Santa’s Surfing – Cocoa Beach

An annual event where everybody has so much fun.  John at our resort told us about this.  We walked down the beach and here were so many people! And so many Santa’s.  And so many surfboards!  

All those out there are Santa's on surfboards

Beach Island Resort , Cocoa Beach

     We booked this through RCI for a 1 bedroom unit based on the glowing reviews on TUG and Tripadvisor. We knew it was an older small converted motel property which we like. It is also one story which we like. It is oceanfront and has a small but nice pool. With only 20 units, the pool is not often too busy. It is squashed between two high rises but is obviously the original place, being one story and flat -roofed. You see many other residences in town like it. It is quite historic; apparently Werner von Braun actually stayed here!

     The owners, John and Sherrie, live on site, and are super nice. They have only owned for three years and do their best to keep it going. They are quite laid back, sometimes even leaving their office door open and they actually did not really check us in “officially.” Saturday, Joan called about 3:15 p.m. as Ron was still busy talking to people in a museum and we wanted to be sure that we would be able to check in.
     John was super nice. He said they had to run some errands so he’d leave the unit unlocked with the key inside. No problem. He was very excited about us being at that Veteran’s museum, turns out he was retired military too.
     We stopped at Aldi’s in Merritt Island and got more food. The nearby Publix here is closed but there is a Winn-Dixie about 2 miles away.

Tiny kitchen

     You should have seen our 1 BD unit --It may have been the smallest we have ever seen!!  even smaller than studios we've had  it seemed, although there was a separate bedroom area.  We looked and looked - what will we do? - well, unload what we can and then store everything back into the van,

                      [YOU'LL LOVE THIS NEXT!!!!!!

                          Ron said, "Titusville will look pretty good after this!"

                              It was that bad!]

     But we started unpacking things, trying to think the best...put all food in refrigerator (a full fridge but the smaller type) but a full sized DW so hardly any other space in kitchen. (Why full-sized???)  Weak silverware in a plastic box....so strange, and as we worked on unloading other items....it was looking cozier - and I mean COZY!

Had not unpacked suitcases yet .. when ....

…When we had gotten there the owner John greeted us, then, they were on their way to errands when we were unloading .  He told his wife,” There’s Ron and Joan’s van there.”  And then the wife called out, “STOP UNPACKING.  We’re going to upgrade you.!”  Words I have heard others have heard, but never us.  What?  What?  She said, “We’ll upgrade you to a 2 bedroom.”  What? What?

     Maybe because of how much stuff we had, maybe because we were older and maybe more reliable?…but she immediately took us over to another unit, 112, and opened the door – unbelievable the difference!  Oh my, so much more room, kitchen area nicer, table nicer, etc etc.  Said they had had a cancellation.

     So we had to move everything we had unpacked already but it was well worth it and not too far away..just across, as all the units are on  just one story. So easy..

 

     We are in a 2 bedroom unit and have the small oceanfront/pool view from the small rectangular window in the living room (which most units have.) The kitchen is in one end of the living area so is more like a mini kitchen although it has everything: full refrigerator, full stove and full-sized dishwasher under the sink, limiting greatly lower cabinet space. A new large microwave sits on the counter in the corner, thus limiting greatly the counter space (about 6” is available by the sink.). Service for 5 in the upper cabinets. Only one lower narrow cabinet has two small wooden drawers inside with flatware in one and knives in the other. We didn’t use those as we always have extra flatware anyway and our own knife block. There is a new set of pots and pans.

     Fortunately Ron is a good handyman as there are several items that some friends we have would have been complaining about everyday. (But then they would have complained about a lot of other things too.) He struggled getting the bottom oven drawer back under the stove when we got out pots and pans, and the wheels on the bottom rack in the dishwasher were party broken so that was always difficult. The oven door would not open all the way because it would hit the refrigerator. The knob on the bedroom lamp was broken so you couldn’t turn it on, but we just traded it with another lamp (we did report that, but that it was okay for us for the week.) The wi-fi was sporadic but worked sufficiently sometimes. There was a 40” flat screen TV in the living room. There is a couch and one easy chair and a coffee table, with 4 chairs around a round glass table. There are new ceiling fans in all the rooms.
     Sherrie told us the bed in the first bedroom had a new mattress so it would be the best to use. Queen beds.

from the beach - look at sunset reflections

     We were mainly here to be by the beach and go swimming everyday. The pool was clean and kept at 88 degrees (slightly warm for laps but okay). There is a hot tub also nearer the front of the property. Unfortunately, at the end of the week, the weather turned cold and windy - 60 degrees with cloudy days and wind, so we enjoyed reading a lot!

There are 10 parking spots, angled on the street. The “office” is streetside and has a buzzer for service in case they are not there, even if it says Open. (Handy to live on-site.) There is a small outdoor entryway with comfortable wicker chairs and shelves for books, etc.
     We would be glad to return – be sure to get a 2 bedroom unit – (and there are two oceanfront units) – because of the proximity to the pool and beach, just steps from all the units, and it’s older and comfortable setting and because it is one story – so easy.  The owners andothers staying were so nice – we are friends already.

