Journey of Joy - Vero Beach (in a seashell)

Since my last post was April 14, and my dear readers have only followed me through St. Patrick's Day, at this rate I'll never get caught up on this trip blog. So at the risk of leaving out some beautiful scenery and detail, here's a mini-montage of our Vero Beach week.

Sunrise from Pat Sampson's penthouse in Jensen Beach. 

Pat and I after our private golf lesson.
BTW - we also drove by Tiger Woods' new mansion on Jupiter Island.

Lynn's shell collection doodle

Lazy days of beach-combing along the crystal blue ocean

Journey of Joy - Vero Beach Wild Weekend

March 16-23 our home was a cozy timeshare at the Reef Ocean Resort. From there, we took many side trips, met up with old friends, and walked on the stunning Vero beaches. We knew it would be a trip down memory lane for Lynn, since she owns a timeshare here and her parents lived in Vero in their retirement. Plus, she grew up only an hour and a half north. Seeing Florida through the eyes of a native is highly recommended! We did so much the first weekend, I'm posting the Vero week in two parts -- did I mention we spent St. Patrick's Day in a biker bar, listening to blues bagpipes?!

It was Bike Week in Florida - and on Sunday afternoon 300 Harleys
showed up at Earl's Hideaway in Sebastian, FL to hear Pipapelli,
Lynn's brother R.J. (Bob) Grady and his kilted blues band.
They came down from western North Carolina for the gig. 

More about St. Patrick's Day in a bit...
Back to Saturday: here's where we stayed.

Started the week off with oceanside lunch at Waldo's, at the 

Driftwood Resort, a quick walk from Reef Ocean.  Lynn's timeshare 

 is located here. She usually comes in late April or September, 

without the crowds and traffic of Spring Break in Vero.

Saturday night we drove north to Port Canaveral, to hear
"Even Odds" at Grills, a fun patio bar beside the cruise ship docks.
The band is led by Roger (shown here with Lynn), a childhood
friend of her family. In fact, she used to babysit for the lead guitar player!
Great danceable music, and nice to meet some of her Rockledge friends. 

St. Patrick's Day dawned bright, and we fueled up with
brunch at Mulligan's - an even shorter walk down the beach.

North again 30 minutes to Earl's Hideaway. Here is Pipapelli
wearing the Grady family tartans. R.J. on the left, and his
wife, Cindy, singing Janis Joplin-style vocals. 

R.J. the dancin' piper got the crowd going!

Do the math: 300 bikes bring a crowd of 500 and Earl's was thrilled!
 Theysold out of green beer, and the corned beef and cabbage special. Yes,
Harley owners tend to be in the AARP set. So plenty of crazy green outfits
amid the lawn chairs,and no bar fights,at least while we were there!

If you don't arrive in a Harley, better make it
some kind of cool ride

Creativity runs in the family! If you want to know about
The Creature From the Black Lagoon connection
to R.J.'s band, visit and like Pipapelli on Facebook.

Journey of Joy - Boca Raton week

Thanks to a last minute change in plans, we ended up spending March 8-15 with Lynn's friends in Boca, Jackie and Louis Abouzeid. Jackie (Oates) and Lynn Grady have been friends since childhood, when both their families moved to Rockledge, FL in the fifties. Both their dads served as Rockledge's Mayor back in the day. Jackie's Boca home is warm and welcoming, with a Key West-inspired decor.

Sea turtle sand sculpture

The week was like a private health spa for the two of us. Fruit smoothies in the Vitamix for lunch, gluten-free meals at night, daily meditation from Deepak Chopra and Oprah's 21-Day Meditation Challenge, and while Jackie was at work, we explored area beaches and local attractions.  Boca highlights:

Clara the Psychic - Traveled to Miami for a personal reading. The experience could take an entire blog post, but let me just say that Clara was authentic and her well-worn tarot deck predicted my future as mostly rosy. Same for George, Drew and Jamie. She said to expect good health, prosperity, new business ventures, and even two great sons-in-law down the road... Can't wait to see it all come true!

Butterfly World - Coconut Creek FL. This is a must-see attraction for anyone traveling to Florida! Classical music surrounds you in the parking lot and throughout the exhibits. Hundreds of exotic butterflies flutter around you in a spectacular enclosed flower garden. There were also giant macaws in another section, and an aviary. The butterfly house was magical, like being granted a temporary visit into heaven.

Colors, colors, and more colors

A Blue Morpho camouflaged on Lynn's bag. The photo at
the top of this post reveals their bright blue inside wings.

Jackie poses by one of the oversized Passion Flowers,
developed and bred at the facility to attract butterflies

Lynn was a butterfly magnet that day!

Beaches of Boca

Deerfield Beach - Palms were swaying in the stiff breeze

White caps made for beautiful surf 

Giant starfish graced the beach at Red Reef Park
(photo by Lynn Grady)

Gumbo Limbo Nature Center

Coastal ecosystem, sea turtle rehab and nesting protection,
and a 38' tower  with ocean and intracoastal views

Meandering raised walkway through the coastal forest

At 40' up, we had a good case of "blender hair" 

This turtle was hit by a boat propeller,
and is recuperating at the Center

Banyan tree, part of what is called
a Hardwood Hammock forest

Odds 'n Ends

Lynn and Louis in a heated ping-pong match

We got henna tattoos in Boca --
mine still lookin' good on Vero Beach

The colors of downtown Boca 

Jackie's tray of shells and beach glass says it all

Journey of Joy - Florida week two

I've been away from the blogosphere, having too much fun! To recap our Florida route, here are the places we visited after 3 days in Jacksonville:

Sarasota - 2 days

Boca Raton - one week 

Vero Beach - one week

Cassadaga, Rockledge, Cocoa Village, Longwood - 4 days

Welcome to the Gulf Coast

Spectacular beaches, despite chilly temps 

Lots of yachts in Sarasota harbor - this one would look good on us!

While Lynn went to meet a friend, I spent a fun Thursday afternoon seeing a Baltimore Orioles Grapefruit League spring training game vs Toronto Blue Jays ... and when I got to my 5th row seat on the first base line, there was Cal Ripken, Jr. signing autographs! He was there to hype his new memoir, Wild Pitch  Always a crowd favorite, the Cal line for book signing was still long when I left in the 6th inning.

Sold out stadium and perfect weather for baseball!

There's Cal with his shiny bald head

From Sarasota, we headed south to visit some of the famous beaches, and hunt for shark's teeth. We stopped at Venice Beach, drove by Casperson Beach and lunched at Englewood Beach.  Some folks were using what they call tooth-scoops, three foot long poles with mesh or metal strainers on the end.   The gulf water was pretty cold, which limited our mining-by-hand efforts. Then a kind gentleman down the beach gave Lynn several shark's teeth for her collection. Which brings me to one of the many aha's of this trip: people sure are friendly and generous down south!

Venice Beach - soft sand and blue, blue gulf waters 

Englewood Beach boardwalk

Hardy souls enjoying the sun  

We had wind and cool temps most of our time in Florida.
But as they say, "A bad day at the beach is better
than a good day at work!"