This morning we woke up and i was a little excited... this was to be our beach day! The sun was shining, the frost warnings were no more and the ice was finally thawed off the pool (just kidding, but it would have been a funny thing to see to be sure!) We still weren't entirely sure where we were going but had a rough idea on heading to the atlantic coast. We had tossed around the idea of heading across the state west-ward ho but that would have taken over 2 hours and we weren't into long car rides after the long haul to get down here. So we were heading Cape Canaveral direction, near the NASA grounds. We had done a little bit of research online the night before and decided that this was probably the most likely place to go... plus there was a neat sounding wildlife preserve nearby that would maybe provide some flora and fauna that we had been dying to see. In Orlando proper, there are lots of little ponds and mini-lakes, especially near the on and off ramps of the highways and each time we would be careening around an exit or entrance, we would also be looking most avidly for any signs of an alligator. It's like driving up north and everytime you come across a swampy lake inlet thing, you imagine it is the perfect territory for a moose to be hanging out - even if the moose do not agree and oblige you by appearing in these "perfect spots". Well, we were alligator hunting and not having much success. We felt sure that today would be that day!
But first, we had to suffer through a presentation from the time share people. We were blessed to be here with free accomodations thanks to Carina's John's family... and we were thankful for that... but alas, in order to get the discounted tickets for the girls to Universal Studios, we had to listen to a 90 minute presentation by the "no pressure" sales people. I'm afraid neither Carina nor i went into this experience with any sort of positive energy. We were booked to be there at 8:00 and Carina firmly set her timer on her phone to go off at precisely 9:30 and not a minute longer of our precious time would we spend listening to sales pitches for vacations we could not afford,despite all their reassurances. We were greeted by a friendly lady who showed us where to get our free coffee and breakfast - i must admit that for being stuck in a presentation, they could have sprung for a little better coffee and goodies - the danish was super tiny and the coffee (as usual in the States, it seems) was weak so that wasn't a good first impression.
Then we were asked a lot of personal questions about vacation, family, our philosophy about vacation and how we spent most of our time... Carina had the lady there - she filled in that she spends most of her vacation doing mission trips and volunteering - not the ideal candidate to pitch a time share to! Heehee! We were prettty clear with our saleslady that we would definitely not be purchasing anything, that we were simply here because we had to be to get the discounted tickets. She was none too amused at first and complained we were wasting her time and ours.... but yeah, them's the breaks and that's what you do to get discounts (we're Dutch after all, not just any ordinary flunkies you're dealing with here!) But eventually after a bit of giggling about answering the survey questions, we did have a little chat with her, and listened valiantly to her spiel... Then it was on to the 8 minute promotional video featuring many beautiful people all smiling their biggest and best smiles and talking the idea of Diamond Resorts up to the max. Even the multi media presentation did not sway our minds and we earned our discounted tickets and were finally on our way!
There's the sign for Universal - didn't get too much closer than that
We dropped the girls off at Universal Studios in the morning with the promise that we would return for them that evening. They had a beautiful day for being on rides and in the park so we hoped they would enjoy that greatly. Carina and I had no desire to see these totally touristy things, despite many admonitions and encouragements to do so from co-workers and friends "you have to go to Disney when you're there".... nope, nope, not us... we are not into rides and the like so we were more than happy to leave that all behind.We headed east, stuck on a toll highway at first that seemingly kept increasing toll amounts every couple of kilometres, we didn't think 50 cents was bad but when it started to get into the 2 and 3 dollar range, it was time to find an alternate route to the beach. Which we certainly did - a nice little two lane road running through the middle of nowhere it seemed. The one interesting thing that caused us to screech to a halt on the way were signs advertising "homemade alligator jerky". Well, if we couldn't see a live one, we'd have to settle for eating one, we thought. This fellow claimed to have killed and smoked and prepared the jerky himself - we didn't buy his little sandwich baggie offerings but chose rather the prepackaged kinda. He also sold us some very tasty blood/red oranges... umm, umm... good taste to be sure. Hopefully there will be more in the stores, despite the frost warnings and need for spraying here in Florida!
