Merritt Island, Melbourne Family, Friends and Cocoa Beach

There's a camouflaged manatee in there!

Next stop was to Merritt Island which has a National Wildlife refuge and the Kennedy Space Center.  The Wildlife center was wonderful with a nice trail behind the Visitor's center and a special 6 mile drive through the park  The manatees in the river were very close to us.  The Space Center will wait until we come back to Orlando in a month.

Great nature trail at the refuge

    

Manatee

 Off to Karen and Jack Donahoe's lovely home in Melbourne complete with indoor pool and fountain.  They were so welcoming and we had a great time catching up with pictures and stories.  There was supposed to be a Satellite launch that we could watch from their back yard but it was cancelled.  They suggested we visit the Cocoa Beach Pier.  It was a great beach day with blue sky and people surfing....next time would like to go to old city part of Cocoa Beach to check out cute shops.

Karen and Carol

Donohoe screened in pool

Pier at Cocoa Beach

Olivia Peck and Donna Otte, who ran our office for years and became dear friends, invited us to stay with them in Melbourne so that was the next stop.  What fun we had!  Olivia gave us haircuts and Donna fed us and did our laundry.  We stopped by a hydroponic strawberry farm, went out to a Thai restaurant and soaked in their hot tub as we remembered the "thrilling days of yesteryear" of our 25 years at Family Practice Center of Westerville.  It was a blast!  Speaking of "blast", we were able to finally see the satellite launch from their front yard--that was neat!

Time for a trim

No trim needed but the only way to get me to get one

Family Practice Center of Westerville lives on.

How to end a great visit

Our friends and family tour ended with a visit to Hal and Phyllis Larned who bought our farm with their son Andy.  They are such delightful people and they live in the most beautiful condo with a view of the beach at Fort Pierce.  We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with them and loved seeing pictures of their trip out west.