Blog No. 5 of 2025

Happy last day of January… tomorrow it’s time to flip that wall calendar. Wow, I’m dating myself, does anyone have wall calendars anymore? I know I do so I’ll be flipping mine and putting my little heart on my front door for February.

This week’s blog is going to mostly be dedicated to last weekend which Nick and I spent up in Cape Canaveral visiting Vance. Elizabeth came over from Orlando and spent it with us too.

Nick’s lunch at Cracker Barrel.

We drove up on Friday morning and made an obligatory stop at Cracker Barrel for lunch. Nick took a pic of his lunch, a juicy cheeseburger, crispy fries and the hash brown casserole… carb load much?

Then that night, after Elizabeth drove over from Orlando, we all went to Thai Thai III for dinner. There are a few of them up there, we went to the one just a few minutes from Vance’s apartment in Cape Canaveral where we ordered a lot of food… sushi, pad Thai noodles with chicken, chicken satay, fried rice and a few soups. It was a delicious feast. If you’re in the area, I highly recommend it. It’s in a nondescript spot that looks like a former motel and the interior is simple and nice and the food on point!

View on my walk.

Canopy of trees on Central Blvd.

View at the apartment complex.

View from Manatee Sanctuary Park.

I kicked off Saturday with a long walk, actually I took the same route I did the last time I took a walk up there. I headed out of the apartment complex and walked on Central Blvd. under a lovely canopy of trees toward Astronaut Blvd. Crossing that I headed toward the water and a visit to Manatee Sanctuary Park. I took some time to take in the beautiful views then headed back to the apartment. I’ll admit I made a stop at McDonald’s and picked up a chocolate chip cookie and small coke for the walk back. The photos above show the scenery on my walk.

Vance, Nick and Elizabeth at the Port Canaveral office lobby.

Nick looking very official at the head of the conference table.

Once I got back we headed to Port Canaveral to check out Vance’s offices. They’re very nice and we got a nice tour of the conference room and lobby too. Check out Nick sitting at the head of the conference table and that adorable trio in the lobby.

After, we went to Cocoa Beach and got a snack at The Surfinista where they’ve got a great vegan menu. I had the hummus and crackers and Vance and Elizabeth split the Cabo Especial avocado toast topped with crushed avocado, an egg, their house made coconut bacon and a little sriracha. It was delicious, and I must say, that coconut bacon tasted like the real thing!

Nick and Vance at the shuffleboard table.

We drove around a bit and then headed to Cocoa Beach Fish Camp where we ate the last time we visited the area. Vance, Nick and Elizabeth shot pool and Nick and Vance played a little shuffleboard while we waited for our food. I had a really good crabcake sandwich and super fresh slaw made with Brussels sprouts and broccoli, it was really good.

On the way back to the apartment we stopped at a little park to throw around the football then called it a day.

Sunday morning we got up early and went to check out the townhouse that Vance and I are buying in Merritt Island. We are not moving there permanently but Vance really wanted to buy a place up there instead of continuing to stay at a rental. It’s a really cute two-story 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath townhouse with a great patio and backyard. Once we start furnishing it I’ll share some pictures in a future blog. It’s pretty exciting!

Lovely display at Rockledge Gardens.

After that we went to church and then Elizabeth and I went to Rockledge Gardens an adorable open-air Farmer’s Market my niece Nicole recommended. We had a great time walking around, I bought some granola and Elizabeth bought a cute diffuser for her car. I also picked up a great little salad that I ate that night for dinner with the burgers Vance prepared.

After that we decided to grab lunch at Ashley’s of Rockledge Restaurant just up the street where I ordered some really good fish fingers and Elizabeth had a chicken sandwich on a ciabatta. The place is really cute and they’ve got trivia and a good happy hour. Definitely gonna have to take Vance there. It was a good discovery.

Cute pillow from World Market.

My last stop for the day was World Market, a great spot for furniture and home goods at an open air mall in Melbourne. It’s where I picked up that great pillow pictured above.

Yesterday, after getting some work done, I decided to do a solo trip to the movies. I drove to Aventura Mall where I had the theater almost to myself for the 12:45 p.m. showing of the Oscar-nominated film “Anora.” It was a pretty good flick.

That pretty much covers it for this week. Tonight I might be going to Jazz at MOCA and we may be meeting our friends Shawn and Suzanne for dinner tomorrow night. They’re in town from Maryland to run the Marathon tomorrow.

See ya right here next week.

Parting sunset shot.