Cocoa Beach

June 16, 2009





Cocoa Beach



Our next stop was in Cocoa Beach. Cocoa Beach is typical of many beach communities along the Atlantic seashore. In fact, it really reminds me of Myrtle Beach. The highway A1A skirts the coast that is lined with hotels, surf shops and even a few mini-golf courses to complete the picture.



The first stop was the shopping area that has grown up around the massive and famous Ron Jon surf shop, which is a must stop for anyone passing through Cocoa Beach. Signs about the place line the highways hundreds of miles away and it really is sort of a Mecca of surf consumerism. Ron Jon is the largest and the original, but a raft of competitors have sprung up around the original and you can find about any surf and beach related items you might need. After some shopping, we were off to find our friends.

Ron Jon



Our friends from Key West (Josh & Caroline, Ellen & Randy, and Kathleen & Charles and all their kids) were all staying in Cocoa and we were invited to a cook-out with the three families that made the trip. Two of the families were staying at the Holiday Inn, where there was a killer kiddie’s pool with a pirate ship for the kids’ amusement. It was a perfect family setting and the kids enjoyed the pool immensely.



Ellen

The cook-out was awesome, it was held at the quaint little throw-back hotel, The Sea Aire hotel, which is typical of the small beach front places that once were common along the coast, but are rapidly becoming an endangered species. The beach in Cocoa is wide and beautiful and we had plenty of time to swim before a cool summer squall passed over, providing some cool views of clouds and lightning. It passed quickly and we were back to drinking and eating and watching the kids romp about. It was a lot of fun and definitely worth the trip.





We drove on from Cocoa, heading south and staying in Vero Beach before continuing the next day. As always, we found interesting places along the way to stop and enjoy. This trip we hit Whole Foods for a shopping spree and lunch before heading to the beautiful and heretofore unknown to us Morikami Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach.





Kathleen had suggested it as a stop and it was well worth braving the incredible heat of the day. The gardens are on the site of a once thriving community of Japanese who lived and farmed there in the early 20th century. Serving as an example of the culture and a reminder of the history of the site, the Moikami Gardens and museum is a hidden gem.





The gardens surround a beautiful lake and the place is full of wildlife and beautiful gardens, including an amazing display of miniature trees and bonsai plants. If you find yourself near Delray, check it out.





http://www.morikami.org/

Scrubbed

June 15, 2009

Space Shuttle Endeavour



Scrubbed



Nothing is definite in life and that certainly applies to Space Shuttle launches. At around 1 AM, we were awakened in our hotel by a text message from our friends who were over at Kennedy Space Center who let us know that the launch of the shuttle was being scrubbed due to a hydrogen leak that was discovered during the final fueling in preparation for take-off. While that meant that I could cancel our 3 AM wake-up call, it also meant that we were going to miss the primary purpose for our visit.





The shuttle, Endeavour, mission STS-127, was to have launched the 500th person to travel into space among its 7 person crew. When it does eventually take off, it will visit the International Space Station, where it will deliver a crew member and return another to Earth. There are also 5 space-walks planned for the mission and it will also deliver the Kibo Japanese experiment to the station. If we cannot make it back for this launch, we plan to return for one of the other final 8 shuttle missions.

Saturn V rocket

Moon Rover

We had hoped to visit the Cape Canaveral National Seashore or even the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, but both being on NASA property; they were closed on shuttle launch day. So we decided to take a quick look around downtown Titusville and then head over to check out the Kennedy Space Center, which ironically, was open and going strong. I figured the place would be overrun with disappointed shuttle watchers, but the crowd wasn’t too bad at all.





The place is pretty cool; they have an awesome bus trip that takes you around to see various locations including the former Apollo command center which houses the original command center as well as the last Saturn V rocket and other relics of the Apollo program. They had the astronaut bus and even a moon rover on display and it was very interesting.





After the bus tour, we were back at the main visitor center where there is a ton of rockets and other space related stuff to check out; there is even an old Space Shuttle that you can tour. It was a very impressive display. They even had a moving memorial to those astronauts who were killed in service to the space program. Seeing the space center helped relieve our disappointment at missing the launch.



Sputnik

With the shuttle program winding down, NASA is busying preparing the next set of missions, a planned upon return to the moon with the Constellation project. We were able to see a preview of this project, which is well under way.



