<center>Cocoa Beach</center>

Saturday, February 5
Sunny 80 degrees
I felt pretty rested so volunteered to drive to Cocoa Beach. We took a route that avoids I95. Driving over the causeway bridge to Port Canaveral was so cool because you could see the cruise ships in port. We were in stopped traffic so I could look. It was lunch time when we arrived in Cape Canaveral. We needed to kill time before our check-in. We had lunch at Fish Lips which was recommended by someone on TravelTalkOnline. We ate overlooking the barge canal. As we ate a barge with a tugboat did go by. What we mostly saw was a single pelican and a large flock of seagulls. There must have been a lot of fish because they were all dive bombing and creating a tremendous splash. The only cruiser liner we could see was from Norwegian Cruise Lines. It seemed to be away from the other ships belonging to Norwegian. We both had warm water lobster, mine in a salad, Paul’s in lobster rolls. We had their terrific key lime pie for dessert.

After lunch we headed to our timeshare exchange at Ocean Landings in Cocoa Beach. Check-in was fast and efficient. Our unit was ready even though we were very early.

I’d read some pretty negative things about this resort on Trip Advisor. Once again most of the comments proved to be untrue. (I’m beginning to think that it was the same poster who trashed the resort where we stayed in Williamsburg, and wonder if they’ve actually stayed at the resort). For that reason, I went upstairs to check the unit before we took our stuff upstairs.
It is an older unit. However, it was clean and comfortably furnished. The view from our balcony was spectacular.

Our first order of business was showers and a nap. Because we had had a big lunch neither of us wanted much to eat in the evening. After our naps, we headed for the nearby Publix. When we got out of the car Paul noticed that the running lights were on and not going off. We tried multiple things to no avail. I called Subaru on Road. (Paul’s hearing makes calling difficult for him). I was given the phone number for a Subaru dealer in Palm Bay because they could only tow me to a dealer. When I called, the number I was given, I was told the Subaru dealer was out of business, and it was now a Ford dealer. I told the man that answered what the problem was and said it sounded like a short. Whoppeee!!!!

We went in Publix and shopped for essentials as quickly as we could. When we got back to the unit, we decided to call AAA. They also were not able to help us. As it turned it was a good thing. I remembered that we had had the same problem with an older Subaru where a switch had accidently been turned on. We’d already looked at the owner’s manual, but Paul did a more thorough search while I called our family to let them know that we had arrived. While I was talking to our son, Paul said he thought he’d found the problem. Apparently, when I wiped off the gauges I flipped the switch that turns on the running lights so that they stay on. Same darn switch, just in a slightly different place. Because it was bright and sunny, we didn’t notice that the lights were on until we saw them in the dark. Phew!

Sunday, February 6
Sunny and 65 degrees
Lazy day relaxing , recovering from the train trip and watching the Superbowl.

Monday, February 7
Sunny-cloudy, very windy 65 degrees
We went to the “Welcome Meeting” in the Activity Center. There was no seating area and the meeting was held in the office with everyone standing. One of the problems, for us anyway, is that there is not a lot to do in Cocoa Beach itself. That was more or less confirmed at the meeting. However, there are many activities planned at the resort. There is also all kinds of equipment available to use either for free of for a very minimal charge including bicycles, tennis racquets, racquets for racquetball, board games, DVD’s, etc..

In the Activity Center there is a racquet ball court, a pretty well equipped fitness center, a sauna, men’s and women’s locker rooms. There is a shower in the women’s locker room, but in the men’s locker room yet. It sounds like they had just recently moved into the Activity Center. The building itself is not very convenient to the timeshares, or anything else for that matter.
There are 2 nice swimming pools at the resort. Water aerobics is one of the activities sponsored by the Activity Center as are Pilates and Tai Chi.

After lunch we went to the Warbird Museum in Titusville. They have good sized collection of memorabilia from World War II, the Korean War and Vietnam. After we browsed through that we were given a guided tour of the planes in the collection by one of the volunteers, a retired fighter pilot. He made it really interesting. I sometimes find these museums terribly boring. That was not the case this time.

