City, Sand, and Savanna - Link to new trip report

Well Narv is not wasting his update time on my thread either , or he wood have had a comment or 2 on my Albany Adventure:rolleyes::crazy2::rotfl2:
Not sure who Narv is, but I personally read your Albany update right after you posted it. I was doing some major cracking up and was so glad I wasn't drinking anything! :rotfl:

I had lots of comments but there are just some topics/posts where I probably don't need to post the comments that pop into my head. :scared1: This IS a family board after all...... :rotfl2:

Talk about the Pot calling the kettle black !!!!:rotfl2:

Kathy & Pat I gotcha backs !!!:thumbsup2 Marv is just:stir::stir:

Okay, okay......touche' :worship:

But you are correct, Marv is :stir: and you just never know when he might be cooking up a little something special for you there Rosie. :rolleyes1 And the rest of you "ladies" jumping my case just might want to watch out too..... :mad: ;)
 
I thought about it, but I was paranoid about losing power in the storm, so I didn't bother going through and quoting stuff.

That makes sense.

But anyway, Jaws.:thumbsup2

There ya go. +1 :thumbsup2

All caught up again.

Too bad about the turtle walk but hoping the 2nd one you will see them.

Hey, you can't schedule everything. ;) But yes, another chance.

it does look like a fun place to go.

Great pics and updates.

We enjoyed it....very nice for a few days of sun and sand.

Well Narv is not wasting his update time on my thread either , or he wood have had a comment or 2 on my Albany Adventure:rolleyes::crazy2::rotfl2::rotfl2:

Narv shore wood. ;) :rotfl2:

:mad: :snail: Slow but deliberate in every move.....

It's all part of your plan.
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Ready to back in the Photopass trenches sir....

As you were.
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Get 'em.

Recovering from being out of town... Slow but deliberate. :snail:

It takes a little while to get caught up and back in the groove.

The old Pork chop method. Lotion or even water, then roll em around in the sand. ::yes::

Shake 'n Bake!

Apologies for the quote, I can't reply otherwise for some reason! :)

Hey, whatever works. :thumbsup2

Another great update glen! That feet up pic made me chuckle. Ill bet he was a tad envious at that moment! I know I'd have been :P

Yeah, barefeet on a beach beats barefeet at a PC any day! :laughing:

So you're saying........SLOW!!! :rolleyes1

Yes, but oh so deliberate. :rolleyes:
 
All I can say to these posts is....I've officially lost control! :rotfl2:

But I love the banter!

Don't you pick on Pat, Mr. Marv...I'm watching you. And what's with just responding to "part" of my update. You missed the booty dance.

Sheesh...........there's no satisfying some people........... :sad2:

Hey, you're the one who called Pat slow. :lmao::lmao:

You know I love you. :)

Deliberate.... Cautious but when ready -- there is no stopping me.

Just really busy right now. :rolleyes1



Thanks Kathy!!!:goodvibes



there is.... you just have to know how.;)



Yeah Marv, take that!!!

A lot of people keep themselves "busy" so they can justify why they couldn't get the job done..... :rolleyes:

Talk about the Pot calling the kettle black !!!!:rotfl2::rotfl2::rotfl2:

Kathy & Pat I gotcha backs !!!:thumbsup2 Marv is just:stir::stir::stir::stir:

Not sure who Narv is, but I personally read your Albany update right after you posted it. I was doing some major cracking up and was so glad I wasn't drinking anything! :rotfl:

I had lots of comments but there are just some topics/posts where I probably don't need to post the comments that pop into my head. :scared1: This IS a family board after all...... :rotfl2:



Okay, okay......touche' :worship:

But you are correct, Marv is :stir: and you just never know when he might be cooking up a little something special for you there Rosie. :rolleyes1 And the rest of you "ladies" jumping my case just might want to watch out too..... :mad: ;)
 


Glad you had a picture perfect beach day! Love seeing the pretty color of the water when it is a nice day.

Everyone looks like they were having fun in their own way- reading, kite-flying, dancing, sand castle-building.

Well, everyone except for the guy who was goggle-searching.

So what was the deal with the mini-golf? Free on just that particular afternoon?

Loved the picture retort from your coworker!

That's one shell of a collection! Boy, that was bad! Think it is time to retire for the evening!
 


Glad you had a picture perfect beach day! Love seeing the pretty color of the water when it is a nice day.

Yes, isn’t it nice?! Especially in that stitched picture. It looks even better than it actually was. :laughing:

Everyone looks like they were having fun in their own way- reading, kite-flying, dancing, sand castle-building.

Yup, that sums it up really well.

Well, everyone except for the guy who was goggle-searching.

Oh yeah. That guy was bumming, but not as much as I would’ve been.

So what was the deal with the mini-golf? Free on just that particular afternoon?

You caught me. I was kind of vague on that because I had the same question when I was writing the chapter….and I can’t remember! It was just that particular afternoon but I don’t remember why – if it was because we were DVC members or what. I do remember that we were told at check-in, I think she even wrote it on the resort map she gave me.

Loved the picture retort from your coworker!

Fun stuff.

That's one shell of a collection! Boy, that was bad! Think it is time to retire for the evening!

I like it! Nice one! :rotfl:
 
So, the plan for this evening was to drive over to Judys sisters house, go out to dinner with her family, and then get to the Turtle Walk at the Barrier Island Center by 9pm.

