Places Visited:

Florida: Melbourne

Monday, August 12, 2002
Land Yacht Harbor; Melbourne, FL.

One thunderstorm after another pounded us last night. We were
close
to floating away by dawn.

Joyce and I took Pop's to lunch again then spent some time
sightseeing
in the Melbourne area.

We picked Pop's and Joyce's Sister up and headed up to Coco
Beach to
take a sunset boat ride on the Banana River. When we got there
they
had cancelled the 6:30 cruise so we did a little sightseeing then
headed back to Joyce's Sister's home in Indialantic (Melbourne
Beach).
We agreed that the captain had made a good call as the weather
had
deteriorated to the point lightening was filling the sky.

Tuesday, August 13, 2002
Land Yacht Harbor; Melbourne, FL.

Joyce and I toured the campus of Florida Tech. They have a
botanical
gardens on campus that features over 200 varieties of palm trees.
We
enjoyed the entire campus as much as the botanical garden. They
have
been planting palm trees for a LONG time on the campus and
continue to
add to their awesome display. Joyce and I arrived on campus
around
8:30am but even then it was hot and muggy. It has rained every day
we
have been here and the ground is saturated. Moisture is oozing
from
the ground; humidity has to be approaching 100%. By 9:30 we can
stand
it no longer and retreat to our Saturn and turn the air conditioner on
full blast. We tried to find the Turkey Creek Sanctuary advertised to be
on Port Malabar Road in Palm Bay. It may be there but we could not find
it. That was excuse enough to take Pop's to lunch.

We spent the entire afternoon at the motorhome as thunderstorm
after
thunderstorm rocked the area. We may float away yet. This place
is
only a foot or so above the water table. School kids are boogie
boarding in their yards. If you have never heard of a "boogie board" just
think of it as a snowboard for wet places.

Wednesday, August 14, 2002
Land Yacht Harbor; Melbourne, FL.

This was our day to tour Kennedy Space Center and that we did.
We
arrived at the Space Center Visitors Center by 9:00 am and stayed
until nearly 5:00 pm. There is so much to see and do yet so little
time to experience it all. Over 75% of the individuals touring the
Space Center were foreigners. That struck me as odd. It seems
that
the foreigners have more respect and admiration for American
accomplishments than we do. Joyce and I both discussed that it
was
embarrassing for us personally that we had not visited the Space
Center before, and we live in Florida. Even worse we did not bring
our Son to tour it.

For those that have not experienced the Space Center it is one of
the
things you should do especially if you visit Florida.

In addition to rockets and spacecraft the Space Center is a wildlife
refuge. Twelve eagles nest on the Space Center property and the
tour
guides take you by one extremely large eagles nest. Alligators are
easily seen in the lakes, ponds, ditches and streams. Wading birds
of
all description are also in abundance.

We ate at the Cove on Satellite Beach just south of the Space
Center.
This is a place that we recommend. They had live music, a dance
floor
and great food. It goes without saying that Joyce picked this place. Most
of you know why, don't you? (Party Animal)

By the time we got back to Melbourne thunderstorms were rocking
the
area and rain was coming down in sheets.

Thursday, August 15, 2002
Land Yacht Harbor; Melbourne, FL.

Joyce wandered the local mall while Pop's and I ate lunch together.
Joyce's sister picked her up around 5:00 and they went to eat and,
and, and --------, well they got back around 9:00 saying they had a
good time talking.

Thursday, August 15, 2002
Land Yacht Harbor; Melbourne, FL.

We awoke to rain, no thunder just hard rain. Folks in the RV-Park
are
saying we brought the rain with us and want to know when we plan
to
leave. They are not complaining since they will take all the rain
they can get. Lakes in the central part of the State are in need of
recharge. The daily rain will help recharge the aquifer. In this
area of the world when the aquifer gets low it leaves unfilled holes
in the limestone that underlies this area. The limestone gives away
and things like highways and buildings fall into the resulting
sinkhole. During dry periods sinkholes make the afternoon news on
a
regular basis.

Friday, August 16, 2002
Land Yacht Harbor; Melbourne, FL.

We did not do anything worth writing about.

Saturday, August 17, 2002
Land Yacht Harbor; Melbourne, FL.

We picked up Joyce's dad and headed to Cocoa Beach to catch a
10:30 am
boat cruise along the Banana River. We chose to drive over to
Indialantic Beach and catch highway-3 up to Cocoa. Highway-3 is
also
called Banana River Drive on the Island. Once highway-3 crosses
the
Banana River it runs north on a tropical peninsula with the Banana
River on the east and the Indian River on the west. Luxurious
homes
with exquisite tropical landscaping adorn this route. Eye popping
estates and manicured lawns made the route one that we wanted to
experience both ways.

This area is famous for Indian River Citrus. Many of the citrus
groves are being sold to make room for housing developments.
Somewhere along the southern end of highway-3 we spotted an
avocado
orchard. This is the first avocado orchard either of us has seen.

It turns out that we were the only ones on the boat cruise. Lucky us.
The captain and tour guide was full of information. We learned to
identify Red, Black and White Mangrove. We actually did learn to
identify each. After we learned to recognize them the Captain
quizzed
us throughout the remainder of the trip.

We saw numerous manatees munching vegetation along the way.
Ospreys
were abundant as were great blue herons and little blue herons.
Wood
storks were feeding in one yard. The two-hour cruise was great.
We
plan to do it again when we return in January or February since the
wildlife will be completely different. The only thing we missed
seeing was an alligator but they are so common around here that
not
seeing one was a fluke.

Sunday, August 18, 2002
Land Yacht Harbor; Melbourne, FL.

This is our last day in Melbourne where we have been visiting with
Joyce's Dad. After lunch we all went to a Cajun Festival complete
with authentic Cajun food and live music. All of us had a good time
listening to the music then it was time to take Pop's home and grab
some groceries.

Tomorrow we are leaving here with plans to stop by the small town
of Oviedo just north of Orlando to visit with friends before continuing on
to O'Leno State Park just north of Gainesville.

Mike & Joyce Hendrix