Back onto Hwy A1A again, and along the beaches to Daytona Beach. We passed though Cape Canaveral, where a Jupiter probe took off the day before on a 5 year mission. We then went to Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and drove through the gravel backroads looking for wildlife, birds, manatee, etc. 99% of the wildlife had the good sense to go North for the summer.
If you watch the video, you will hear the cicadas, which we have been hearing everywhere for the last month. They are so loud you can hear them along the roads over the noise of the cars.
We had planned to stay in Daytona Beach for a couple of days, but though the pool and beach were nice, the hotel wasn't, and internet didn't work so we decided to move on. We did, however, get to have dinner at a Red Lobster, which we've wanted to do since we started this trip. It was great!! The next morning we took the car on the beach, which is another thing Steve wanted to do on this trip.
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| One of the inmates talking to Steve |
Without a place to stay, we headed up A1A again, stopping in St. Augustine to do a self guided tour of the historic district. There is a historic lighthouse, bridge, fort, and an old jail.
We were stunned by the number of huge palaces, and fabulous mansions along hundreds of miles of Hwy A1A. Where the land narrows, some of the properties extended across the road so they owned the beach on one side of the road as well as the boat dock on the other. There is also every other type of home you can imagine from huge apartment condos, regular family homes, luxury condos, beach huts and trailer parks.
We saw a lot of interesting seabirds including different types of gulls, one with a top knot, pellicans, sandpipers and others we didn't know. The vegetation is varied, from swampy mangrove, to prickly pear cactus and agave, to pine trees, palm trees and huge spreading oaks hung with Spanish Moss and vines. There are also dunes covered in Sea Oats protected by snowfences and designated walkways to the beach.
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Bar before the storm |
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| Bar a short while later |
We were very lucky to find a great hotel right on the beach at Atlantic Beach, just North of Jacksonville Beach. Our balcony overlooks the pool, Tiki Bar, and the beach. Then we were treated to a wild thunderstorm. I have many pictures of a rainy sky sans lightening strikes. It was raining so hard that Steve took his chamois out and washed the car.
Aug 8th, our second Monthversary, and we are celebrating sitting on our balcony watching the pelicans dive for fish and dozens of dragonflies fly around the pool. On our first swim in the waves this morning we saw several dolphins following a fishing boat and dozens of gulls soaring around it.
