Florida 2020

Yesterday's main event was an evening boat ride out of Vero Beach on a 'pontoon'. This is a bit like a minibus on floats with open sides and an outboard motor.  The idea was to see lots of birds and a few dolphins, which we did.  The location was the site of the USA's first wildlife reserve, set up by Teddy Roosevelt in 1903.  It is also part of the intracoastal waterway set up after WWII in response to German U-boat captains' 'Happy Time' sinking coastal shipping in 1942. We enjoyed the ride which ended with a lovely sunset. We had dinner at a very American restaurant, and C's Reuben sandwich was served on dishes identical to the ones we have at home!  Look familiar? Today we helped with the communal breakfast and then went a few miles to a classic car show, both reruns of last year events, and many more in the case of the breakfast.  The cars were a bit 'molested' and not old enough for David's taste but we did get some picture...

Just in case you think we’re enjoying being in sunny, warm Florida here’s a photo taken just now of the outside temp! A week ago it was in the mid 20s! I guess we’re being prepared for being back home where it’s not so warm. However, at least it’s dry here, right?

Today we split our forces: Larry and David went to an Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando with a friend of Larry's from his museum in New York and another friend of his.  Those with good memories will recall that it’s a repeat of last year.  This year the freebies weren’t as plentiful but we saw a combat/rescue helicopter take off and parking and lunch were free. The conference centre is enormous and getting in took a while.  Here is one of the staircases cum advertising hoardings. British prestige was upheld by Rolls Royce, Martin Baker and BAE systems. Carolyn went off to see her Florida hairdresser Chickie. She’s been cutting my hair in February for a few years now, and I love the way she cuts it. She’s a real character, and today her husband showed me around their 'back rooms' where there are all sorts of things that belong in an antique shop. Like over 400 railway lanterns, dozens of old coffee bean grinders, etc. I’ve never seen so much stuff outside of an an...

Today we set off for St Augustine with Larry and Dorie. We are staying in a B&B in the old town run by Julian and Sandy - sorry, Brian and Emory, both very friendly and informative guys who used to live in Texas. C loved the clock in the breakfast room.  The flag reads-'When pigs fly'. Breakfast seems to be either sweet or savoury, and it was savoury that morning, so we had a small salad to start, followed by 'biscuits and gravy'. Biscuits are like scones without sugar, and gravy is a white sauce with peppery sausage bits in it. Very southern. Then for our third course we had peach granita. Certainly a more different breakfast than we’ve had before, but enjoyable nevertheless.  We've had a walk around and visited the castle which the Spanish built to keep British pirates out in the 17th century. Here’s a sign C had to take a photo of! And here's a truck D insisted C photograph. We visited a craft distillery for free tastings of cocktail...

Yesterday we did the second stage of our return journey to Cocoa Beach.  We called in at a turtle rehab charity and looked at a few turtles recuperating after various ills; they all seemed to be on antibiotics. When we were almost home we came up behind a Model T Ford being taken for a spin.  It was bowling along merrily before it turned into Patrick Airforce Base.

Having checked into the motel and having had a nice walk to the lagoon we decided to eat at a Mexican/Spanish restaurant a short walk away. We had a nice meal in a very busy, popular place. Very reasonably priced as well. However, when we left we were confronted with a serious downpour! So we did what anyone would do-we sat down on a convenient bench to contemplate the alternatives. While doing so a man sat down near us, and I asked him if there were taxis for hire. Just Ubers he replied. He said he had a truck, so I asked if he’d be willing to give us a lift to the Super 8 motel. Turns out he’s staying here as well! Talk about lucky, so 'Jason' gave us a lift,  bless him.

Our Edgewater town house was a bit of a disappointment in many ways. It was very roomy and in a great location but rather shabby and down at heel.  Yesterday's strong wind whistled and moaned in the ill-fitting windows and last night the cooker decided not to work. There were no instructions - it seemed to be a single-burner two oven gas cooker - and a couple of knobs were missing.  Embarrassingly, when we got back from rousting out the on-site staff member, it had miraculously come to life!  We did meet a couple of other residents, one from North Germany and one from Corsica; the staff were Hispanic.  The Frenchman offered to cook our Pizza for us; vive l'entente cordiale! We were away in good time but ran into a mega tailback on the only road off the Keys.  It turned out to be caused by a marine flea market obstructing the passing traffic. We must have lost 45 minutes to that.  After that it was 'plain' sailing if you class the continuous spaghetti junct...