Wednesday, February 26, 2014

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.






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