Melbourne Beach and Cocoa Beach

Yesterday, we set off to Melbourne and its beach, and then on to Cocoa Beach.  No trip to Florida would be complete, after all, without a trip at least once to the Atlantic Ocean.

Our first stop was supposed to be to the Rosseter House in Melbourne.  However, when we got there, we found out that the house is only open to the public on Fridays and Saturdays.  Oh well!  Can't let that get us down.  We photographed the house and some of the gardens from the outside.  Then, discovered, across the street, the house where General MacArthur's second wife spent some time growing up.  A little bit of Florida history. If you're not sure who General MacArthur is, think World War II, Pacific theatre, and the surrender of Japan.  Google General Douglas MacArthur- he was quite the interesting person.

 The plaque for the house of the second Mrs. MacArthur.  

And the house the plaque refers to.

 The Rosseter House from the main street.  It was extended in the back -which effectively doubled its size.  Unfortunately, couldn't get a good shot of that.

After wandering around the grounds for a bit, we went to the Bald Strawberry for lunch.  It had good reviews on TripAdvisor.  The pizzas and sandwiches are made with gluten-free waffles.  I was expecting something sweet, and was pleasantly surprised to discover that the waffles are savoury.  Nice size personal pizzas, made to order.  But the big treat were the Parisian-style macarons.  They were huge!!  Not just a one-bite macaron, but three bits (and big ones at that).  The Bald Strawberry has its own bakery a few doors down from the bistro.  Delicious and worth the drive to Melbourne.

After lunch, we went to Melbourne Beach and Cocoa Beach.  Licia hadn't been to either, and we wanted to show her that part of Florida.  Melbourne Beach where we stopped was almost deserted.  

 Birds playing on the beach.

 The intrepid photographer.

 Cocoa Beach.  Only a few miles up the road from Melbourne Beach and worlds apart.

 Some of the characters on the pier at Cocoa Beach.  These characters were sometimes very entertaining.  Walter watched one take up and land on the other side of the pier - on a fellow's head!  The fellow wasn't amused, and the pelican flew off a few feet to sit on the pier ledge.

 Part of the historic area of Cocoa Village, across the causeway from the beach.  It's a beautiful area to wander around.  Interesting shops, boutiques, cafes and restaurants. 

 A little squirrel on a park bench.  Note the rather skimpy tail - he wouldn't survive very long in this year's Canadian winter with a tail like that.

After spending the day in the Atlantic shore area, we headed back inland to central Florida.  Our GPS, affectionately known as Martha, tried to take us in a round about way, up the I95, across to Orlando, and then south again to Kissimmee, but we would have none of that.  After a few false starts, Martha understood that we wanted to go south from Cocoa to Melbourne, then across to Kissimmee - skipping Orlando altogether.  Sometimes, you just have to be persistent with the GPS until it gets it right!.

We treated ourselves to a little night photography in Celebration, down the road from our condo.  All lit up at night, it's a nice place to walk around.

  The hotel in Celebration at night.  Not bad for one of my first night shots.  I think this is a new avenue of photography for me to explore.

Lakeland, Florida

Yesterday, we went back to Lakeland to show Alicia the birds on Lake Morton.  We also did a little more exploring of the city.  Lakeland is midway between Kissimmee and Tampa, off the I-4.  It's called Lakeland for a reason.  There are 38 lakes within the city limits, and several more in the surrounding area.  Lake Morton is known for the local and migratory birds.  And we certainly got lots of photos of them.  The houses around there are in the craftsman style of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s.  Lake Mirror has a beautiful walking path around it.  It's closer to the business district, city hall, and hotels.  Very beautiful.  The city has worked hard at making its city center inviting for pedestrians.  Most of the businesses in the city center were closed, just the restaurants and cafes open. It was a lovely way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Interesting trivia fact - it's twinned with Richmond Hill in Ontario. A more really interesting bit of trivia, Lakeland is partial to its many swans.  By the 1950s, the swans were gone - courtesy of alligators and other pests.  One resident wrote to the Queen of England, who graciously sent a pair to the city.  (Note:  in England ALL the swans belong to the reigning monarch).  So today, all the swans in Lakeland are descended from the two sent by the queen.  Thank you, Queen Elizabeth.

