On To Sebastian Inlet and the Ocean!

Well, I guess I only did one post while we were at Jonathon Dickinson State Park. So I'd better finish up with that quickly. I know I already talked about the AVA walk, so I'm trying to think what else we did while we were there. Well, one day we did something that we said we wouldn't do again-we went to another one of the Florida state fairs. I think we went to the Central Florida state fair last year and said one fair every five years was sufficient. And, what do you know, we actually went again - this time to the South Florida State Fair, which is held just outside of West Palm Beach. And, actually, it wasn't too bad.... there was some very "fair"-like entertainment - a local "Big Band" group of VERY senior citizens, a trained dog act, some little junior American Idol wannabees, etc. And we DO get a kick out of walking around the grounds and looking at things-lots of cute animals, lots of really big and/or weird-looking people (....you wish you could just whip out your camera and say "really???? would you mind if I just take a picture of you to share with folks back home???). I'm posting a couple of fair pictures just for kicks. But I think the best part of the day was the realization that Dave can actually walk around for three hours without his knees hurting him-what a treat for both of us (probably especially for him, right?).

On another day, one of our last ones in the park, we put our bikes onto the car and drove into downtown West Palm Beach, and rode around. There is a very nice bike/walking path along the water - this would be the intercoastal waterway, not the ocean. So we rode on the path, then over one of the bridges to Palm Beach itself, which is pretty staggering - FILTHY rich! Then we road back over one of the other bridges and stopped at a really cute bar just before we got back to the car. It was one of those great Florida bars where the majority of the place is outside under palm fronds for a roof-very cute. I think it was called Bradley's or something like that. Anyway, we had a couple drinks and shared some chips with three different dips and dropped almost $50, including tip - YIKES! Thank God we don't do THAT very often! But it was fun to get out and ride our bikes together.

And then it was time to move on. We like Jonathon Dickinson State Park-it is a really attractive park, and the site are huge (see picture - nice, huh?) but for some reason it just doesn't "grab" us like some of the other parks we visit - not sure why. Maybe because it doesn't have that "campground" feel-it's more like a place where bigger rigs park for a while on their way to other places.

So now we are about 100 miles further north, at Sebastian Inlet State Park. I'll probably post a LOT of pictures from this park - it's very scenic! The park is right on the side of the inlet that opens from the intercoastal out into the ocean (for anyone who followed my blog last year, this is the park where Dave and his kayak almost got swept out to the ocean by the outgoing tide!). Anyway, it's a HUGE fishing location - virtually everyone in the park is here to fish! And the marine life is actually pretty incredible - you can hardly walk along the edge of the water without seeing dolphins jumping. Very cool! Our site here is smaller, but still very nice. But there are a LOT of no-see-ums and mosquitos, especially in the morning and the evening, so not the best park for just sitting outside and reading. We got here on Tuesday and mostly just got set up and stuff. Yesterday we had a bunch of errands to run (ending up with buying a new table-top Weber grill to replace our old one) so most of the day got used up that way. But Dave and I did get out for a nice bike ride later in the afternoon. We rode over the bridge that goes from the south side of the inlet (where we are) over to the north side and then we walked out on the pier and watched the guys fishing and other guys surfing. Very "ocean"! It really is beautiful. Plus there is a great bike path that runs the full length of the island - all the way from Vero Beach up to Melbourne, which is a LOT of miles! So I'm still "training" for my big 5K - the Melbourne Tooth Trot - YAY! It's in a little over two weeks now, on February 11, but I'm doing the whole 5K distance each time I got out, mostly "running" (and believe me, I use the term loosely) with just a teensy bit of walking. So I'm beginning to feel kind of ready for the big event! I even went online to see the results from last year, and as far as I can tell there were only TWO female runners in the 60-64 age category and, since they give ribbons to the top three finalists in each category, I'm almost certain to win a ribbon - what a HOOT, huh? But it's kind of fun to have a goal and push myself a little - but wouldn't you THINK the weight would be just dropping off me like crazy (.....not!).

So that's a quick update... we'll be in this area for five weeks (two weeks in the state park, then three more across the bridge in the county park) so there'll be lots of Sebastian updates. For now, I'm just posting one ocean picture to get us started. But be ready for LOTS more.