Our adventures extended beyond Punta Gorda and we found ourselves taking a couple of side trips via car.
The first trip was up near St. Petersburg, FL to visit a couple we met on the Loop, John & Karen Bell (M/V Sundowner). You might remember previous blogs which included them and their awesome boat cat, Captain Jack.
They completed the Loop in 8 months and invited us to come up and spend a few days at their lovely home just off the ICW in Seminole. We just kind of bonded with these 2 folks and Jack during our days enroute to Florida and were excited to see them again.
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Quite the view from their house, and Sundowner is moored right in their front yard! |
When we got to their house a couple of other Loopers, Cassie & Tom from Utah were also there. It was kind of like a mini-reunion.
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John W, John B, Capt. Jack, Sara, Karen, Tom & Cassie |
Spent 2 full days there taking in the sights, meeting 2 of their daughters and just spending some friend time together.
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Sunset view from their back deck |
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St. Pete Harbor on a calm afternoon |
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On the Sun Dial plaza |
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Getting some excercise on one stop during the Brewery portion of the tour |
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John W. & Karen out paddling around |
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Can you say D-I-V-E bar?? Oh yeah!!! |
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Not sure what he is hoping to find??? |
Our second excursion was across to the other side of Florida to Cocoa Beach. The goal was to catch an Atlas IV rocket launch and visit the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral. John's 60th birthday was approaching and he has always wanted to go there. Thought this would be the perfect early birthday present. We even got to take Molly along!
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Taking a dip in the Atlantic |
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Cool sand sculpture named Alfred |
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View from the restaurant at our hotel |
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The night launch, very cool! |
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The rocket "garden" |
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Assembly building |
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Saturn V rocket, simply amazing. |
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Space shuttle
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Would have been so cool to one of these take off |
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The "crawler" that delivers rockets to the launch pad |
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My little space fan! |
We saw and accomplished all we had hoped for and more. We even got to see where John's dad used to be stationed at the the Banana River Naval Base. It is now known as Patrick Air Force Base and it was kind of special for John to even go by it.
As we left to head back "home", we took a drive down the barrier island chain that lines the Atlantic side of Florida to Fort Pierce before scooting back across the state. A fine finish to a wonderful trip!
Stay tuned for the next blog post where we will be back on Free Bird on the waters of Charlotte Harbor and down the ICW to Fort Myers Beach.
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