March 11 2011
Today was on the cool side, so I did my stepping inland a little bit in the city of Cocoa. Cocoa is a very small city with around 16,000 inhabitants. It was founded by fishermen in 1882 as Indian River City because it’s right along the river, but the US Postal Service rejected that name […]
March 11 2011
I almost thought I was back in Rochester this morning. It was pouring, and I was wondering how I was going to get my 11,000 steps in today. So, I did what I do at home and took off for the grocery store. (The mall is too far away.) The major grocery store here is […]
March 09 2011
Ash Wednesday signals the beginning of Lent, which is a time of self-examination, humility, and penence for many Christians. The Ash Wednesday message is: “From dust you came; to dust you will return.” True enough; but those who hang on til Easter get the rest of the story which was foretold by Isaiah: “Your dead will […]
March 08 2011
Yesterday I was dodging Portuguese men o’ war on the beach. Today I ran into another wild creature. While walking down the boardwalk, I came face to face with a raccoon. He was as startled as I was and ran under the brush. Then he turned around and looked defiently at me from about 10 […]
March 08 2011
Northerners complain that Florida doesn’t have a change of seasons. Not so. The seasons here are just more subtle than those up north. Right now it’s wildfire season in Florida. There’s been no rain, and the brush is burning up. Parts of I95 have been closed because flames were jumping over the road. At the beach, it’s Portuguese-man-o’-war […]
March 06 2011
Yesterday we watched the Atlas rocket take off from Cape Canaveral – not as showy as the space shuttle, but still very impressive – the picture doesn’t begin to do it justice. Today we’re following our normal Sunday routine as if we were home. Church, newspaper, pizza – in that order. Isn’t that how life […]
March 05 2011
Bike Week officially begins today in Daytona. Daytona has a love-hate relationship with the bikers. On the one hand, they bring lots of money into the community. On the other hand, they also bring traffic, accidents, and noise, lots of noise. Because helmets are not required in Florida, many of the accidents become fatalities. Motorcycle […]
March 05 2011
Flea markets are almost as prolific in Florida as palm trees. Vendors set up tables in industrial style buildings, selling purses, jewelry, t-shirts, sheets, luggage, kitchen gadgets, and more. They have all the “as seen on TV” stuff and an assortment of knock-offs. Look at this picture. You can certainly read the word Pandora. What […]
March 03 2011
We’re in Daytona just after race week and just before bike week. The testosterone is coming in with the tide, so I decided to go with the flow and tour the Daytona International Speedway. Nascar fans know that the Daytona 500 kicks off the Nascar season, and we saw the winning car. It’s on display […]
March 03 2011
I took a step into history today, touring St. Augustine, FL. This is the oldest city in North America, founded by Pedro Menendez de Aviles in 1565, although Ponce de Leon landed here in 1513 while looking for the Fountain of Youth in Bimini. And, of course, the Native Americans were already here. He named the place […]