Sight Seeing

When the Kennedy Space Center was started years ago, they purchased a large portion of land to have as a safe zone during launches.  Most of that land has been left wild and is a refuge for a lot of Florida's wildlife.  While we are here, Uncle Mike and Aunt Anita decided to show us this area.  We saw lots of birds, manatees and even a reasonable sized alligator.

a snowy egret

bunch of coots

roseate spoonbill

alligator, well only its head was seen

We had so much of a good time that we decided to visit the actual Space Center the next day.  A lot has changed since any of us saw it and we spent the entire day there and still didn't see it all.  We highly recommend going to both places if you are in the area.

the entrance to Kennedy Space Center

the rockets

the fuel tank for the Atlantis

the Atlantis

the launch pad

the capsule

the tourists

with the astronaut

astronaut in space

track for the crawler

Jensen Beach and Stuart

As we said, we spent a couple of days in Jensen Beach and Stuart.  This is where Mark went to school back in the late 70's.  A lot has changed but amazingly a lot have stayed the same.  This part of Florida has done well to preserve some of the older look.  We spent one afternoon wandering around the Confusion Corner (confusion because 8 streets and 1 railroad come together) area of Stuart, not too mention catching up with Terry and Charlene.

downtown Stuart

Confusion Corner

Confusion Corner

Charlene and Terry

Sammy the dog, 16 and a half years old

Visiting

We just spent a couple of days staying with and visiting with Mark's cousins John and Lauri.  Today after we get our tags for the car we head north to Jensen Beach to stay a couple of days with Terry and Charlene, then a bit further north to stay in Merritt and see everyone up there, Blasky and Sobols.    We missed some on the way down.  Then after Thanksgiving weekend we will head up to Deland and see the Vladika side of the family.  Michael and Erika are expecting their second and we still have not met the first so we figured we better get up there soon.  After that we are not sure, we have a couple of balls up in the air and it is how they come down that will decide our immediate future.  But we might head up to the moonshine state if everything goes right.

It is great to be able to catch up with so many people.

Our New Old Wheels

We got tired of paying rental rates so we forked out the cash and got a Nissan Rogue.  We like it so far.  It is a 2012, so hopefully will last us a few years.  It has cameras to stop us from bumping into things, a roof rack, leather heated seats, and a sun roof.

Here are some photos of it.

Mark's Turn

While at the Job Fair yesterday, Mark applied for a job.  It required a USCG Radar endorsement.  So since it looked like we needed a bit more time in Lauderdale and a course was running next week, he booked it.  He had already done the MCA one but as in most things USCG, there is no international cooperation.  Oh well, hopefully it will help.  Pauline gets to play chauffeur and general researcher/errand person next week.

Friends in Coconut Grove

On Sunday we drove down to Miami to see friends of ours, formerly from Guam, who currently have their boat at the Coconut Grove Sailing Club just south of Miami.  We had a very pleasant day with them, catching up as well as a chance to leisurely enjoy watching boats.

Thanks Tom and Pixie for having us down there.