Monday, March 07, 2011

Spending Money

Sunshine Travel Rv Resort – Vero Beach, Florida

Well, after we had the kayaks sold (and cash in our pockets) we did a little shopping :)

That’s a dangerous thing…$850 cash in your pocket and the urge to shop!

Well we came home with about $20!

First stop was to Walmart, where Mr. Al got some new shorts, socks, and a new kayak hat.  We looked at some iPads :)

Second stop was Sam’s club.  Saturday is a great day to go there for “lunch.”  They were giving away free samples and we got the meal, drink and dessert and left full. We each got a nice light weight rain jacket.

Third stop (and most dangerous) was to the Verizon store.  Al’s cell phone hadn’t been working since we got here.  It kept saying “no service.” Mine worked fine so we didn’t understand the problem.  His battery was shot as well.  It turned out there was some setting on his phone that had  gotten changed, which caused the service issue.  He ended up getting a new phone.

While we were there we looked at the iPads and decided to splurge and get one for Al.  He has been without any computer since we’ve been here because we’re too cheap to pay for the internet from the park…which isn’t free.  He’s not a real computer guru, so we thought the Ipad would be nice for him.  Touch screen and little little typing needed!  We considered the Verizon Motorola Xoom, but went with the Ipad. 

iPad - Wikipedia  the free encyclopedia

We like it so far, but it’s a bit different than my laptop or Droid.  It is taking some getting used to.  He is really enjoying reading some newspapers on it.  He loves his morning newspaper and especially likes the USA Today.  We’re getting it free on the iPad, plus some of his sporting magazines and websites.  He really is enjoying it.  I’ve been told that it is “his”  and I can borrow it on occasion :)

I haven’t yet found many apps that I like.  Mostly what I’ve found are games and we’re not really into games.  Any suggestions for good iPad apps?    It seems it’s easier to find good ones on the Droid.

We went down to Juno and West Palm Beach on Friday and I wanted to post some of the pictures we took since it was so pretty.

Pelicans waiting for fish

The following picture was taken from Phil Foster park, which is under the Blue Heron bridge in West Palm Beach.  It’s a pretty little park and a good place to kayak.

Phil Foster Park under the Blue Heron Bridge

In the Palm Beach area, the Gulf Stream comes the closest to Florida and with it brings in clean, clear water.  The Gulf Stream is like a river of sea water and has a major affect on the weather.  The Palm Beach area usually has some of the clearest and prettiest water in the state and that’s why we always loved PB.  The water gets very deep, very fast near Palm Beach and you never know what kind of marine life you might find.  We did a snorkel in the Gulf Stream one year on our Bahamas dive trip.  The water was some 2000 feet deep, cobalt blue and very, very clear.  It was really cool!

It was very windy the day we went and the surfers and kite surfers were taking advantage.  It wasn’t as cool at the beach as it had been, thankfully.

super kite surfer with freighter in background

There were warnings every where due to Portugease Man o War in the water.  Here are the bodies of some dead ones that had washed ashore.  The blue thing you see is puffed up with air and looks like a balloon.  If you step on them, they are dried out and crunchy.  When alive the tentacles from them give you quite a nasty sting.  Dead Portugease Man o War

This is what they look like in the water, but they are a lot larger than they appear here.

Portuguese Man o  War - Simple English Wikipedia  the free encyclopedia

The Portuguese Man o' War has a reputation for swarming in groups of thousands. It is also known for its powerful sting.

They look like a jellyfish, but they really are not. The Portuguese Man o' War is not a single animal.  This is a colony of four kinds of zooids, which are very small, individuals, which are attached to each other.

I don’t know how the surfers avoid getting stung as they didn’t have suits covering their arms and legs.

kite surfing

surfer

Some beautiful scenery on the way to West Palm Beach.

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pretty blue water near Juno Beach

fishing in clear water

IMG_2570

This is a very beautiful part or Florida with lots of very expensive homes/mansions.  Many very, very rich people have winter homes in the area.

