tumbleweed-jimdee.blogspot.com/2018/12/christmas-with-kids.html
We left about 4:00 to head to Patrick AFB for the night. The traffic wasn't real bad and we made good time in getting our room and eat at the mess hall. We were too tired to walk around the riverside so went back to the room and crashed. It's really hot in the 90's and I had enough of being outside. We went to bed early.
Thursday, we thought we'd go to a few wineries, but came up with the idea of going around the base, walk a small section of the Indian river and the ocean, get breakfast at the mess hall. We didn't get up in time for the mess hall. It's the fourth of July and it closed early. We did talk to a couple people on the river edge working with a horseshoe crab it had been turned upside down and down a high bank so no one could get to it. We watched them work with it for awhile which they did get it back in the water and turned over and it took off. Nice to see that happen. We went to the Base Exchange thinking we could get breakfast. The food court was closed. The BX was open so we walked around that awhile then went on A1A for a nice drive down the coast. It took awhile to find somewhere to eat. Almost everything was closed for the holiday.
Very little traffic
I wanted to stop at the beach and pulled into a parking lot just to see the ocean. It happened to be a portion of the beach (Cordova beach) that allowed dogs. That's the first time either of us had seen so many dogs. The owners we forcing some of them in the water and one poodle was burnt. That pup was miserable.
This one had swimming suit on.
The water was quite warm.
We continued down A1A to Vero beach. There were cars everywhere along the road at any opening to the beach. The parking lots were full. That's why no traffic on the road, they were already on the beach for the day. This is the one of the state parks. (Click to enlarge)
We turned west on 60 and headed back home. We arrived at 4:00 and drank some wine and chilled the rest of the evening.
Doris left on Friday morning to head to Okechobee to her winter place. She loves the lone time and has some friends that are in her park she has fun with. What a great five days with her.
Just something to add, our neighbor has a very cool plant. Not sure what it's called but thought to be a lifesaver plant.
No comments:
Post a Comment