This was an eat-out night. Because the weather was looking pretty threatening, we opted to eat at Gregory’s. It is right in the resort complex. They have an Early Bird dinner Monday through Thursday from 5-6. We went down about 5:30. There was another table of 6 and no one else. The restaurant did get busier later on. We were not given the Early Bird menu until we asked for it. The prices were about 1/2 that on the regular menu which is very pricey (something that does not usually concern us if the food is good). We had a coupon from the resort for a free glass of wine each. We each had a second glass of wine with our dinner. It was an okay wine, but we’ve certainly had better at the same price.

The Early Bird Menu had a choice of soup de jour or clam chowder, a salad and an entrée. There was a choice of about 6 different entrees with a selection of shrimp, fish or steak prepared in various ways.

Paul had the clam chowder which is one of his favorite soups. I had the soup de jour which was a chicken tortilla soup. One of the tortillas was inedible because it was so tough and stale. The other was fine. I did tell our waiter. He had no comment.

For our entrees, Paul ordered prime rib which he found to be tough for prime rib. I had the New York strip steak with sauce Diane. We both had garlic mashed potatoes. My steak also came with a whole bulb of roasted garlic. We opted for Key Lime Pie for dessert (not included in the Early Bird Menu). It was just okay and not even close to that we had at Fish Lips. We were glad that we had not paid full price for our meal.

Apparently, the wine had an effect on us because neither of us could stay awake and headed for bed at 9:00 o’clock. We both had some really strange dreams.

Tuesday, February 8
Sunny 65 degrees
We had a 1 o’clock reservation with Space Coast River Cruises on the Blue Dolphin this afternoon. We drove to the boat on Merritt Island and arrived at 12:45. We were the last ones there.

It was a very relaxing 2 hour cruise on a 44’ pontoon boat. Both the captain/owner and his first mate (a real character) had a great sense of humor. The captain was also very knowledgeable about the wildlife. It would have been a relaxing cruise even If we had not seen any animals. However, we saw quite a few dolphins some right at the beginning of the cruise. We saw several manatees, as much as you can see a manatee anyway. There were numerous birds including Great Blue Herons, Small Blue Herons, Egrets, and even a Bald Eagle.

After the cruise and returning to Cocoa Beach, we took a short drive down island and south of our resort to see what was there. We came back to the unit and relaxed until dinner in. The evening was spent reading, etc.

Wednesday, February 9
Sunny 72-74 degrees
Today was Florida weather at its best.
We drove into Cocoa late this morning. Our time was spent time in Cocoa Village browsing through the various shops. We did make a few purchases. Several were for our granddaughter’s upcoming birthday. We just happened on a shop that featured all handmade crafts. I found several very nicely made outfits for her American Girl Dolls. The shop also had some very interesting coiled wire jewelry. Doing that well is very difficult, and I admire anyone who can do it. I’ve tried and mine looks terrible. There were some gorgeous dichroic glass beads. Quite a few different crafts were represented. We also spent some time in some very nice toy shops.
We had a delicious lunch at Lea’s Bistro and then headed back to our unit. We planned to sit outside on the balcony when we got back. Paul ended up going out to the car to get our jackets. I didn’t last long. He managed to stay out for quite a while. The air coming in off the Atlantic was really cold.

We had dinner at Coconuts on the Beach. We sat inside because it was too chilly for us to sit on the deck which was actually pretty full. It took a while for anyone to notice us, and then we were told to sit anywhere we wanted to. We were told our waitress would be right with us. After about 15 minutes, we discussed leaving. Just as we were discussing it, our waitress showed up and apologized saying that she thought someone else had taken care of us. She took our drink and appetizer orders. Then we sat and we waited and waited some more. The guy that had told us we could sit anywhere came back and asked if we’d ordered red wine and a beer. We told him no, we’d ordered white wine and a rum punch. A few minutes later our waitress showed up with a red wine and a beer—not what we had ordered. She corrected our drink order and assured us our appetizers would be out very shortly. They actually were. We both had coconut shrimp that were excellent.

After our dinner order had been brought to our table, the manager came over and thanked us for our patience with the kitchen and asked if he could get us anything. Hmm, something not good obviously going on. The dinner entrees were okay and with nice size portions. I had the key lime pie which was actually a key lime cheese cake, and Paul had chocolate cake. No one asked if we wanted coffee, which we did not.

