Thursday, January 24, 2013

A visit to John and the wilder side of life!


After leaving Davenport, we drove to Melbourne for the weekend to visit our friend John Carlson who we had met while camping at Moody Beach in Maine last summer.  On Friday, John took us to the bridge at Melbourne Beach where the dolphins came right up next to us along the sea wall.



That was the closest we had ever been to dolphins.  I think we could have almost reached out and touched them.  Thanks for arranging the great dolphin show, John!

Next, we rode over to Cocoa Beach.

 
 
It is a beautiful beach...

 
...and not very crowded in January.

 
Then, we rode over to Cape Canaveral where the big cruise ships come in.

 
On Saturday, John took us over to the St. Johns River for an airboat ride at Camp Holly.

 
Hope we don't get eaten up by any gators!



The airboat was big enough to seat several people.

 
And the river was beautiful and full of lily pads.

 
We got in the boat, turned our hats around backwards...

 
...and off we went...


 
 

We saw a few gators...

 
...and the river was beautiful.


The most fun part to me was the ride back when we rode through what looked like no water in places.

Next, John drove us up to a wildlife refuge at the Kennedy Space Center.   We rode down this dirt road where we not only saw gators...




 
...but we also saw lots of birds and little ducks...




...an osprey...

 
...a big flock of pelicans...


 
...and what looked like a few pink flamingos.

 
Then John drove us to this little park nearby where he says sometimes you can see manatees.  And sure enough, there they were:  manatees!



 
It was absolutely amazing all the wildlife we saw.  And I didn't even get pictures of the wild hog on the side of the road or the coyote that ran across the road in front of his truck.  I don't think we have ever seen so many different wildlife in such a short period of time.

John, thanks for a great visit and showing us the "wilder side of life!"

 

 

 

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