Sorry, i did flip this pic, but it flipped back again - here's our alligator jerky
And here's someone bravely about to take a bite!
And then, we were on the road - which was supposed to take us directly through the grounds of NASA and on to the beach area....alas for us, there were barriers against going across restricted space centre property - who would have thought??! But we took out one of our forty maps (oddly enough, it was the least detailed map, provided by the hotel, that we tended to default to) and found a way around. That way took us on some long rather uninhabited and lonely roads, not coming across much.... but all at once, the car was screeching to a halt as we saw our first ALLIGATOR! We were just a little excited - or at least i was! We backed the car up on the road, nearly backed into the ditch in our hurry to see this rather slow-moving (or rather not moving at all) reptile. Seems so strange to see them in the wild, i've only ever seen them in zoos - kinda scary to think that if you would get lost in the woods or swampy areas here in Florida that the possibility that you might run into one of these fellows is quite a bit higher than at home - at home the most scary reptile we have is the garter snake! But thankfully we are just visitors here and we had our car to protect us! 
This is NASA property - we will blow you up if you continue!
Look a spaceship...
Filled with enthusiasm, we plowed onwards, seeing within five minutes, alligators, vultures, an eagle and pelicans...quite fun! We had a quick lunch break at a McDonald's which decorated with all sorts of astronaut paraphernelia and then jumped back on the road - we still had a beach to find and the afternoon was approaching. We crossed the bridge onto Merrit Island National Wildlife Refuge and were immediately in another world - no commercialism, just a return to nature and getting away from the city. We stopped at the visitor centre, where Carina (for the first of maybe 20 times that day) scared me into thinking there was an alligator hiding in the bushes - nothing like a little paranoia to make travelling exciting!
The guide lady sent us on a 9 mile nature viewing drive through some swampy areas - the road was pretty narrow and only went one way so there was no turning back. We had a guidebook that told us about the area and the habitats there - there were marshes and mudflats, swamps and lakes. There were massive flocks of waterfowl - ducks, geese, herons, storks, pelicans, ever present vultures and many other wading and dabbling birds. The brightest were the spoonbills - bright pink feathers and very odd looking beaks. We were quickly struck by the fact that taking pictures with our little point and shoot cameras was a far cry from National Geographic quality shots.... but it was the thought that counted. We'll be home and saying to people... yep, that's a rare stork... and that blob, yep, that's a never-before seen duck...and they'll just have to take our word for it. But seriously, we did very much enjoy our little safari and were happy that the lady had recommended this to us. The breezes were blowing gently, the air was warm and soft and the sky overhead had not a snowcloud to be seen. It was a beautiful day!
one of the many flocks of waterbirds we saw
here's a heron - don't ask me what kind - i'm no ornithologist
there's a couple of rosy hued chicks from the north lands...see their pale plumage
who needs colour - black and white doesn't show the lack of tan quite so much!
Not a National Geographic shot, but there is a spoonbill in this picture
and our first alligator on this excursion...
After we were done scouting for birds, we began on the reptile hunt - we found some in a drainage canal leading out of the nature reserve... there we saw two - i even sneaked out of the car for a shot but was completely paranoid thanks to my dear companion who would make scary noises and freak me out oh so quickly! Argh... if she didn't watch out, she'd be alligator bait! Our appetite for seeing alligators still not whetted, we decided to continue a bit farther in the park to a place called Biolab Road - doesn't that make you think of a Richard Adams book? In my mind's eye, it should be a huge, menacing lab building surrounded by high barbed wire fences and vicious guard dogs. Here follows a description from one of the official touristy websites...
"The dirt road to the north winds around the West Side of Mosquito Lagoon and is used mainly by fisherman and wildlife enthusiasts. A drive or walk along this 6-mile road will give you an opportunity to view shorebirds during migration and "locals" that make their home here year around. We have over 300 species of birds within the park. Hopefully you will see your favorites and catch a glimpse of some new ones. Taking this "road less traveled" is REALLY getting back to nature."
another big gator... he was pretty huge!
an osprey - sadly, not even one picture of the rotten road!
