Apologies for the long gap between posts…having far too much fun over here!
Just before we left Key Colony, we took a walk around the immediate area – the day dawned sunny and warm and the sea looked amazing…clouds were building though, and having developed a new fascination with The Weather Channel, we knew storms were predicted as part of the cold front moving in from the West…information about possible tornados and / or waterspouts off the Florida coast made it hard to switch the TV off!
another view from the condo…
Sunset Park at Key Colony…
Driving back up the Keys seemed to take ages…then suddenly Miami was only 30 miles away…we wanted to see Miami beach so that’s where we headed…the drive across the link between the mainland and Miami beach showed off the highrise along the coast – almost a sense of déjà vu as the skyline was so familiar from the TV and movies…what we didn’t expect was the long line of massive cruise ships all parked up…in fact, as we came over the bridge, I thought they were big buildings at first…
Miami beach….
Cruise anyone…?
Or maybe this one…?
Beach bed…complete with sunshade…
Miami Beach was everything I imagined….the Art Deco architecture, the colours, sights and sounds – brilliant! Our lunch stop was at the Waldorf (not quite as posh as the London one) on the veranda so we could take in the sights…and yup, there were some sights to be seen…people in convertibles doing laps…people walking dogs of all shapes and sizes – each one dressed up in some way – collars, jackets and tutus… Time to hit the beach – and we weren’t disappointed – even though it had clouded over, the beach was pretty spectacular – I cant imagine how crowded it must be in the summer months though…and how hot and humid! The best thing we saw though was the beach bed…no slumming it on a towel here… 
After our walk on the beach, we headed back to Ocean Drive to see more Art Deco – found Versace’s house complete with ornate gates and big palm trees in pots outside – the garden looked amazing – full of exotic tropical plants…
It was difficult to photograph Ocean Drive in all its glory…so I have taken the liberty of using a stock photo – just to give you a flavour of all the wonderful buildings…
And of course, we saw things that amused us…
Parking sir? This way….!
Or perhaps this way…?
Spot the problem here…?! Ha!
Leaving Miami beach we headed further north for the night – our plan was to get up to Cape Canaveral and see if we could revisit the Kennedy Space Centre…but before that we spent the night in West Palm Beach in a dump of a Red Roof Inn – ah well, can’t win ‘em all! The following day, we headed north again on the old road…tootling along we came across a load of RVs and 5vers parked up in a State Park – quick decision to have a drive through as we thought the park may have a walk for us to do…needed to stretch the legs…sure enough, a trail through the Johnathan Dickenson State Park promised a wander through a bit of wilderness…turned out to be a very short walk however as the bridge across the river was down so back to the campsite…we chatted to a couple on the trail and they told us they’d done a boat trip the day before – little motor boat you could hire and chug up the river to see alligators (!) and turtles! That was it – sold! Off we went to hire a boat…
Yeah…right…like doing ANY of these would be a good idea…!
The pilot heading for the boat…
Tootling up that river for 2 hours was magical…only one other boat…and the peace and quiet of the river, the mangroves, turtles and birds…fabulous…
The moss on the trees was fascinating…the calm of the waters was wonderful and although we kept our eyes peeled, no alligators…but we did see turtles!
Turtle…!
A tour boat disrupted the peace for a while before we had the river to ourselves again…
Leaving the park behind, we carried on up the coast and found ourselves at a place called Melbourne in a hotel right on Satellite Beach…nice! Met a lovely couple on our way down in the lift who chatted for ages – introduced us to ‘Hotel Coupons” – basically, money off coupons…hmmm? As we were checking out, I noticed a flyer for a rocket launch…they were sending a satellite up that very evening! Well – we couldn’t miss that…scheduled for liftoff at 5.30pm! With time to kill, we headed out to Cape Canaveral via some back roads…ended up at the Air Force Base restricted area…doh! We were waved through the gates by a cop who told us to ‘pull in front of my car over there sir, and kill your engine’… Yes sir! It turned out he just wanted to chat, so we spent a lovely 15 minutes telling him about our trip and why we were here, and he in turn talked about his Aussie wife and his time in the Marines – it’s these little snippets which make life so interesting… 
Once we’d found our way to Kennedy Space Visitor Centre, we discovered it would cost $130 for the 2 of us to visit for just over 2 hours…as it was closing early for the launch! For an extra $20 each, they were offering a bus ride to one of the old launch pads which was the closest place available to watch the launch – too pricey so we headed back to Titusville to find the little park overlooking the water towards the launch site….And after all that…?! The rocket didn’t launch so we didn’t see anything at all! Some of the people at the park had direct links to the official launch website so when they stopped the countdown three times, it was a bit tense… finally, they aborted it all together and that was that…It was lovely overlooking the sea and anticipating what was going to happen…seeing the lights across the water…But – we did get to chat with more lovely people – AND – we saw a couple of manatee…now that WAS exciting! One couple we got chatting to had retired to Titusville from Ohio and had seen about 13 launches in the previous year…they also had bought a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1800 sq ft house for $45,000 – 18 months ago…the lady that sold it to them had originally paid $125,000 for it and could only get 45 for it 3 years later…now that’s recession for you…
Kennedy Space Park at Titusville – a favourite spot to watch rockets go up…
The monstrous Vehicle Assembly Building seen from the Park…its a long long way away….
Hit the road again and headed north towards Jacksonville before we stopped for the night – did the ‘coupon’ thing and got $40 off the room…pity we didn’t know about that before…back to Columbia to check in at David and Becca’s in the afternoon – a cuddle and chat with Elsbeth…
Hello Granny..!
before we headed out to the house on Lake Murray that I’d booked for all of us over Thanksgiving…and that my friends, is another story!
Tagged: 5ver, Cape Canaveral, cruise ship, fifth wheel, Kennedy Space Centre, Key Colony, Miami Beach, Ocean Drive, RV, satellite, Sunset Park 