Then there was a long wait for the bill. Again the manager came over and asked if he could get anything for us. We told him, Yes, the bill.” The food was okay, but the service was so bad we would not go back.

Thursday, February 10
Heavy Rain 75-62 degrees
We spent the day in the unit relaxing, reading, etc.

Friday, February 11
Cloudy—partly sunny 63 degrees
I started the morning by having massage that was available through the activities center.

After lunch, we drove into Melbourne and tried to find the Brevard Art Museum using one of the little local map handouts. We didn’t find it and did not have an address handy. Paul wanted to go to the flea market. I took my book in case I got bored. That way I could go back to the car to read until Paul was finished. There was no need to do so. The flea market was quite small. It was also everything that I dislike about flea markets.

We found an address for the museum in the attractions listings on our GPS. After we found it, I went in to see what the Saturday hours were so we could possibly kill some time before going on to Kissimmee. When I came back to the car I told Paul it looked interesting.

We had dinner at Silvestro’s. We did not see ads for this restaurant anywhere. I happened to notice it on our first trip to Publix. It is in the same shopping center. People were very nicely dressed, so we thought it might be worth a try. Reservations on a week end, at least, are a must.

It never dawned on us that this was Valentine’s Day week end until we got to the restaurant. Before he showed us to our table, the maitre‘d handed me a rose and wished me a “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

The cuisine is mostly Italian, but is billed as Continental. We thought that the food was very good, and very nicely presented. The service was excellent and discreet

<center>Cocoa Beach to Kissimmee</center>
Saturday, February 12
Sunny 70 degrees
Today was check out day and on to Kissimmee for 2 weeks. Check out was by 11:00. We were ready by 10:30. Since check-in in Kissimmee was not until 4:00 we had time to kill.

The plan was to spend about 2 hours at the Brevard County Art Museum and after that have a nice lunch. If we needed to kill more time, we would go to the Brevard County Zoo.

When we got to the art museum there was a farmer’s market in full swing and using the entire parking lot that we had found on Friday. We easily found another public parking lot and headed for the museum.

The entrance fee was only $3 per person. We were told that the exhibit was the “Florida Highway Men.” We were asked if we knew what the Highway Men were. We both knew that they were, of course, the robbers of old, and the musical group. It was neither. It was a group of black artists that sold paintings out of their cars. With one exception, none had formal training. Quite a few of them were mentored by the white artist A.E. 'Bean' Backus (this was during the days of segregation). It was a very interesting exhibit with a very interesting history. The paintings, primarily Florida landscapes, ranged from somewhat primitive to sophisticated. Many of them were really beautiful.

There was also a very nice exhibit of art from area high school students in another gallery at the museum.

We asked the young man at the ticket desk for directions to Route 192 and for a recommendation for lunch. Just then a man that was either an employee or volunteer came in. Our young host told us to ask him, “He eats everywhere.” He recommended 3 places, but said the Squid Lips next to the library was where he’d go. Squid Lips was within easy walking distance of the museum.

We had a very good lunch. Even though there were some great seafood choices, we both opted for the pulled pork. The fragrance was mouthwatering as you walked up to the restaurant. There was a choice of 5 different styles of barbeque sauces. I asked not to have French fries. I was surprised to be given an extra large portion of coleslaw instead. The key lime pie was listed “as featured on the Food Network.”

The key lime pie at Fish Lips and Squid Lips were equals—some of the best we’ve had.

By the time we finished lunch, we decided we should leave for Kissimmee. Route 192 is the long way with a lot of traffic in some places and very rural in others. We chose this route to kill time and to avoid Route I4.

We arrived at Vacation Villas at Fantasy World in Kissimmee about 4:00 and checked right in. The guy that checked us in told us that the keys could only be programmed for 1 week. I was pretty sure that wasn’t right, but since a new locking system has been installed on the doors, I didn’t argue with him. After unloading the car and checking the food we brought with us including my rose (it made the trip just fine), I headed for Publix for pick up a few things for dinner and breakfast Sunday