Wind and Sun

Friday was another pretty nice day. Although it was a cool 44° overnight the sky was clear and the sun warmed things up in a hurry. We hit just over 14,000 steps on our step counters yesterday so we were a bit slow getting going. When we did we walked up to the intersction of Highway 30-A and the county road to the west of us. Lots of shops there and a really pretty nice old fashioned hardware store. Unlike the one we visited in Panama City Beach this one was very well stocked and staffed. I had to return a nut and bolt I bought earlier this week because it was the wrong size. The new one I got turned out to be the right size but not the fine thread that I needed. I give up. It just goes into the container of nuts, bolts, washers, screws, pins, retaining clips and everything else that has no home. It is nice to be prepared but most of the time I don't have what I really need so I improvise which is just as good as being prepared.

We checked out several gift type shops, some home decor shops (beach chic), a couple restaurants, a upscale surf shop where they had surf boards, stand up paddle boards and extraordinarily expensive flip flops and other beach essentials. Far more essential than I need.

Susan bought a Panama Jack sun hat at a more normal store. She sort of looks like Indian Jones. Very cool!

We stopped for a Kona Coffee at the Bad Ass Coffee Shop. There was some claim linking donkeys and coffee in Hawaii for their name. Not too sure about that but I never spent much time on the Big Island checking out the donkeys.

We went to the beach this afternoon. The sun was warm, the wind off the water was bracing.  We lasted for a bit over an hour. No one else seemed to be enduring it for any longer. It was definitely cooler than our last beach excursion.

After supper we walked down to a trail around a lake between the campground and the dunes (and then the beach). It is a pretty good sized lake with a canoe launch. Looks like there is fishing in it as well.

Thare are some aquatic hazards as well. The swimming area is not fenced!  I thought they only did that in Austrailia to keep out the Great White nippers. I am not going in there for a swim. I have to say we are disappointed in not having seen an alligator yet. Someone in the park lost a little brown dog the other day. There were several people hunting for some time before they found the small dog.  Better him than an alligator with a grin.

It is not dark yet and the moon is out and almost full. In between the pines it was pretty impressive.  I thought these were Southern Yellow Pines. What else would one think a pine tree in the south was? They are not.  They are called Slash Pines. They have sort of a rounded over top, long needles and produce enormous amounts of sap when they are slashed with several V shaped cuts up the trunk. A metal funnel like thing is nailed at the bottom of the cut area where buckets are hung. Is is sort of like maple sap collection to make syrup. The sap or pitch is collected and boiled, distilled and condensed to make various grades of turpentine.  We visited an old (no longer used) turpentine distillery. It looked pretty much like you would have expected a big whiskey still to look like.  

14,451 steps today.

Tomorrow we depart for a drive east along the shore and then over to Perry, FL for one night and then on to Kelly Rock Springs County Park near Apopka where we will have a chance to get together with Susan's cousin, Patsy and her husband Joe.  

And then to the Moon and Beyond at the Space Coast.  Maybe we will see a rocket launch.

Roger and Susan