Brown Eyed Girl: Vero Beach, Melbourne and Cocoa Village

We left Nettles Island and headed a whopping 28 miles to Vero Beach. When we were in Islmorada we had the pleasure of being invited to a wedding of a friend of our daughters. The bride's mother, Mugs and sister, Buffie were there and they told us to call them when we were in Vero Beach where they live. Remember we only met these people for a few hours, so we were not sure they would remember us - not only did they remember us, Mugs said she was just looking at our boat card a couple of days ago. Well Mugs and Al picked us up at the marina and took us to the Ocean Grill on the beach. The food was excellent and the company even better. Al is a retired navy Captain and Mugs teaches Qi Gong. Mugs picked us up the next day and drove us all around Vero Beach and Sebastian which was great to see the area by car. Mugs invited over to her house for dinner where Buffie joined us and we had a fantastic home cooked meal and shared many stories. We got home late again (late for boaters is 8:00) and slept well.

Vero Beach City Marina

Dinner at the Ocean Grill with Mugs and Al

Dinner the next night at their house.

The next day we went to Melbourne and docked at the city marina which is right downtown. We walked around the town with Mary and John from "Passport". There were some nice shops and restaurants that kept us busy for a few hours. We were only staying one night so we ate on the boat and went to bed early.

I am pretty sure this blimp is going to the Masters Golf Tournament

Leaving Vero Beach

On Friday we went to Cocoa Village Marina in Cocoa Village. John and Mary rented a car and we planned to go to Epcot Center on Saturday and Kennedy Space Center on Sunday. On Friday we toured the town which had a huge hardware called "SF TRAVIS CO". They have 7 buildings with two stories each so you can understand that it is a guys paradise. Ginny was very nice about letting me explore all of the nooks and crannies. We only bought a $5 thermometer so Ginny got off cheap. We had dinner out with John and Mary and retired early because we were leaving the next day at 7:30 for Epcot. Neither of us had been to Epcot since the 80's so it was nice to see it again. We spent the whole day and had a great time. We drove back to Cocoa Village and had a great dinner at the Black Tulip.

Coming into Cocoa Village

We were near Port Canaveral where the cruise ship Monarch of the Seas was moored. We took a cruise on this ship 20 years ago.

A catwalk going to another building in the Travis Hardware Company

Brings back memories

The Epcot Ball

What Ginny and I will look like in the future according to Disney

Pluto and Ginny

On Easter Sunday we got up a little later (8:00 instead of 7:30) and drove to Kennedy Space Center. Neither of us had been there so it was all new. We drove in the parking lot at 8:45 and there were only 4 other cars there as compared to a million cars at Epcot the day before. The park opened at 9:00 and we had tickets for a bus tour (an added charge of course) that took us all around the massive grounds. We got to go into the VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) which had been off limits while the space shuttle was in operation. It used to be the largest building based on volume in the world but is now the third larges but it is still pretty big. We were surprised to see the space shuttle Discovery that was being prepped to be sent to the Smithsonian in D.C. We got to see the shuttle launch pad as well as several movies and other rockets. The tour is well worth the money so if you go, do the tour. Much like Disney World, NASA owns several square miles around the facility which are not developed. NASA did it for security but it turned out to be a great natural preserve. The NASA complex is the second largest animal reserve in Florida. I had not seen any alligators on the entire Loop but there were hundreds of them in the center. They are protected so they are everywhere. We saw a bald eagle nest that was 40 years old and weighs over 600 pounds. All in all it was well worth the time. On Monday we are moving on to New Smyrna.