Space Shuttle Endeavour

Kennedy Space Center

Space Coast

June 14, 2009

Space View Park



Space Coast

After 18 years in Florida, one of the things that I have always wanted to do, but just haven’t ever gotten around to, is to go up and witness a Space Shuttle launch. In fact, I have never even been to Kennedy Space Center, though Kathy has been once previously. With the Space Shuttle program winding down, there are only 8 more scheduled missions, it seemed like a great idea to go and watch the Shuttle Endeavour blast into space.

Kathy

The fact that the launch was scheduled for 7:15 am on a Saturday morning, meant that Kathy & I could travel up and not miss a lot of work and come back on Sunday. It is about a 6 ½ hour drive from Key West to Titusville. There was a group of families from the Preschool that was going up to watch the launch from the official viewing area at the Space Center, but those tickets sell out in minutes, months ahead of the launches, so we opted to just head up to Titusville and get a spot along US1 or at Space View Park, which is the closest and best non-NASA viewing site.

Shuttle Launch Pad

We drove up to Titusville and checked into the wonderful Super 8 hotel (another reason not to book Shuttle viewing trips at the last minute), then headed to beautiful downtown Titusville to scout out a viewing location for Saturday morning. People were already camped out along US 1 and the first few rows of the Space Park were full as well. Amazingly, we ran into more Key Westers at the Space Park. Our friends Rudi , Anja & Jane were all in town to see the big launch as well and just happened to be scoping out locations at the Space Park at the same time as us.

Rudi, Anja, Jane & Kathy



The Space Park itself is pretty nice. It offers an unobstructed view across the Indian River directly at the launch pads at Kennedy Space Center. It is a long way about 11 miles, but the view is the next best thing to being there. Our plan was to get some dinner, go shopping to fill the cooler with launch supplies and head back to the hotel.





For dinner, we decided to go to the “World Famous” Dixie Crossroads restaurant. The huge place was packed with hundreds of shuttle tourists. Known for their seafood, Kathy & I both enjoyed the delicious rock shrimp. The food was really good and the price was reasonable, especially when compared to Key West prices, though the place is really touristy.





Dixie Crossroads Restaurant

Space View Park

Hellos & Good-byes

June 11, 2009





Hellos & Good-byes

Ellen, Alison, KJ & Martyn

The slow and steady pace of summer has continued to creep along. Hurricane Season has begun and the activity level of our island has switched into neutral. Things still happen, but at a greatly reduced level than just a few months ago. On the bright side, the weather is great, the water has been almost flat calm for weeks and there are far less tourists about. In fact, you actually see people you know out and about.

Betsy, Kathy & Ellen

Island life moves on, and sadly so do friends; which is another fact of life in certain segments of the community. Key West has always been largely transient as people come and go for all sorts of varied reasons. You get used to saying good-bye to friends as they move on, of course the benefit is that you have friends scattered across the globe.

Martyn

The most recent departure of friends is due to one of the major factors in frequent departure, service in the US Military. Our friends KJ & Ellen and their family fall into this category as they are re-locating to the Netherlands after KJ’s service working for JIATF (Joint Interagency Task Force) has come to an end. We joined them and other military personnel (6 people were leaving or transferring), for a nice going-away party at Finnegan’s Wake.

Deb & John



As we say goodbye to friends, we also say hello to new and interesting things, and the same evening as the going away party, we headed over to the Grand Opening of the latest Key West bar and restaurant, Grim’s Grill. Located away from the tourist mecca that is Duval Street on Flagler, Grim’s Grill is a local friendly sports bar owned and operated by our friends John & Deb Grimesey. The opening seemed to be a huge success. We hope that it works out well for them.

Jim & Fiona

Doug

I also was happy this week to get a call from a friend from Indianapolis who happened to be in town on vacation. Doug Barry was actually a good friend of my father, Bill. They worked together once upon a time at the Carvel Club in Indianapolis is still there, now serving as manager. It was great to see Doug, we went out for dinner at the Hogfish Grill and caught up with all the happenings back in Indianapolis and at the Club, a place that really served as a home away from home for my father.



Garden

Finally things around the house have gotten interesting. The mother chicken that lives in our yard hatched out 10 baby chicks last week, a small iguana has taken up residence in a tree in our yard and our garden is going gangbusters. This week we harvested the first batch of tasty tomatoes and the other vegetables are growing like crazy. It has been a busy time at the house.