A Warm Respite From Winter - Florida I Miss You Already!

This Februaury I was fortunate enough to be able to spend 16 days with my parents in Melbourne Beach. Florida.  My parents have been visiting, staying or living there for many years and I have come to love the area. Let me show you why in a quick overview of my trip. I have so many photos, I'll have to do a couple of specfic essays later.

The trip down was uneventful. I love sitting in the window seat and watching the earth and clouds go by.

My parents live on an unnamed barrier island that sits between the Atlantic and the intercoastal waterway known as The Indian River. They are on a canal that goes into the Indian River. The Atlantic is a 10 minute walk to cross A1A to their sub's private beach entrance. The best of both worlds.

My sister from Portland, OR came down the 1st week I was there. It was great all being together. Unfortunately, the weather was really cold and sometimes gray for most of that week. Of course right after she left, the sun came out and the warmth returned. But we made the best of it and had a good time.

One day we all went to a showing of Annie Leibovitz photography at the Au Gallie Art Center. I had never been to this charming little town. When we stepped back outside, there was a small Farmer's Market going on.

We also went to the huge flea market just outside of Melbourne one day. My suitcase had broken in transit and I wanted to get a cheap replacement to take home. Another day was spent with just my sis shopping and taking in a movie - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. What a tear jerker and a great movie to boot.

Another day my dad took us all out on his fishing boat for a tour amongst the islands in the river that are so close together the cold wind couldn't bother us. The sun was out so it was lovely on the leeward sides of the islands.

Looking down the canal towards the river.

Leaving the dock.

 The boat is held up in a sling to keep it out of the salt water so we have to make a grab for the chain of the swinging vessel and take a big precarious step from the dock onto the bow of the boat. Not so hard for me but I held my breath every time my mother tried the maneuver as I held her from inside the boat and my dad reached for her from the dock. She is quite unsteady on her feet. I told my dad he needed to rig some kind of step or gangplank from the dock onto the boat if he was going to take her out anymore.

My dad driving the boat as my sis and mom sit up front. You can see it is clearly a fishing boat. I had one or more of those lures caught on me more than once during several boat trips.

There is a lot to see on these island excursions - mostly birds. But we were lucky to have dolphins around us for most of the trip. This is the closest I could come for proof they were there. They are incredibly fast and hard to capture on camera.

Brown pelicans were everywhere. Sometimes I wondered how the tree branches managed to hold up with so many perched on upon them. Oh, and a note to the unwary - do not steer directly under one of these trees or that white stufff you see on the trees will end up on you.  :-)

Osprey are thick as crows there. I loved watching them soar on the thermals and dive for fish. Their shrill cry is music to my ears.

Another day we took a boat ride across the Indian river and down to Sebastian to eat at a waterside restaurant.

This beautiful place is one of the many islands in the river. Many are public and just the place to bring a lunch and spend the day. There is one that is inhabitated and the people who live there drive their boats across to the mainland each day to where their cars are parked. They dock the boat and get in the car and go off to work or their errands or whatever. The thought of it intriqued me.

One of the things I love best about this area, south of Indianlantic and north of the Sebastian Inlet bridge is the wealth of public owned land. Some of it is county parks on the ocean with restrooms and walkways over the dunes to the beach, Some -  untouched dunes so thick with brush it is unpenitrable. It is meant for wildlife, not people. You cannot access the beach unless you walk to it from another beach.  There are many trails on the river side of A1A the land may be owned by the county, state or federal government. It is left untouched to encourage the wild life. I was ecstatic to have seen a bobcat cross the road one late afternoon and an endangered land tortoise making a burrow just off a trail to the beach.

Here are a few of my favorite places.

 The beach by my parents at sunset.

Late afternoon sun over the Indian River where the strip of land is so narrow you can see the river on one side of the road and the ocean on the other.

At the top of the Sebatian Inlet Bridge looking south. There was no traffic so I slowed down and took the shot.

One of the piers at Sebastian Inlet State Park - taken from the same bridge.

Dunes grass and seagrapes cover a dune as they should. At the new environmental center - sorry I can't recall the name.

Standing on one of several sets of steps built over the dunes to access the beach at a county park.

I've never once swam in the waters here. It is usually rough and there are dangerous riptides. There are often surfers though.

The salt haze on a windy day at the beach.

 There were surfers at a particular beach one day. The waves were't too impressive though. This guy had a long paddle to help.

This poor guy took a tumble. It looks like he's looking to see if I'm capturing him on my camera. Sorry Dude..... At least you can't see his face.

My favorite deck to pass by on the beach.

I always take a shot of my toes on vacation. They were so happy here.

One of my favorite drives is a road called Jungle Trail. Now it's named Old Historic Jungle Trail or something like that. Years ago there was no sign of civilization and abandoned grapefriut trees gew along side the road. We would stop and pick the grapefruits. Now a ritzy housing development is right in the middle of it. One minute you are driving along this old sand road with amazing old live oaks and fields with palmetto trees and the suddenly you come upon a stop sign for a crossing at a golf community. Then it's back to old Florida again for a while.

I'll write another essay just about this area and the wildlife there.

A few more random pics and I'm done.

Once more headed back home to the cold. Hopefully, not too many wintery weeks left.

Thanks for coming along. There are a few more pics on the slide show I didn't put in the essay. There will be more Florida essays on more specific topics.