"Visitor's Center from Land" Top 5 Page for this destination Biscayne National Park Travelogue by grandmaR

Bob entering the visitor's center grounds

January 21 - Packed and checked out. Although they told us that local calls were 25 cents each, they confessed when we checked out that their telephone monitor wasn't working, so they asked us to estimate local calls. I said 8, but when I actually counted up later it was really probably 15. But I paid them $2.00.

I kind of wanted to avoid I-95, but that was really the shortest way to go. I also wanted to see the Sebastian Inlet lighthouse, so we got off I-95 and went across to US 1. We went across to A1A at Wabasso, and I decided it was too late to try to drive north to Sebastian, so we drove down to Vero Beach, thinking we could stop there for lunch. The hurricane did a lot of damage there, and there were no restaurants on A1A that we saw.

So we went across the bridge by the Vero Beach Marina (although I would have liked to stop in the marina to see if there was anyone we knew - we saw a lot of boats rafted there- Bob's comment was that everyone who used to be in Ft. Pierce came to Vero Beach), but we were getting hungry so we didn't stop.

I knew there used to be a restaurant on the other side of the bridge, but Bob didn't turn back toward the river. We eventually ate at a Boston Market. They've taken out the butternut squash, which I always liked. I had 3 vegetables or sides (creamed spinach, sweet potatoes, and mac and cheese, and Bob had a meatloaf sandwich for $12.69.

From there we crossed over onto the Florida Turnpike at Ft. Pierce, and whistled on down to Miami. We got to our daughter's house while she was at practice with the kids, and her husband was out fishing. Then they had a pot luck (she roasted a turkey) and one of our grandson's friends was staying overnight.

Saturday, January 22nd was more of the same. The kids were having their team pictures taken. Our granddaughter was first, and then Bob took the two boys to her, and got fuel in the Mercedes.

I was happy to have the DSL modem again and did a lot of posting of photos onto Virtual Tourist. I've decided not to get prints except of people - the scenery ones I will just post on VT. We were going to eat at home, so there was a long discussion of what we would order, and it ended up being pizza. Then everyone but me watched Harry Potter III.

Sunday January 23rd my daughter's family went to a pig roast, and Bob primed the dining room wall that he installed earlier, including the ceiling which is extremely textured and difficult to paint.

Exhibit in the Visitor's Center

My daughter took me so I could have my hair cut, and then we got packed and left for the Everglades. First I wanted to go to Biscayne National Park so I could get a stamp in my passport at the visitor's center. We looked at the informational video tape, which was more about the politics of the park than about the park itself, and the lady at the center gave me a National Parks calendar.

After we found that, we ate lunch at the first place we came to which was Appleby's. I had chicken quesidilla appetizer and Bob had a half chicken salad (which was almost more than he could eat) and then I had an apple chimicheesecake for dessert, which was excellent - total $21.00

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