Merritt Island Florida

Hi again,

It's been awhile again, but I wanted to send something out.

While Dad and Mom Miller were here a few weeks ago, we were able to make it over the Atlantic Coast.

Unfortunately, I didn't feel we could spend the money to treat them to the Canaveral Space Center. However... we did get to go check out a place called Merritt Island. It's right by the Cape Canaveral Space Center.

It was pretty cool - and definitely worth going back and site-seeing. There's a TON of pictures here, so I hope you like them.

Here, we start off with some vegetation - simple, not too dangerous. These were actually from the place we stayed at over there near Cocoa Beach

Here's a great shot of a coconut tree.

This is a funky one - I guess it's a star fruit tree?


This one looks a little more vicious... I call it the 'Don't Mess With Me, Or I'll Saw Your Hand Off' tree. I'm sure it has a different name, but that is what I think of. You know, it's a guy thing!

This one is of a drunken bird. He had some kind of a balance problem, so he had to stick his wing out there to keep himself standing up - there's some really potent water in these here parts.

Here's a wild pig. These things are TOTALLY COOL! And you can see a bird in the top, right keeping his eyes on these feisty little devils. He didn't want to get too close, I can guarantee that.
Real quick... I don't know if you've heard this story - but the first time we came here we were driving down the Beeline highway at about 60 miles an hour, and over on the right side of the highway is this gigantic, wild pig. After picking ourselves up off the floor boards of the car, Christy and I both had to ask if we had just seen what we thought. Definitely NOT a sight you get to enjoy every day. And not an animal I've come across in my Oregon travels. I hear these things are pretty radical you don't ever want to get in their way.

This one just happened to be crossing the road right in front of us. We barely had time to snap this shot before it disappeared into the grass.

Here's a gator that's even bigger than the one here at our apartment complex. This one was just lying there waiting for some tasty morsel to get out their car, so he could have some lunch. YUMMEE!!!!!

The three blobs you see there are manatees. It's hard to get a good picture of them, because they don't really come out of the water to sunbathe, but I think you get the idea. Seeing these animals is truly an amazing life experience. You must do it. I mean... it's not like getting married or having a baby, but it is a very, very cool thing to see something that big and that beautiful just cruising around in the water. Sometime soon, we'll update you on what it's like to be up close and a little too personal with a manatee. Until then just know this... they weigh about 2000 pounds. That's something the size of a car just sitting there - and even if they don't want to hurt you - they still can.

Here's a little better shot of a manatee tail.

And we'll end it here...
The perfectly timed appearance of two dolphin swimming by as we were gawking at the manatees. Truly an amazing site - I don't know that I could possibly ever get tired of looking at the animals God created!


Talk soon...

Al