Rest days and zoo day

In my previous post I shared photos of the first six days of my holiday and I was going to share another six but there are far too many photos.

Monday

This was another rest day.  We watched the birds in the back garden and tried hard to get some decent photos but mostly the birds moved so the photos are blurred.

Betsy & I walked to the local Walgreens to get some photos printed and walked back the long way alongside this ditch which may or may not be home to alligators!  I've never see one there.  We ended up walking 3.75 miles.

Tuesday
I had arranged to spend the day with my friend Suki who is my daughter-in-law's mother's sister's mother-in-law!  Does that mean we are related?

That aside, I could choose what we did and as I had seen lots of photos on Suki's Facebook page I opted for the zoo.  I have really tried to cut down the number of photos!  The zoo was divided up into continental zones eg Africa, Australasia.

 

 

 

 

In the middle of the zoo was this sculpture exhibition

Suki with a giant puffin

 

There were lots of different birds in the zoo and most of them posed for photos.  I think this one was asleep.

This beautiful sculpture on a bench was dedicated to a two year old who had died.

These two were hidden away.

On Tuesday night I went out with Lauren for dinner.  We had a Thai main course and then went to an ice cream shop for dessert.  Lauren is my daughter-in-law's sister-in-law!  Can you tell that this only child has been taken into a very large Latino family.

Wednesday
Betsy & I went to Cocoa village (as opposed to Cocoa Beach - a different place entirely) to have lunch at this lovely cafe.   We had a walkabout and a driveabout and ended up at a store to buy me a new suitcase as mine had been damaged during the flight over to Florida.

The new suitcase weighs 5 pounds instead of the 10 pounds the previous one weighed.  Oh yes!  More room for craft goodies on the way home.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice

On the road again!

I have just got back from my annual visit to Florida. I visit my daughter-in-law's parents at this time of the year to attend a women's getaway and to have some R&R. This year I also spent a few days in Ohio visiting my friend Mary.

I like to travel to Orlando from my local airport, Birmingham, via Dublin where it is possible to go through Homeland Security and then arrive in Orlando as a domestic passenger. Interestingly in Dublin airport I couldn't buy a bacon sandwich but I could order a portion of bacon and two slices of toast. So I asked them not to toast the toast and voila I made myself a bacon sandwich.

On my first day I spent some time resting and taking photos of Kenny & Betsy's garden for a project later in the year. This is the mango tree in flower. Then I went shopping.  Michaels and JoAnn's of course.

During the afternoon Betsy & I went to get our nails done.

On Thursday I went to a hairdresser recommended by several friends. Here you can see the before and after. I was expecting it to be more radical.  Plus to be honest the after photo doesn't do it justice.

On Friday I made my way to Cocoa Beach where the getaway was based at the Hilton Hotel.  I had time before it started to walk along the beach. It was a very hot day and I foolishly did not take any water with me.  I thought I might be able to get a better photo of the rocket being launched from Cape Canaveral if I got closer to the pier.  Wrong! Plus it turned out to be 2.5 miles - each way! I was exhausted by the time I got back to the hotel.

And the photos - well I'll leave you to be the judge!  They certainly wouldn't win any prizes.

The getaway called Rejuvenate took place with a guest speaker on Friday evening and Saturday morning and ended with a fashion show after lunch.

I stayed an extra night at the hotel and went for a much more sensible walk through the park next to the hotel and back along the beach.

In the evening I went with friends to a Japanese restaurant where the chef cooks your dinner in front of you.  The chef was quite an actor!

The next morning I got up early - well early-ish!  It was about 6.50am to watch the sunrise.

The pelicans came to share the view.

After I checked out I went to the Waffle House to get breakfast.  However everyone else in Cocoa Beach had the same idea so there were no available tables and quite a queue.  I decided to drive back towards Palm Bay and hopefully find somewhere for breakfast.

And I did - at one of my favourite places.  Squid Lips in Eau Gallie.

And here are my pancakes.

After this I drove to church and then went to Kenny & Betsy's for a quiet afternoon.  Lovely.

Next time I'll tell you all about my second week which includes more shopping, eating and a visit to the zoo.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice