We visited the famous Ron Jon Surf Shop as well as a Dinosaur store. We have packed our things, Gary has loaded the truck, and we are ready to leave in the morning. We sadly say goodbye to the beach and the ocean. With a storm on Tuesday on the news, we hope to get to Massachusetts at least before it hits. Get ready, Bob, you have more company coming!
We have had another perfect day in central Florida. The temperature approached 75, and Gary decided to try out the water. We have not seen any other person, except surfers in wet suits, get into the water except along the edge. He claimed it was not that cold! The other picture is of an interesting little creature we often see in the yard. We aren't sure what they are called, but they are about the size of a grasshopper. The water temperature is reported by Ron Jon's Surf Shop to be between 62 and 65. We complain at the Caribou Motor Inn if the pool falls below 83!
Sunday was a busy day at Epcot, as thousands of people enjoyed the change in the weather. It was 78 in full sun by afternoon. Louise let her pride get ahead of her common sense as she chose not to use a scooter, and her legs and ankles were done in by 2 PM. We had a lovely day, saw things we didn't see the first time, and went on a simulator ride for a trip to Mars. We left exhausted, but happy from a great day. Gary sunburned his head.
We started our day on Merritt Island at Wal Mart gathering some supplies. We stopped at a Tourist Information place to see about discounted tickets to Disney, and agreed to go to Ron Jon's Resort to listen to a timeshare presentation. We were treated well, had a free lunch, and certificates for four free nights in Florida hotels and a five day cruise for half price on Royal Caribbean, for next year. We didn't decide to buy a time share, but as you can see from the pictures it is a lovely place!
Look at these! We spend several hours at the zoo and captured some very interesting animals! This zoo allows the animals to have some room to move, and visitors a chance to see them up close. One of the birds did peck Gary's finger! This zoo is located in Melbourne and was well worth the afternoon. More frost coming tonight.
Yesterday we spent the morning walking and sitting in the sun. We went south to the Melbourne shopping center in the afternoon. Dinner was seafood on the Banana River. Today was very exciting for the Coles as we followed every aspect of the inauguration of President Barak Obama. What an event in history as millions went to Washington. This would be quite a day to be teaching history!
Gary spent 3 hours outside watching for the launch of the Delta rocket, which unfortunately was aborted earlier in the evening, but he didn't know. He did get some interesting pictures of the moon rise over the Atlantic. This morning after Gary's chilly walk of several miles, we went back to Kennedy Space Center. We took a bus to see the shuttle which was taken to the launch site yesterday. Unfortunately, you can only see the tip of it. We returned to the Visitor Center where we went on the shuttle launch simulator. Matthew would love this! The G force bounces your head against the seat, and the skin on your face feels like it's rubber. We saw the second IMax movie about the space station. Finally we went to the rocket garden and then back to Cocoa Beach. The colder temperatures are obvious in these pictures as you can see how we were dressed. Perhaps they will launch that rocket tonight, but Gary doesn't plan to wait outside watching for hours.
Gary rose early for us (7:30) and went for a two mile walk on the beach. We are experiencing a "cold" spell here. Roy, our landlord, wore a knit hat today, Gary wore wool socks, and Louise wore long sleeves. Compared to the -30 at home, the fear here is that it will be in the 30s above zero in some areas here tonight. Today was wash day at the Cole abode. We ate our lunch outside and it warmed up to nearly 70 with full sunshine this afternoon. Louise went for a walk on the beach while Gary got some rays on the deck. In the pictures Louise is knitting a sock on the deck, and the foliage outside our door is shown. We are hoping to get a glimpse of a rocket launch from the Kennedy Space Center tonight.
A day at the Kennedy Space Center! For most of the morning we traveled by bus on a series of three tours of parts of the space complex. It is huge! The first tour took us past the vehicle assembly building, the crawler transporter area to the observation gantry where we viewed the launch pads from some distance, and saw a film. We were then taken to the Apollo Saturn V Center. These rockets were unbelievably huge! We viewed a presentation from the actual control center used during the launches of the 1970s. The third stop was the space station work area where things were being assembled to send to the space station. We returned to the Visitor Center where we watched an IMax film in 3D about walking on the moon. It was a busy day and we decided to finish the visit, including a simulation of a shuttle take off at another time. The rain held off until we were in the truck leaving the parking lot. Yes, it is actually raining tonight!
This picture is from the Cocoa Beach farmer's market yesterday. Just look at those tomatoes! We bought tomatoes, oranges, and yellow and red peppers. I'm afraid we have become spoiled for the fresh produce! Today was the first day without sunshine since we have been in Florida, but it has been a good day. We have been running errants as Louise blew up a burner on the stove last night by heating an empty pot by mistake. We bought a new pot and replaced the burner. Gary did some yard work on our patio area and that looks very nice as a result. It is still summer-like, despite predictions of cold weather this week.