Aunt Velva’s Funeral

You may remember the many postings we have had when visited Aunt Velva in Rochester, MN when we were in the Midwest, even this year, when she was 105 years old.    She passed away on Wednesday December 13^th and we received word of it on Saturday the 16^th.   The funeral was to be December 20^th. We were at the Las Olas timeshare in Satellite Beach, FL, so Ron got an airline ticket to fly from Orlando on the 19^th and flew up to Minneapolis, met brother Merlyn and they rode together to Rochester, where we had rented an airbnb house for two nights.  It worked out well as brother Daryl also flew up so the three brothers stayed together there.  Merlyn’s son Adam had come with him and Keenan drove up from Springfield, IL and stayed with Adam in his hotel room.  Brother Clifford drove in from Chicago area.  Cousins Earl from Tacoma and Wynn from Denver also flew in so it was a very nice reunion of her six nephews and two great-nephews. (She had no children.)

   The six nephews served as pallbearers.

Velvas's nephews:  Earl, Clifford, Merlyn, Daryl, Wynn and Ron

4 brothers

   Once again, Ron had to go to a northern funeral in the winter from Florida (like last year for his Uncle Bob), but his brothers were nice enough to bring some warm clothes for him!  He returned to Florida this evening.

Starbucks at Indialantic, FL

     Since we did not have any coffee at the Airbnb, we stopped here to get our breakfast coffee late.  The service and coffee was quick and good.  Joan had chatted with the gal making her latte. There had been a large crowd at first as we came in   but then Joan saw they had their coffees and were just hanging around. The clerk confirmed this: she said the teen-aged girls come in and all order the same thing, then stand around and take pictures of the cups!!  She didn't understand it.... yet she was young, too,…. “but not that young,” she said.
     Ron had gotten a medium regular coffee and went up to get powdered chocolate in it and came back with an empty cup.  Joan said, "What happened to your coffee?"

     He said, "It just slipped on over to the floor."

     She said 'Here, take the card and get another one."

     He said, "No, no!" but then he agreed. He went up and the girl was still mopping up his spilled coffee.  He said he was going to buy another one, but she said, “Oh no, I’ll get you one" and ran and got another one. 
      So nice... thanks Starbucks

We Love To Watch Rehearsals

   And really enjoy Andy with his Eastside Youth Band…. He seems to have so much fun with them!  Every Tuesday evening….all school year.

    These are photos from two rehearsals, Nov 21 and 28.

   

Clayton’s 21st Birthday Party

We had a lot of fun.  We had decorated our condo a little bit and fixed dinner, then gave presents.  They really enjoyed the MAD Lib game book about Seattle.

   

The Ghost Lighthouse and 11,300 Steps!

The Ledbetter Point State Park is on the northernmost tip of the Long Beach Peninsula.  The concierge here told us that just south on the west corner of it is private land but we could park on the adjoining residential street and walk up the beach to the lighthouse.  “Great,” we thought, “we love lighthouses.”

       We drove to the end of the street as she had shown us on the map.  The street ended at a HUGE gate.  “Oh,” we said, “wow!  There’s the gate for the private land,” so we turned left toward the beach and found a place to park at the end of the road where we saw a beach path.

    It’s a little ways over the dunes to the beach and when we got to the beach we looked north.  Far away, in the fog and mist we saw the tip of the lighthouse.  (Can you see it in the photo?)   

      

Yes, it's there.  And also a dark spot of the large tree trunk driftwood piece.

    We started walking.  It did not seem to get very much closer as we walked and walked; thus, it was like a ghost.  But finally it did.       

      We also looked for a light, but No. 

 It finally did get closer, and we wondered if there would be a path to it.  Still we saw no light, but more and more windows.

Ron walks past it to look at those signs.  They say, No more motor vehicles, only clamers.

We see more buildings over the dunes.

  We finally got there:  more than 5,000 steps!

Proof: we made it!

We wondered if there was a public path to it.  Unmarked, we did see a path, so we walked a little closer and then also saw a large house, seeming to match the architecture of the lighthouse.  We wondered if that was the owner’s house who might have remodeled the lighthouse for a living space, so we didn’t go too much further, since it looked like it would be private property.

Ron noticed it looked like living space now with all those windows.

The more pressing issue on our walk today was the wind was SOOOO strong, at our backs as we walked north, so we knew that walking back would be worse with the headwind in our faces.  (Normally, we choose to walk into the wind first, so it is at our backs coming back; but No.)  But we walked backed, fighting the wind.  

Walking back in the wind.  And the lighthouse is a ghost again.

Thankfully, the sun came out, shining on the waves, so at least it felt warmer.   

Here's the marker for our path someone had made

We watched carefully for the large driftwood pieces that we had passed going north, hoping to get back soon!  We finally saw the last large rooted tree driftwood piece and then looked for the marker that had been at the end of our path.  [When going from a path to the beach we always need to know where the particular entrance is to get back; otherwise, easy to miss it and walk forever?  (Guess how we learned this.)]

      We were pretty happy that we had made the trip (but we hadn't known it was more than a 2 mile walk one way) and so we extended our walking distance to 4.5 miles!!!!!  It's off-season and we did not see anyone else on the beach.

     Later, we looked on the satellite map and saw the large estate, and yes, that was the house, even so far into the property.  More research showed that the lighthouse was never a real lighthouse, but rather built in the entire 600-acre estate by business entrepreneur Craig Tillotson of Nu Skin.  It is known as Leadbetter Farms, which is available for rent.  More photos and information are on their website and also FB.  

On the other side of the property, on SR 103 on the way to the Ledbetter State Park, you'll see their other gate.