Railways were important to the development of Lakeland, as the line from west to east Florida runs through it - and I mean through it - right through the middle of town.  We watched a freight train yesterday.  One of the drivers waiting at the railway crossing got so frustrated with the length of the train, he turned his vehicle around and took off in another direction.  Luckily, there was no one behind him.  it took a good five minutes for the train to move completely through.  And that's the end of the history bit.

 One of the many swans descended from those sent by the Queen.

 Some of the apartments looking out over the Lake Morton. 

American white pelicans.  Notice the bump on the beaks.  That appears during mating season.  Once a pair have mated and laid eggs, the bump is shed.  Something I didn't realize is that the American white pelican has the second largest wing span of birds in North America - the California condor being the only bird with a bigger wing span.

 And after watching these guys on the water, I can believe it.  Their wings are enormous!

 More houses on Lake Morton.  I wonder what the real estate value of these would be?  Could I afford one??????

 One of several wood storks.

 Part of the downtown core - still has that 'small town America' feel.

 View of Lake Mirror Park - the path goes all the way around the lake.  Just invites you to stroll.  Lovely.

Bok Tower Gardens

Yesterday was a sunny day and we set off to visit Bok Tower Gardens.  This beautiful 50-acre garden was established in 1929 by Edward Bok, and is set on the highest point in Florida - a whopping 290 feet above sea level.

We had visited this in October 2012, but most of the flowers had finished then.  This time, we were lucky enough to be there when the azaleas, camellias, and magnolias were in bloom, set among the palms, ferns, pines, and live oaks.  There were also orchids, which I did not expect.  And several other flowers that I don't know the names of.  If you want a peaceful, quiet day away from the hustle and bustle of theme parks, this is a good place to go.  No bird pictures here, except for a cardinal that we saw.  He was singing his heart out.  Lots of flower pictures. We spent about three hours walking around, and could have easily stayed longer.  When coming up the the gardens from the highway, we drove through orange groves.  Rows and rows of trees laden with oranges.

 Beautiful white orchids growing by the path way.  Absolutely stunning.

 Azaleas of every colour were blooming.  The variety of pinks, ranging from pale delicate pinks to deep pinks, almost red, was astounding.  I'm not kidding, there was colour everywhere.  The difficult part was deciding what to photograph.

These flowers were just beginning to blossom.  They were intriguing because of the petals - forming almost perfect concentric rings.  Beautiful!

 Dainty, delicate orchids.  Walter had to move some of the leaves out of the way, so that I could get a good shot.  And of course, I did  the same for him.

 The cardinal.  He was playing hide and seek in the tree.  We had a hard time finding him, but once we did, we kept our cameras trained on him.  Perseverance does get a reward!

 Sometimes the most interesting things are right at my feet.  This piece of bark from a palm tree reminded me of a fish.

 Walter will do anything to get a good shot.  Here was lining up a shot of the bell tower.  Of course, I had to take a picture of him taking a picture of the tower.

 The Bell Tower.  It's called the Singing Tower because there is a 60-bell carillon.  There are concerts every hour for about 15 minutes during the day.  Beautiful music that can be heard all over the park.

More Celebration in Florida

My sister Alicia is visiting for a few weeks.  It's been several years (I won't say how long, but Chris was quite young!!) since she and I have been in Florida together.  Today, we went to Celebration - a town created by Disney in the 1990s.  We wandered around the market square and the lagoon.

 Whirlygig spinning in the breeze.  There were several outside one of the restaurants.  This one was blue and green.  Others were orange and yellow, or red, green and blue. 

 One of the streetscapes.  I loved the shadows on the palm trees created by the street lamps.