And it truly was... i think Prunelope was inwardly cringing at the prospect of this road, which in all honesty, had we known how rough and bad and long this road was, we likely would not have persevered as we did....but it sure makes for a good story now. The road meandered here and there, twisting around trees and totally avoiding any pretenses of being a domesticated road... this was definitely a wild road - potholes aplenty big enough to swallow our poor car. Since we had to drive so slowly, the car eventually decided to start to overheat... and make squeaking noises worse than normal and I was truly worried that we would break down on this road and would become victims of the mosquitos, alligators and goodness knows what other creatures lurk in the swampy areas of this part of the world. The road was once again one lane - sometimes even less than that, and in order to avoid some of the potholes, i nearly drove off into the drainage ditches lining either side of the road, in which we found about 10 alligators along our way. It sure was neat to see them but kinda scary too! There were lots and lots of wild birds along the way too... including a plethora of menacing black vultures who seemed to be just waiting for our vehicular demise and subsequent attempted walk to civilization, abruptly being cut short in the jaws of a large reptile and the pieces left over for them to feast on... oh, imagination, slow down and relax! But seriously, the sun was a bit lower in the sky and as the road kept on and on, and we kept thinking to ourselves, if this is the pristine natural beach that the tour guide lady had raved about, she's more of a nature lover than we ever will be... (we had been driving along a "coast" line which we believed to be the ocean, and there were nothing but mucky, seaweedy mudflats everywhere - where was the beautiful sand and waves that were ingrained in my heart's desire?? Disappointment was growing in our hearts.... eventually, after 3/4 of an hour, or maybe 6 hours (as it seems), we reached a wider part to the track, found some more cars, since we had been mostly on our own for the last while (even more ominous) and then signs for the beach began appearing and the truth dawned on us as we perused the map - we had been driving along a road that looped along a lagoon, a tidal basin, but this wasn't the coastline itself... hope was renewed!
We decided since we were this far, we might as well see how the beach looked - and as we pulled the car to a stop, opened our doors and shut off the overheated engine, the sweet sounds of ocean waves, seagulls and beach grasses waving in the breeze hit our ears. The salty taste of the sea was on our lips and my heart was racing a bit as i headed up the boardwalk... would there be the beach i had been longing for??
leading up to the beach...what would await us?
This....aaaahhh, bliss!
Relaxing on the beach!
trying to be artsy...
there were lots of shells - i only took one home - such restraint eh?
footprints in the sand
feet covered with sand
who is that movie star on the beach? Just kidding...
YES!!! The boardwalk led through the dunes and onto a huge, 37 mile long beach of soft white sand, populated with piles of cool shells and just a few people - mostly fishermen and a surfer or two.... but no commercialism, no hot dog vendors, no bikini clad women competing for recognition. Aah, this is what my soul had been longing for! I felt happy, free, relaxed and couldn't get the grin off my face... the sand felt warm, the sun glowed overhead, the breezes played in my hair and the waves lapped (or crashed) around my feet. BLISS! The waves were far too wild and the undertow too strong to swim, but we put our feet and legs in and the water wasn't even too cold... i was pleasantly surprised. I was pretty sure we wouldn't be swimming but that didn't matter. We spent an hour and a half or so, just poking around, collecting shells, eating oranges and just basking in the atmosphere. I had reached the zenith, the peak of my holiday... and it was good! Whatever else happened after this would be gravy! Eventually, the time came for us to depart and we reluctantly directed our feet back to the car and the city, but inside, i felt renewed and smiley! The sun set brilliantly as we drove west and eventually headed to Universal Studios to pick up the girls, who had had a great day but were exhausted from all their adventures. The evening was spent quietly back at the condo, watching tv, skyping and catching up on emails and phone calls. Thursday was done but what a day it had been... i'd go to sleep with visions of alligators dancing in my head!
1 comment:
Ahh the alligators! I'm so happy to see that I am not the only one who was so excited (and persistant) to see the alligators! I am looking forward to maybe seeing some pictures of your trip yet?
Laura :)
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