More vegecation pictures

The weather has been beautiful the past few days, and my connection has been slow, so I haven’t been overly concerned about spending much time online. Today is a little overcast, and we’ll be leaving soon to go see a movie, so I have a little time.

While driving through New Smyrna, we came across my new car. Oh yeah!

I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for Friday’s shuttle launch, but right now there is only a 30% chance that it will launch. I’m bummed. But the shuttle launch was going to be a bonus, anyway, so I’ll have to just make do with having a nice week at the beach! I remain hopeful. Apparently, if they can find a window to launch, they’ll do so tomorrow, rather than wait until Sunday.

We met up with Cousin Greg and Aunt June at a good seafood place called Norwood’s. It was great to see them, because it’s been a while! I think I talked my head off, but it had just been quite a while since we’d gotten together. There is the possibility that Greg’s son (and Aunt June’s grandson) will be able to take us up in a small plane Friday afternoon, but that might not happen, either. Russell is attending Embry-Riddle University in Daytona (apparently considered the best aeronautics school in the world), has his pilot’s license, and has a guaranteed slot for his Marine Corps pilot training. All right, Russell! I hope a trip Friday afternoon will work out, but if not, we’ll catch it next time! Update: I just spoke with Greg, and it looks like the weather isn’t going to cooperate tomorrow. I’ll take Russell up on his flight offer next year when we’re down!

One of Monday’s highlights was a walk down the beach to Breakers, a place that is right on the beach. I love sitting out on the balcony to have a drink, looking out at the beach and catching the ocean breeze. I had two Rum Runners, which was a mistake. Note to self: stick with one in the future! Man, those were tasty and went down like freakin’ Kool-Aid, but they pack a wallop!

There was another trip to Breakers for burgers. They have amazing burgers, big and juicy. One of my two favorite burgers I’ve experienced so far. (The other was a recent addition, Port Of Call’s in New Orleans. Thanks George, sweetie! You were right!) I couldn’t resist an IPA from Athens, Gee-Ay (home of the B-52s and REM), Terrapin Hopsecutioner. It was tasty, too! I got a nice picture of a great blue heron at the golf course on Wednesday. I was initially puzzled by this sign at the vehicle entrance to the beach. I thought, “Are people planking or something?” After thinking about it, I guess they mean that where the cars park on the beach, you can’t stake out a place to lie in between them.

After the early movie this afternoon, I’m hoping for some decent enough weather to hit the beach again. (Update: It’s still very overcast, but I’m seeing some clear skies on the horizon.) If I have to, I’ll lay out between the clouds! I’ve got some pretty good tan lines going, especially after I made an executive decision to wear a bikini down here. I said to myself, “Self, have you seen some of the people wearing bikinis down here? Honey, you just feel free to go right ahead.” And I did!

Travelin’ Gal

We made it to New Smyrna Beach with few problems. It actually went pretty well, other than some traffic slowdowns in a few areas. (South Carolina seemed particularly prone to traffic snarls.) That’s so frustrating when you’re anxious to get to a place!

One quick note about the trip down. When we were going through Kokomo, Indiana, I noticed the “Welcome To Kokomo” sign. We zipped by fairly quickly, and I said, “Did that say ‘city of florists’?” Ken was like “What?” I said, “It looked like that sign said ‘city of florists.’ That can’t be right.” We eventually drove by a building that had a big sign on the roof that said ‘city of firsts.’ I said, “Ohhhh, city of FIRSTS. That makes more sense then florists!” But Kokomo will forever, to me, be the city of florists.

Okay, so finally we made it to New Smyrna. The weather is typical summer weather in Florida: hot and steamy! I know it’s hurricane season, but I love this kind of weather, at least when you’re right by the ocean to catch that breeze. The building where we stay is right on the ocean, but we got a special surprise when we checked in. We had been confirmed in a second level room (which we prefer), but a few units down from the end. Not ideal, but still good. Apparently, someone had canceled, so we got second level, but the end unit...yeah, the one that faces the ocean! There are two sliding glass doors, one off of the living room and one off of our bedroom, and they go right onto balconies facing the ocean. SCORE! We’ve been coming down here for 10 years, and we’ve only gotten the end unit one other time.

There was much rejoicing! Ken’s mom is loving it, says this is the most peaceful she’s felt for some time now. I’m very happy to hear that.

The pictures in this entry are views from the balcony. The first is what the beach looked like late yesterday, after they’d closed it to vehicle traffic. The other two are what it looks like today, on a holiday weekend. I prefer the non-crowded version. During the week, it won’t be quite as bad.

I’m happy to be back in our home away from home. Now it’s back out on the deck for a little more reading, then a little sun time. More to come!