Long Point Camping Park, Melbourne Beach, FL: A beautiful day today. We drove over to Jack and Karen’s around 1:00 and hung out on the lanai for a while and then drove over and toured the historic Rossetter House in Eau Gallie. The two Rossetter sisters lived in the house until the last one died at the age of 101. All the furnishings in the house are original. These two sisters were both single and very successful businesswomen. One managed a distributorship for Standard Oil and the other sister had an insurance business. Later we met Karen’s sister and brother-in-law at a Thai restaurant and had dinner. After dinner we said our good-byes and headed back home. Think it hit the upper 70s today. Jack wanted to go for a short boat ride. Wish we’d had time to do that also.

Rossetter House

Jack hanging out in the park

Long Point Camping Park, Melbourne Beach, FL: Started out cloudy this morning and threatened rain, but cleared off eventually and turned into a really nice day. We hung out all day. It was sunny, but with a cool wind. So we didn’t do much outside. Discovered we do have TV here. I just forgot to turn on the booster. Met Jack and Karen at Captain Hiram’s on the other side of the Indian River for dinner—Mike’s birthday dinner actually. Good food and great company. Driving on this barrier island is so enjoyable. You have the Indian River on one side and the Atlantic Ocean on the other. A very pretty area. Think it hit 73 today. Chills down pretty good at night though.

Infinity pool in front of Villa Splendida--Palms in Paradise 2010

Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL, to Long Point Camping Park, Melbourne Beach,FL: Left Jupiter at 12:30 and arrived at Long Point at 2:30. Since I did the driving I decided to go ahead and back it in. Got it in okay but it wasn’t straight, so I decided to pull out and try and get it in straighter. That’s when we got stuck in the muck. Apparently it had rained a lot on Sunday and just about every site in here in saturated. We couldn’t get out and we couldn’t get it on the levelers. A bunch of people in the campground came over and brought wood to put under the tires so we wouldn’t spin our wheels. We eventually got out and backed into the site at an angle. So we’re perpendicular to where we should be. That took two hours. Called Jack around 4:30 and suggested we meet them for dinner somewhere. We decided to drive to their place and go from there. We ended up at Texas Road House for some good steaks and great conversation. We’re supposed to meet them for dinner tomorrow night at a restaurant in Palm Bay. Captain something-or-other. It’s Mike’s birthday. Hope they show up. We have no TV here in this park. It was nasty most of the day. Cleared up a little by about 5:00 and was in the mid-70s. Not bad!

Karen and Jack

Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL: Well, we were going to go to another Cardinals game today, but it started looking stormy and rained a little bit, so we decided to hit a movie instead. Went to see “Brooklyn’s Finest”, a real shoot ‘em up with lots of sex, violence, and bad language. Oh yeah. Filled up the truck with gas and are ready to leave tomorrow for a county park just north of here. 80 today. That’s more like it!

Jupiter Inlet

Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL: Nice and sunny again today. And warmer—but with a cool breeze. Sat outside for a while in my shorts and tube top reading and getting some sun. Started a new book—Nelson Mandela’s autobiography. Mike grilled some hot dogs and I made a four-bean salad for dinner. Was supposed to hit 74 today. Not sure.

Sunset on the Loxahatchee River

Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL: A beautiful, sunny day—but cool and windy. After hanging around all morning we decided to go see “Green Zone” with Matt Damon. Good movie about the falsifying of the existence of WMDs to warrant invading Iraq. What we did was shameful. After the movie we drove over to Jupiter Island where the obscenely wealthy live. This place is really pretty because there’s still a lot of open, protected land. Drove down to the little park at the end and walked out to the beach. The ocean was a beautiful, deep blue with frothy white waves crashing in. A couple of people were surfing out there. Crazy. Drove back home and relaxed the rest of the day. Think it hit 70 today.

Home on Jupiter Island

Jonathan Dickinson SP, Jupiter, FL: Sunny this morning, but really cool and windy. Larry and Janice stopped by before they left to say good bye. I’m sure we’ll run into them again in our travels. The St. Louis Cardinals do their spring training in Jupiter. So we headed out for the Cardinals/Braves game. I used to live in Atlanta and rooted for the Braves, so I would have been happy with whatever the outcome. The place was packed and we were on our way to buy tickets at the ticket office (standing room only) but Mike bought a couple of tickets from someone outside the stadium. Turns out they were berm seats (a little grassy knoll) and Mike was furious because he was told there would be seats, but no seats. So we just stood by one of the railings. Turns out this area is coveted by the kids because the berm sits right behind the Cardinal bullpen and they can get autographs from the players. So I gave our tickets to a couple of kids who were thrilled and ran down there with their baseballs and pens. Made their day I guess. And I got to see Chipper Jones (Braves) hit a home run with one man on. One of the Cardinal rookies hit a home run also. The final score was Braves 5, Cardinals 3. We tried a new place for dinner tonight—Jetty’s Restaurant. We had to wait a long time for a table, but it was worth it. I had hog fish snapper sautéed in a white wine butter sauce with lump crab on top and Mike had grilled chicken covered in lump crab meat and béarnaise sauce. Delicious!

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