Day 23, Feb. 12, Merritt Island NWR

The morning was a balmy 75 degrees with a little breeze. The sky was bright and sunny with just a couple little clouds. The odometer read 15267.5, it was 9:50 a.m. and there was half a tank of gas. Saying goodbye to Gail was tough. I pulled onto Rte. 1 with tears clouding my eyes and began my journey back north. Already I was missing her.

As I headed towards Rte. 95 after taking a left off of Rte. 1N, I was intrigued by the electric poles along the road. All along this journey I’ve been fascinated by the lines. (It’s one of my themes that I work with, Lines and Angles.)  I wanted to stop, but of course, in this area there is nowhere to pull over. If I pulled onto a side street or into a parking lot, I would not have the angle that fascinates me. Anyway, getting in and out of traffic is not fun in this place.

Rte. 95N was just as boring as coming south. An hour and a half went by and I saw the exit for the Merritt Island National Wildlife Reserve. Kathy from Cypress Gardens, S.C. had said that I should go there. Merritt Island is at the north end of Cape Canaveral and I followed the signs. As I neared the island, there were three large, tall buildings on my right. They looked like they could be a hotel or probably condos as I didn’t see a hotel sign. The left had smaller, two and three story buildings. Straight ahead was a bridge.

Oooh, another fantastic bridge! It seemed strange for a bridge this huge to have a speed limit of 30 mph. It did give me opportunity to look. Gorgeous views which might be why the speed limit is low as people are busy gawking. There were even sidewalks across the bridge and many people were walking. At 85 degrees, I wasn’t about to put myself to that much sun. At the foot of the bridge on Merritt Island were some pull off areas for a boat ramp, picnic, and fishing areas. I figured I’d stop on my way back.

There were a lot of coastal, marsh areas along the road with many ducks and some short squatty bushy trees growing in the water. Again, I thought I’d stop on the way back. It seemed I drove and drove. There were side roads and I wondered if they led to viewing areas, but didn’t see signs saying so. I kept on until I finally came to a visitors’ center. A large tour bus pulled in behind me and while I was parking, discharged a lot of kids. Oh, no, just what I needed.

They were still getting off the bus and getting organized when I excused myself by them. It was cool in the building and there were many displays. The ranger at the desk said there wasn’t any charge for the boardwalk, but there was a $5 fee for the scenic drive. I got the ticket for that when one of the others, hearing me mention that I was from N.H. said that one of their co-workers is from N.H. and pointed him out. I went over and found he lives just south of North Conway.

I headed out on the ¼ mile boardwalk trail. It was interesting. Got some photos of an osprey which I hope I can crop so we can see them better. Some people were excited over red wing blackbirds and grackles, but I see enough of them in the summer. It didn’t take me long to do the loop. A lot of it was various trees and bushes. The palmettos with their wide spread… do you call that foliage?... take up a lot of the views.   I was back in the truck to do the scenic drive. They were doing a burn on one road and I was specifically told that way was closed.

The scenic drive had more traffic. It was dirt and crushed shells; just a narrow one car width raised lane winding between marsh and little creek areas. There was very little room to pull over to take photos. I saw some interesting thistle growing along the sides of the road. I did stop for photos of the landscape, vegetation, and birds. There were a couple of serious birders out there with huge telescopic lenses on their cameras.

There was a reddish colored heron which would run a few steps, flap its wings, dip its beak into the water then turn quickly and run in another direction and do the same thing. It was interesting to watch and I took photos. The road wound on and on past creeks and through marsh. When there weren’t any trees, I could see miles across the flat expanse of open land with yellowed grasses and small creeks. And the road went on and on. At the midpoint of day, there aren’t many birds. I mean, I saw a lot of birds, but if this had been early morning, I’m sure there would have been thousands.

I stopped at one place and hiked out a trail that seemed to stretch forever in a straight line. I could see a viewing area. I photographed a couple of herons and ducks along the way. At the viewing platform, all I saw were crabs in the muck. There were a couple of egrets in the far distance, but nothing I could capture with the camera. Still, it was a pretty area with more open water than I’d been seeing. The trail continued on and I could see a higher platform. I walked about halfway, but wasn’t seeing much. It was hot and the sun was beating down. People ahead of me who had reached that point weren’t looking excited, so I opted to turn back.

