With Danny out of town, I was getting bored & still transitioning from my wonderful summer road trip, to life back in a house. I took off in the dark to drive southeast to Melbourne to catch the sunrise. Even though the sky was cloudy, it’s always a beautiful moment at the beach! This was at Sebastian Inlet State Park.
I drove down the coast, stopping here & there just to explore.
I stopped & learned a bit at the Barrier Island Sanctuary in Melbourne Beach.
These turtle sculptures were sprinkled throughout the town.
This area is kind of a peninsula with one side being the Atlantic Ocean & the other being the Indian River. There are many small parks along the way to stop & see the beach. The State Park here gives you access to both the ocean & the river. It also spans from one side of the river to the other with a bridge in between.
I crossed the bridge, buzzed this side of the state park & then into Vero Beach to meet a good friend for lunch at Squid Lips….my first time there.
What a nice view of the Indian River from our table.
Always love meeting up with Steve & our long long lunches!
I drove the Historic Jungle Trail road...
And along the road is the Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge…so I got out a took a quick 3 mile hike under sprinkles of rainy skies.
Loved this really long boardwalk that lists the names & the year began of all the National Wildlife Refuges in the country. This one, was the very first established in 1903.
A close up of this interesting, informational & pretty awesome walkway.
And, here’s the view of the Indian River. This tiny island is near the town of Sebastian.
Just thought this tree was supercool! The whiteish root is called a Strangler Fig, so this does not appear to be an uncommon event on these trees in Florida.
Had an appetizer (which turned out to be waaaayyyy tooooo much food!) & a cocktail at at my fave Melbourne restaurant called the Mansion with a beautiful view of the inlet.
I’d gone back to the State Park beach to spend some time reading. The weather really wasn’t cooperating for a sunny day….but oh well. The most surprising thing about this area was how many homes were for sale…it was shocking. I’m not kidding or exaggerating when I say about 1 in every 4 homes along the road had a for sale sign. I know this area has been hit hard with storms & hurricanes, but still, I’d hate to be trying to sell a home or insure one around here at this point in time.
Ended the day finding the sunset…
It had been a good day.