 The fountain in the square.  Disney worked hard at creating the idealized American town.  And has succeeded.  It's a beautiful place to spend a day.

 I love the attention to detail.  Like here - the lines of street lamps all the same.  Makes for an interesting architectural photo.

  Walter and Alicia enjoying a 'selfie' that Walter was taking.

 Great play on words.  The 'Wolfgang Puck' store for doggies.

 Cormorant coming in for a landing.  Not the greatest photo, but I love how he puts out his feet to act as brakes in the water.

 Cana lilies by the water. Beautiful orange flowers.

 Osprey!  I was looking across the lagoon at Walter, who had his camera mounted on a tripod.  All of a sudden I heard a splash near me.  Turned around and saw an osprey take off with a fish in its claws.  I snapped away as many shots as I could.  This is the result.  Osprey are beautiful birds, sometimes called fish eagles, because their diet is just that - fish.  There are several that we've seen here in Florida.

 Blue heron coming into shore.

 He landed close to Walter, who took the opportunity to get in several shots before the heron flew over to another part of the lagoon......

 where he speared a fish for lunch.  

It was a lovely day. Tomorrow, we're off to another adventure.

Lake Kissimmee State Park

'Where Florida's heritage comes alive' - that's the motto of Lake Kissimmee State Park.  Situated in between Lake Rosalie and Lake Kissimmee, it's in an are known as the 'headwaters' to the Everglades.  There are over 13 miles of trails (you can walk them, or travel 6 miles of them on horseback), in terrain that changes from floodplain, marshland, flatwoods and shady hammocks.

We opted to walk the shortest trail - 2.6 miles near the marsh.  What a different perspective of Florida.  If all you're used to is theme parks, this is a major shift.  Quiet, peaceful, and beautiful - the kind of place where you naturally speak more softly, so as to be in harmony with nature.  We didn't see a lot of birds, but the beauty of the area more than made up for that.

 The marsh with Lake Kissimmee in the distance.  We could hear the shore birds, but couldn't see them.

 A typical sview. Scrub pines with Spanish moss.  There were all sorts of little nooks and crannies.  I half expected some southern belle or southern gentleman to come walking out (imagine Gone with the Wind and you get the idea).

 Some of the beautiful ferns.  What a contrast to the green palms.

 Different kind of ferns.

 Footprints in the sand -mine and ......

  Walter's.

Green Hill Farm and Balloons

On Sunday, we went to Green Hill Farm.  It's a petting farm, geared toward little kids.  Lots of opportunity to feed rabbits, chicks, ducklings, pigs, goats and sheep.  And even milk a cow.  The kids rode ponies, climbed onto farm machinery (under the watchful eye of mommy and daddy), and generally had a great time. Sydney played in the corn box (kernels of corn replacing sand, thus a corn box rather than a sandbox).
There were a cowboy who showed us tricks with whirling lassos, and twirling guns (just like Roy Rogers, for those of us old enough to remember him).  And some pretty nifty knife throwing.  It was a great way to spend the morning.

 Sydney playing in the corn box.  She was very intent on trying all the shovels and scoops.  

 Lennox on the pony ride.  He was having a good time.

 Sydney on the swing.  Walter was pushing her, and if he didn't do it fast enough, Sydney yelled out 'More'!

 Lennox on one of the pieces of farm equipment.  Unfortunately, I don't remember which one.  He was very intent on trying to steer, even though his feet can't reach the pedals.

 Two little lambs waiting to be fed.

Jon - part of the knife throwing act.  Brave fellow.  I wouldn't have done that.

Yesterday, we woke up to hot air balloons sailing by in the sky.  What a beautiful sight.

  Silently gliding in the sky.

 The balloons were out again this morning, but by the time I saw them, they were far off in the distance.  I'll have to keep a look up for them.  I wonder if this is a daily occurrence?  Balloon rides are amazing.  We did one a few years ago in Australia, and I loved it.