Port St. Lucie, Florida

This is one of the many causeways we crossed on our way east of Pensacola. The weather was warming up and the skies were clear.

9 February 2014

Destin, Florida

Got off the I-10 near Pensacola and drove the coastline east. Spent the night in Destin, Florida on the Gulf coast. This is about halfway between Pensacola and Panama City. We got here too late to do any touring, so we just went out to dinner at a wharf restaurant where we were the only customers – they close at 8 pm and we got there at 7:30 pm.  I guess the town closes up pretty early around here.

10 February 2014

Lake City, Florida

Had the brilliant idea to take a county road instead of getting back on the I-10, with the thought that we would see some interesting small towns, farm and industry.  Well, this ain’t Iowa, folks.  The towns were not quaint and the farms were few and far between.  Did see lots of scrawny pines and marshes.  Finally, I decided enough was enough and we jogged back over to the I-10.  Surprisingly, I-10 fronted some very nice ranches and farms and the countryside was much more pleasant to look at.

Lake City was just a way stop for us, we spent the night and moved on. But a bit of a disaster occurred when Russ accidentally stepped on one of his hearing aids. To clarify, it was not in his ear (part of the problem), but was in his pocket and it fell out when he reached in his pocket to pull out his room key. Fortunately, his audiologist office was still open back in Long Beach and he was able to arrange with them to have a replacement made and sent to him. It was a rather complex process; Widex (the manufacturer of his hearing aids) had a digital mold of his ear and the audiologist had the data that he used to program the device. So Widex will put a rush on making the hearing aid and overnight express it to his audiologist. Then the audiologist will program it and, again, overnight express it to us at our hotel in Fort Lauderdale.

11 February 2014

Port St. Lucie, Florida

We left interstate I-10 for the final time this trip and turned onto Highway 75.  This is a toll road which goes down the middle of the state.  Motored right on through the Orlando area, home of Disneyworld, and spent the night in Port St. Lucie. Tomorrow we plan on meeting with Russ’ cousins, Jim and Karen Christenson, for lunch before we continue on to Ft. Lauderdale. Port St. Lucie reminds me of Orange County – lots of recent Mc Mansions, golf courses and shopping centers.

We went to a Hibachi restaurant for dinner.  It has been a while since I have been to one and I enjoyed the little show the cook put on. The food was very, very good.

The weather has steadily warmed – today it hit 80 degrees.  And there is a definite tropical feel to the air, a lot more humidity. The terrain has changed also.  The pines have been replaced with all sorts of palms, there are lots of different water fowl flying around, and while I haven’t seen any alligators, I am sure we have passed some in the many ponds along the road. Good weather has been continuing, today was in the mid 70s.

The USS Alabama near Pensacola. This ship was commissioned in 1942 in time to support the Pacific war front. Now it is part of a military park.

Lots of folks were out on the water enjoying the nice weather.

We saw beautiful vistas of sand dunes and small harbors along the Gulf. These are part of the Gulf Island National Park. Did you know that the white sugar sand originally came from the Appalachians? It is finely ground granite that washed out to sea and then was carried via currents to this shoreline.

 

 

 

The cook at the Hibachi restaurant lit a very dramatic volcano.  We could feel the heat from our seats.