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Gator Mountain

This morning we visited the Cape Canaveral National Cemetery once more, visiting Mom's parents once more.  We stopped by the grocery store to pick up some flowers to put at the grave site, and Mom arranged them very nicely.

The place is always so serene, so quiet and peaceful.  It's really an ideal location.  We went to the office afterwards before moving on, to use the rest room and to see something I noticed.

They have a patriotic Christmas tree too!  Yes, it's May, but I was glad to see someone else didn't care either.  It has flags of all the branches of the military, including the new Space Force.

Speacking of which, later on today, we'd drive by what used to be Patrick Air Force Base, and we learned from signs that it is now Patrick Space Force Base.  Which is wild!

It's such a tranquil place.  This area always reminds me of that funeral though, the first one where Pastor Lance and Tucker came down.  It was quite a day.

Here's Maddie at the grocery store as Mom looks for flowers.  After the funeral, it was decided that we'd take a nostalgia trip for Maddie:  we'd go to Friendly's, the restaurant we used to visit a lot back when we were vacationing here about ten years ago.  Each year we'd stop by this place, and Maddie has fond memories of the ice cream and...

... well, the place looks kind of deserted.  But there's an open sign, right?  We literally drove about 45 minutes from the cemetery just to get to this one place, so by gum let's head in there and ... 

We were in there for a few minutes and the place was completely deserted.  Empty.  It was like the rapture happened.  We called out to see if anyone was there, but the place was quiet.  Lights on, doors unlocked - we had free rein of the place if we wanted... but we decided... maybe we eat somewhere else.  Good rule of thumb there for choosing a restaurant:  make sure there's employees around.

Anyway, on the way back, Mom thought it'd be nice to stop at Pelican Beach there, a part of Satellite Beach, which of course we used to walk quite a few times.  Why not walk along the beach again?

It was a nice stroll down the beach.  We had our shoes off and let the waves wash over our feet as we looked for shells and watched the sandpipers and other birds dig for a meal.  The weather was just right with that sea breeze there to cool us off.  It was a very pleasant walk, and Maddie came away with a bunch of seashells too.

We passed by Ron Jon and the Cocoa Beach pier on the way back, and just stopped at the hotel for some rest and snacks, and a shower.  

There we waited for Uncle George and Thip to arrive, which didn't take long.  They got here, and after a small bit of time they were ready to go out and do some exploring, and some eating too!  First, it was off to the Ron Jon Surf Shop!

And because it is Cinco de Mayo, we had to do Mexican food tonight, of course.  We went to a place we looked up called La Catrina, and the mascot for this restaurant looks pretty familiar!

Yes, it looks quite a bit like another Catrina, the character from "Book of Life."  This place was PACKED.  I mean, a huge, huge line to get in there, and so many people eating there.  It was a massive, massive crowd, but we eventually got a seat outside where the weather was just perfect, and so was the food!  There was a lot of it, and it was all really good.  Service was super fast, despite the large numbers, and we all enjoyed ourselves very much there.  I'm still pretty full!

Afterwards, everyone was up for a game of golf, so why not return to our ol' favorite alligator-themed mini-golf course?  

Yes, we were back at Gator Golf tonight, and we enjoyed the Gator Mountain side of the course this time, and it was probably a bit better than the Cave course.  We all had a great time, and the weather was just perfect outside.  It was really nice!

Afterwards, it was time for bed.  We had a pretty full day, huh?  Tonight we watched the Braves a bit, and then we read from "Thud!"  We said our prayers, and that was about it for this pretty full day.  Time to get some much-needed rest!