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| Port Canaveral is a working port |
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| The beach near Patrick AFB |
Thursday was a kind of re-entry day. We first
came to Cocoa Beach for a week about 20 years ago, when we rented the condo of a work friend of mine. That year we visited Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center, and we spent a lot of time playing in the ocean. Our last trip here was 7 years ago, when we stayed at the Hilton for 10 days after my first knee replacement surgery. The area was deep into recession then, and the following year we went to the Gulf Coast.
Yesterday we expected rain but got only a few drops for several minutes at a time. The rest of the day was sunny and warm. We spent a couple of hours at Port Canaveral watching fishermen and birds in and around the water. Lunch at Grill's, an old favorite, was delicious. We treated ourselves to a beer (Amber Bock for me, Shock Top for Bob) and shared a grilled mahi-mahi fish meal, with wild rice and black beans and cheese bread. I've always avoided mahi-mahi, thinking it was dolphin, but it's actually dolphinfish, so I've been missing out all these years.
We checked out the beach near Patrick AFB and returned home for a swim. The pool is fine, with a water temperature that isn't killingly hot. I actually feel somewhat relaxed: this is NOT a normal state for me but it's pleasant, for now at least.
Although the Space Coast seems more prosperous than it was on our last visit, economic recovery still has a long uphill climb. The end of the space shuttle program had a significant impact here, and private industry doesn't seem to have kicked in enough investment to make this area as vibrant as it has been in the past.
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