Saturday, April 11, 2009

Catching up *People Notes*


We showed up at Cape Canaveral along with a few thousand of our closest friends to watch the night launch of the space shuttle. Here is Paul & Odie on the west bank of the Indian River, which is directly across from the launch pad. Check out all the sailboats that were jockeying for position to watch the launch in just a few short hours...
...ummm... well that didn't happen! The launch was scrubbed, but we got to see a most impressive moon rise over the launch pad!
This is what we saw...
This is (not) what we saw. Compliments of the Associated Press.
So as not to waste a good trip to the east coast of the state, we spent the next day at the Dunes Beach on the Atlantic. It was an incredible, beautiful, and nearly vacant beach north of Cape Canaveral. The sand dunes in some places were 10' - 15', clear water, dolphins - gorgeous!
A week later the launch actually did take place, and we watched it from about 150 miles away (rather than 10) from the street behind our condo! Honestly, it was most impressive and we felt fortunate to have witnessed a magnificent sunset launch. We could clearly see the launch - it looked like a giant roman candle shooting into the atmosphere. Due to the absolute perfect reflection of the sun, we could also see the booster rockets as they separated from the shuttle. We watched it arc into space - very impressive indeed! These are two pictures taken several minutes after the launch...well, not my best work...but take my word for it - it was cool!
The pink is from the shuttle, and the white is where the booster rockets separated.
We ventured into Tampa Bay for a day and poked around Ybor City. It is known as Tampa's Latin Quarter and is a National Historic Landmark District. It was originally settled by Cuban immigrants and became the cigar capital of the country.
Of course, Paul was especially excited to purchase some fabulous Cuban cigars...yes, it is legal to buy them in the US as long as they are rolled/made in the US. Or something like that.
I was happy to eat at Mema's Alaskan Tacos (we first stumbled upon that little place when Deb & Hunter were in town...yummmmy...how can you go wrong with a FRIED taco?!).
And don't ask me what this random NYC statue of liberty, t-shirt, pizza place was doing in Ybor City...weird.
We further ventured inland to explore the natural springs of Florida. Apparently there are hundreds of them. Rainbow Springs started as an attraction in the 1920's and grew as a tourist attraction with glass bottom boat tours, zoo, rodeo, gondolas, waterfalls, gift shops, etc.
When the large amusement parks (aka Disneyworld!) arrived on the scene, this park was closed and fell into disrepair for several decades.
It reopened in the mid 90's as an eco-friendly state park and National Natural Landmark and aquatic preserve. Long gone is the tourism aspect, replaced now with magnificent serene beauty, wildlife, fish, 'cooters', eagles, and yes, alligators!
We are planning a return visit to spend a day kayaking/canoeing, and snorkeling.
Maybe! (that is NOT a good sign!)
Happy Trails.

Catching up...

My people said that I couldn't go to the beach this week unless I caught up on my blogging. Doesn't anybody realize that I am a busy dog - I have a lot of things to do down here in the sunshine state and that doesn't include sitting inside at a computer terminal. I dragged my paws long enough and I think they are serious about the 'no beach' thing, so here goes...

Amazing what can be found on a simple walk down the neighborhood street. TIMMY!! (you know, the turtle that everyone has as a kid and names it Timmy.)

Hell0000000 in there...




That thing was BIG. And I am told that they are not called 'turtles' here - it is either a Florida Cooter or a River Cooter...cooter, hooter, tooter - who cares?! I just wanted to play. And let me tell you that when he decided to take off, that cooter was FAST...look at the picture and the (relative) blur of his legs...














We found a new dog park one afternoon. I ran, and I ran, and I ran, and I ran...then I ran, and ran...well, you get the picture! Whew...I was exhausted. Couldn't even hold my head up to drink my water. Guess it's true what they say about the humidity here - really sucks the energy out of you!















Afterward we went to a 'dog-friendly' restaurant called the Tarpon Turtle and sad outside on the patio overlooking Tarpon Lake...guess who/what decided to join us for dinner...!? Now that reptile was FAST! Every time something fell into the water... *splash*chomp*gone*... yikes!







We also went on an adventure to the other side of the state where we were going to watch a space shuttle launch (whatever that is), but we ended up going to a park and a couple of beaches instead. Fine by me. There was this big, friendly thing swimming around the Indian River on the Space Coast - actually, there were about a dozen manatees hanging out, including a little baby! They were so ugly that they were cute. This one was a big male, about 12' long, and he kept snorting water at me. If they weren't so big, I would have gone swimming with them.















We spent a day at a beach just north of Cape Canaveral. Yippee! I love the beach. But nobody told me the Atlantic Ocean was a different beach experience than the Gulf of Mexico. Tasted the same....aackkk!














Wait...what are these waves?? Oh my gosh - look out! They just keep coming and coming...whoaaaa...here comes another one - and another - and another...look out little doggie!!


Run! Turn and run. Run away. Run fast.

Run, run little dog. The waves are going to eat you!






Aughhhh....


Bbbrrrrrr....

bbbblllllaaaa...

Nothing cures a salty dog like a good roll in the warm sand! Ahhhhh!



















Yea, I love the beach!

I have no idea why I am forced to endure the humiliation of baths, haircuts and the ridiculous plaid scarf. I hate plaid.

Damn!










OK - there. I'm done. Can I go to the beach now??