The drive continued winding through the marshes, but it all began to look the same and seemed to go on forever. What birds I saw were the same. After all the Florida straight roads, I should have been happy to be on curves. I came to a fork in the road and from the map I’d been given, it looked like I needed to go left. This section had deep holes and I had to drive even slower that the 15 mph that was the limit on this drive only to find it dead ended. This was just a viewing area and there wasn’t much to see. Arrgghh! Thankfully there was enough room to turn around.

It was getting on to 3 p.m. I hadn’t eaten since having a couple spoonfuls of home fries at 9:30. I was ready for this to be over, but it continued. Ah, some stopped vehicles. They must be looking at something. I looked to the right. About 50 feet away was a short tree in the middle of a creek with a whole flock of white egrets perched on the branches. Well, yes, I had to stop, too, and get a bunch of pictures.

Finally I made it out to a highway. According to the map they’d given me, the manatees were to the left. Taking a right would bring me back around to where they were doing that burn. I took the left. The speed limit here was 55 mph and tractor trailer trucks were on the road. I’m not sure where they were coming from and began to wonder about the accuracy of the map they’d given me. At this point of the day, I didn’t really care about seeing any manatees. I was tired and hungry. I was behind a Florida car which had also come through the scenic route and we pulled into a boat ramp area. This wasn’t the manatee area, but I did get some photographs. Florida was still there taking his own photos when I left.

After more miles of driving, I went over a bridge crossing a canal and just on the other side, was the parking for the manatee viewing. I pulled in and made my way to the area where many other people were lined along railings. They were waiting. A ranger came up to me and said there was one down the other end. This was the guy from N.H. that I’d spoken with earlier. He must have known some short cut.

He pointed through the brush and I could just see one of the big gentle creatures, but not good enough to get a photo.

One woman asked questions. There were boats on the canal and even as we were there, a big yacht came through. She asked what impact the boats have on the manatees. The ranger said that there wasn’t a manatee here that did not have scarring from propellers and there are about 75 manatees that come here. They are on the endangered species list. He also said that a couple years ago, a manatee was caught up near Cape Cod when it got too cold for it. It’s at the Aquarium now.

“There’s one!” another woman shouted and I looked where she was pointing and was able to get a shot of its snout poking out of the water. After awhile, I got tired of waiting for another to show and I left. It was time to find my way back to Rte. 1. I figured to circle back to the bridge where I first crossed onto the island, so when I reached the major road, I went south. I hadn’t realized how far north I’d come on the island. It felt like it took forever before I got back to Titusville. I got my pictures of the big bridge and by now, the gas tank was close to empty and it was 4 p.m. I drove towards Rte. 95, stopping for gas at a Sunoco station before heading further north. I was in Port Orange and settling down to dinner by 4:45 p.m. I’d seen Golden Corral signs before and decided to try the place. It advertises buffet and WHAT a buffet! I paid for the dinner and a bottle of water and it only came to $14.57.

In the middle was a huge round area with any kind of salad fixings you could want. On one end of the room, was a huge section of warm vegetables such as string beans, carrots, corn, rice and more; on the other side, different servings of potatoes, turkey and all the fixings for that. Around the corner I found fixings for tacos and that kind of stuff then came the steak, Texas toast, rice pilaf, and pasta dishes and then Oriental servings. I had steak, mashed potatoes, carrots and corn. On the other side of the salad bar was the dessert bar with different pies, cakes, cobblers, puddings, and ice cream. I ended with some banana cream pie. This isn’t naming everything that was there!

It was a good meal and I will definitely be looking for a Golden Corral for more meals, but for now, I needed a room for the night. Country Inn and Suites was just across the road and I had a coupon. Check in was busy with people in line and people coming in. One woman wanted the poor frazzled desk clerk to   bring in her bags. The phone kept ringing. I felt bad for the guy.

I was given room 222 with a king size bed. I took a trolley out to the truck and loaded it with things for the night. I couldn’t wait to get to my room. The elevators are in a little side corridor and there’s a table also in that corridor with a couple of decorative pieces on it. Not much room to move a trolley full of luggage into the elevators especially as they need to be turned. Wouldn’t you know, the elevator that opened was the one past the table so I had to get the trolley turned in a tight corner to get it on the elevator. Oops, I should have got on the elevator first, then pulled the trolley in. Whew, I managed finally managed to get to the room.

It’s a very nice room though it looks a little… manly. Not that that matters. It’s clean. I like the pictures on the walls. They don’t seem to be the normal hotel reproduction kind of pictures that one can buy at Wal-mart. These seem to almost be real art with giclees and nicely matted photographs.