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Relaxing Beach Getaway

Doc

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Here are a few pics of the relaxing beach getaway wife and I did down in New Smyrna FL. Little did we know it was Daytona's Bike-Tober-Fest. Motorcycles of all kinds everywhere. Still no problem getting around. Traffic and crowds were all easy to deal with. Overall a nice relaxing break.
Friends from my neck of the woods were also making their trek south so they stopped and visited us for a day. then we went over to their RV paradise and they gave us a tour of their place and a little tour of the "Villiages'. Amazing how that area has grown. So many people have moved there now. Bars / eatery's on every corner. To crowded for my linking but neat to see up close and personal. :D

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Doc

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Relaxed in daytime and out and about nighttime.

No Brian, home now. I rarely post that I'm away from the house, don't want to advertise that I'm gone. So I wait till I've returned home.
So are you in the coco beach area? a friend from our boat club bought a place down there and loved it. At the time prices were down in that area. Now it appears it's a sellers market, especially in FL.
 

Doc

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I know Boston drivers are some of the most aggressive in the country. But after this last trip down south (we drove from Ohio) either many of the Boston area folks are in FL or Fl has caught up and passed Boston for most aggressive. Crazy driving, especially on I-95.
 

bczoom

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I'm about a half hour from Cocoa.

We bought our place down here about 8 months ago. Prices for the same condo are up almost 20% since we bought.

I'm guessing you pretty much took the same route I do once you hit the Carolina's (I-77, I-26, I-95). I-95 traffic is always aggressive and tons of traffic. Doesn't seem to be a speed limit either. People go as fast as they can until vehicles in front of them slow them back down.
 

Doc

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Good for you. You bought at the right time. Just yesterday I read some areas will have another real estate boom with prices going up. FL is one of those areas. All of FL.

Did you sell your home in PA? I suspect you are keeping both. I sure would never be a full time FL resident. LOL

Yep, same route exactly. Would see a few cops but like you said, speed limit didn't seem to apply to anywhere.

When coming up I-77 I'm near where it crosses from WV into OH. Give me a shout and stop for coffee or if you need a break from the road you are welcome to stay overnight at my place. We have a nice king size bed with full bath attached that the kids stay in when they visit. Most of the time it sits empty. So feel free to plan a stop here. :D
 
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bczoom

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For the drive, we turn more north at Beckley and head up 19/I-79 but thanks for the offer.

We're keeping both houses in PA. Within the next decade or so, we're going to transition where our permanent address is in FL but we'll be keeping a presence in PA.

Back to vacationing... we went over to the Gulf coast for a few days last week. Went jet skiing and parasailing. The dolphins like to come up and swim next to the jet skis. Had about a half dozen swimming around us as we were riding along.
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bczoom

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When parasailing, we looked down and saw a nice, large stingray just below the surface. Last time we went, we saw several sharks.
 
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Melensdad

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We took a different approach to our vacation. It is fencing season so I only get short vacations during season.

Earlier this week we rented a Hobbit House carved into the side of a hill in southern Illinois.

Round doors, round fireplace, round top ceilings, etc. From the outside it is landscaped beautifully, just alike a garden in described in Tolkien's book.

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Totally private, no visible structures can be seen in any direction. Borders a forest preserve on one side. There is a path to the BlueSky vineyards on the other side, which made for some nice strolls.


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Had some nice meals, including a wonderful farm-to-table restaurant called the Firefly Grill.

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Doc

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That looks very kewl Bob. I would love that kind of vacation also. Maybe ride our trike for a stay like that. Did you bike down to Hobbit House?
 

Doc

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Fun stuff BC. Looks like a lot of fun. Did you have a waterproof floating holder for your phone to take pics from the jet ski? Otherwise I wouldn't attempt that.
We saw young guy with a surf board and a big sail that would pull him along. No clue what they are called, but if younger I'd be on one. They got a lot of air and could go all over the place.
We enjoy both coasts of FL. I like driving on the beach so we picked Daytona New Smyrna area for this trip. Shocked that there are hardly any shells at all. Not even broken once on New Smyrna beach. There are very very small ones but that is it. Plus most beach visit we enjoy seeing dolphins daily. We did not see one dolphin at Daytona or New Smyrna. Weird.
 

bczoom

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Waterproof phone holders are available at Walmart for $5 down here.
We weren't going screaming fast so we didn't get very wet.
 
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Melensdad

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That looks very kewl Bob. I would love that kind of vacation also. Maybe ride our trike for a stay like that. Did you bike down to Hobbit House?
No bikes. It was a bit too cool for a 300+ mile ride on the expressway and longer on state highways, the lovely Mrs_Bob won't ride the expressways unless it is required, so it would have been a very long ride each way on bikes. We did take one of our convertibles. But the top was up on the expressway!
 
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Doc

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No bikes. It was a bit too cool for a 300+ mile ride on the expressway and longer on state highways, the lovely Mrs_Bob won't ride the expressways unless it is required, so it would have been a very long ride each way on bikes. We did take one of our convertibles. But the top was up on the expressway!
I prefer to avoid the expressways also when riding. 20 miles or so on expressway is doable, I did that just a few weeks ago but 300 miles, never.
 
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