West Coast to East Coast of Florida

On Wednesday (October 12) in Venice, Ken and I lazed around the pool and then had a great dinner with Monte and watched the sunset at Sharky's On The Pier. On Thursday, we went to lunch at Pineapples Island Restaurant where it rained quite a bit, then we went to the beach, stayed there for about 10 minutes, then headed back to laze around the pool for the rest of the afternoon. That is vacation, folks. Geckos, little lizards, and little froggies ran all around the pool and the screened enclosure. HA!

On Friday the 14th, we left for the east coast of Florida, driving through the flattest land I have ever seen to date. There are enormous farms (orange groves, cattle ranches, palm tree farms, lots of sod farms) throughout the middle of the state, interrupted only by a huge prison complex with lots of razor wire. Yikes. The farms are extremely flat and so large that in many spots along the way, we couldn't see a house or a barn or even a tractor as far as the eye could see.

We did see a big turtle (we learned later it was probably a gopher tortoise) crossing the road. We swerved around him, people, don't get excited, and we saw him get to the side of the road safely before the next vehicle was close to him. Phew.

Sean, Dulce and Ken

We drove on to the Jonathan Dickinson State Park in Hobe Sound on the east coast. This is a HUGE park, with more than 11,500 acres, that was named after a Quaker whose vessel shipwrecked nearby in 1696. He, evidently, was on his way to Pennsylvania, but after landing here, was driven north by Seminole Indians to St. Augustine, Florida, where he settled.

On Friday, while innocently watching a Jeopardy episode, our TV suddenly, and unceremoniously, died. Nice. Just as we were going to hear the answer to one of the Jeopardy clues. Not cool.

On Saturday, we visited Ken's nephew, Sean, and his wife, Dulce, in Port St. Lucie. We enjoyed lots of catching up and great food and drink. It was really nice to see them! And they had a spare TV to replace our dead one. Nice! Thanks so much!