More Vero

 2/12- Vero Beach 

   It’s been a couple of days since I wrote here and I apologize as we have been busy doing Vero things. There is just so much to do around here that the days just seem to fly by. I know this month will be over before I know it. One day we went to a farmers market which is really rather large. There were lots of people there though and you had to wait in long lines to buy anything.

      Later that day we walked back to the beach where they had closed off the streets and had a band playing. At one point the band played Fortunate Son by CCR. This was a protest song about how rich people were able to avoid the draft. I thought it was ironic that there were probably several hundred millionaires in the audience and many of them had most likely avoided being drafted. Anyway it was a good show and from there we walked back and caught the last set of the band playing across the road from the marina in another free concert. That was a full day. 

    Next day we did a bunch of boat chores such as scrubbing the deck and waxing some portions of the deck. We had been getting kind of dirty from the anchoring we had been doing. This was also Super Bowl Sunday so of course there was a party in the captain’s lounge replete with plenty of chips and guac. 

   Today we rented a car. We took a bus to the airport where we had to wait forever to pick it up. I don’t understand what takes them so long as everything is done online before you even get there. 

We took the car to Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge.  This is the oldest National Wildlife Refuge in the country. It was founded in 1903. Admittedly it was not terribly exciting yet we drove down the “Jungle Road” and had a very nice walk. It was good to get away from the crush of people all the time a get back out into a small bit of wilderness. We did see a Roseate Spoonbill though which was impressive. These are a pink bird sort of like a flamingo only with a spoon shaped bill. They become pink by eating the shrimp that live in the mangroves. One interesting facet here was a half mile long boardwalk which had the name of every wildlife refuge in the country by the date they were founded inscribed into the boards of the boardwalk. Turns out North Dakota has the most refuges. 


   We are renting a car so we can drive down to visit the Everglades and the Keys. We are going on a road trip!!

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