Palm Beach is home to the very, very rich.  You can drive onto Palm Beach, but don’t plan on parking and looking at the beach.  You’ll get stopped by the police within minutes.  There is parking in town at the restaurants and shops.  It’s fun to window shop where the rich and famous go.  You can also walk along Lake Worth, which is actually not a lake but the intercoastal waters, behind the mansions.  We used to roller blade there and it was fun.  This area has some of the most expensive real estate in the country and it’s very beautiful.  It’s worth a trip to Palm Beach if you’re in the area.  Note…I’m not talking about West Palm Beach.

Map picture

We also spent some time in Juno Beach and walked out on the pier.  They charged $1 a person to go onto the fishing pier.

Juno Beach Pier

Juno Beach Pier

IMG_2621

This was a real  surfer below and a group of “surfers” on the other side of the pier appeared too be pretending to surf.  They sat out in the breakwater on their boards but never even tried to catch a wave.  I can imagine they their friends, “ I went surfing all afternoon, dude.”  The good surf was on the other side of the pier and a few guys were actually catching some waves.  The others were pretend surfing!

beach view through sea grapes

Sunday was cloudy, windy, warm and humid.  We made a run over to Fort Pierce.  We found a few places that will be nice to kayak….one we have kayaks again! 

The new kayaks are scheduled to arrive today via Fed-Ex.  I hope we’re not the last delivery of the day.

12 comments:

  1. Beautiful pictures and a GREAT post... Congrats on selling your kayaks. Hope your new ones come in soon. Have a beautiful day!!!
    Travel safe
    Donna

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  2. Beautiful pictures is right! I've been to Palm Beach, stayed at the Breakers, and your beach pics sure brought back a lot of great memories.

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  3. It is starting to warm up and now I am wanting to get in the water,so is Rigg's, hope you have fun with the new kayaks, since Donna is not a water person I don't see one in our future. Be safe out there. Sam & Donna...

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  4. Palm Beach is beautiful. Thanks for sharing the photos they are great.

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  5. Many years ago, before the police put an end to it, part of the rites of passage into manhood was to jump from the center of the Phil Foster Bridge.

    Also if you get a chance, when the waves are coming in big try to stop by Blowing Rocks Park, about 1 mile and half to two miles north of Jupiter Inlet Colony on Jupiter Island. On a good day you can get geysers shooting up 20 ft or more.

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  6. Our son works for Verizon and purchased the Motorola Xoom last week. I am so sold on it that I want one. I might have to wait a spell but I want one. He seems to have some neat aps that aren't all games. I'll ask him about the Ipad if you would like me to???

    Looks like you all are having some great weather there in Florida! Georgia is getting nicer and nicer. I just can't wait for real spring weather.

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  7. Beautiful plsce to see and visit,thanks for the great pictures.

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  8. Great pictures... My favorite apps for the iPad are: Flipboard for reading blogs,twitter,news,etc. I have a lot of travel apps: iExit, iTrucks, RVparking.com, Overnight Parking Walmart, Camp&RV, SKP Parks, State Lines, RVCompanion, and Zip Codes. Most of these are free or very little. Some other apps are: Netflix, All Recipes, VLC, Dragon Dictation, Pages. There's an app to help you find apps: app shopper.
    Oh a great app for documents is: GoodReader. I have had my iPad since July of last year and I love it. My next toy will be the Xoom and I let Syl use the iPad for awhile. Hope this helps a little.

    Gin

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  9. We've never been to Palm Beach-we'll have to make it a point at some time. And, I'm watching the iPad / Xoom debate before I go shopping. See how long I can hold out.

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  10. We have an Ipad or I should say Gary won an Ipad at the FL RV Show!
    Almost like winning the lottery he loves that thing so much! Of course he is a major techy but it is very nice.

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  11. Wow! I miss a couple of days reading blogs and look what all you've done. I especially enjoyed the photos from Blue Heron Blvd - my old stomping ground. I spent many years in that area - that is why I still love Florida so much. Looks like I'll be making a road trip soon.

    And an iPad - what's left to buy? Which model did you get? I, too, have some money burning a hole in my pocket - I don't need an iPad, but as usual I want one.

    Guess the next exciting thing will be the house selling. That will be so exciting for you and all your blog readers.

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