After we got back to the suite we experienced a series of events that I'll call the towel incident. Marlene wanted to take a shower, but thought that her towel wasnt in the same place as it had been and accused James of using it. He said he didnt, and I dont think he did, this time, but his track record wasnt very good since he had grabbed a fresh towel over the last couple of days rather than using his. We were in a classic standoff -- she wasnt going to shower without a fresh towel, and wasnt going with us that evening without taking a shower. Judy wasnt going to call for more towels when wed even gotten extra when we checked in. We got very, very close to the time that we had to leave and it looked like she was going to be spending the evening by herself in the suite, when I realized that I could offer her the towel animal that was on our bed when we arrived and was now on top of the TV stand. That worked, and she was able to take a super-quick shower and go with us. Crisis averted, although not without major drama and raised voices. Hey, were not perfect.

We were able to leave the suite at 4:30, and on the way to the van Judy admired the resort's landscaping. She took this picture of a hibiscus and used it as her cellphone background picture for a while.

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We drove over to Judys sisters house and visited for a little bit with her, her husband, and son; wed be meeting their daughter at the restaurant a little later. It had been a long time since wed been at their house, since the last few times weve been to Florida DSiL has driven over to WDW to spend some time with us at the parks. I think Lauren vaguely remembered their house, Marlene didnt at all, and James had never been there. Their backyard ends at a canal and they have a dock on it, so the guys (and Marlene too I think) went and hung out there while the ladies visited inside. Thats such a different setup than we have in Pennsylvania, but it sure would be cool to be able to take a boat out to the ocean from your backyard. Soon, we realized that we needed to get going to the restaurant if we were going to make it to the Turtle Walk on time.

Dinner tonight would be at Sonnys Real Pit Bar-B-Cue. Wed talked about a couple of different options, including some restaurants that are commonly mentioned on the Vero Beach thread, like Ocean Grill and Squidlips, but Judys sister thought that they were a little too touristy for locals like themselves. And hey, we dont have any good barbecue places here where we live, so Sonnys sounded great to me!

We drove separately to Sonnys, and met my niece there. It was going on 7 oclock when we were seated.

Oh, this next picture reminds me. Driving over to DSiLs house, James started complaining about a major sunburn hed gotten that afternoon. DSiL gave us some ointment that they use, but the poor boy was in misery.

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Across from me was Judy and her sister.

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Toward the other end of the table were Lauren, Marlene, my niece, DBiL, and my nephew (whos appeared in previous TRs when DSiL has joined us at a park or two). My brother-in-law and nephew were a little camera shy. My brother-in-law never joined DSiL when she came over to visit us at DisneyWorld because I think hed rather be experience some kind of slow, painful torture than deal with the crowds of people at an amusement park. Hey, its not for everybody, and were probably all better off understanding that up-front! But hes a jokester, and he was threatening to order turtle soup tonight, (knowing where we were headed later, of course). He was sure that wed see a turtle tonight, since this walk was connected to Disney rather than a state park&he figured that they probably had some kind of animatronic turtle that they used.

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Oh, one more story about my brother-in-law, or rather, one that hes told me. A couple of times. He works in construction, and says that one time a number of years ago he was at a zoning meeting when another guy was trying to get the rights to develop a particular property. The guy was denied the rights because some kind of endangered mouse was discovered on the property. Then, a couple of years later, it was announced that Disney was going to build the Vero Beach resort on that very same spot. He finishes the story with, it was a mouse all right! I dont know how true it is, but thats his story.

We looked at the menu and it was so hard to choose. Marlene asked, whats the difference between brisket and pulled pork? I said, Moo and oink. :rolleyes:

Heres my plate. I was in the mood for some brisket.

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Oh, and a nice generous helping of beans.
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James got some wings, seasoned with one of their dry rubs.

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I'm not sure what Lauren and Marlene got, either moo, oink, or cluck, but they liked it.

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Everyone enjoyed the food they got at Sunnys. Id definitely return. :thumbsup2

Although wed have liked to have visited longer, we needed to get going, so we made our exit at about a quarter to 8. Id forgotten to take a picture on the way in, but got one as we left.

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We werent planning on going back to the suite before the Turtle Walk, but we realized that we forgot to close our blinds, plus one or two people wanted to change some clothing items, so we made a quick stop. Still, we were able to get to the Barrier Island Center by 8:30.

One of the workers was there in the parking lot, on her cellphone, and was a little frantic because she couldnt get a hold of anybody with a key to the Center. She told us we could wait there or walk down the wooden walkway to the beach access, if we wanted. So, we headed to the beach. As we waited, Judy took this picture of me and the kids.

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It was a pretty windy night, and the wind blowing my jacket made me look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. I edited it on Instagram a little bit to crop it down some.

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Eventually, someone was able to unlock the Center and we were let in. You can probably get an idea from the pictures on their website (link posted above), but compared to the state park facility from the night before, this place was like the Taj Mahal. Except, forget that the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum. What Im trying to say is, the Barrier Island Center was a beautiful, state-of-the-art facility. I dont mean that as a knock against the state park, I wouldnt hesitate to do a Turtle Walk there again, but just that this place was really nice. The area where we first entered had several exhibits complete with things to encourage interaction, like buttons to light up sections of the exhibit, or microscopes to look through. Then, the room where we went for their turtle presentation was a very nice screening room with theater seats and a big screen. Even so, the procedure they followed was pretty much the same as what we experienced the night before: while we saw a turtle presentation, volunteers would be out looking for turtles for us.

During the presentation, James was a like a turtle-savant -- he knew the answers to all of the presenter's questions, having just seen a presentation the night before. :teacher:'s pluto:

We learned a neat rule-of-thumb about how the sex of a baby sea turtle is determined by where their egg is in the nest: Hot Chicks and Cool Dudes. Females form higher in the nest, where its warmed by the sun; males form lower, where its cool. They said that they discovered this when they incubated sea turtle eggs and got only females. Oh, and one more thing I didnt realize is that a female sea turtle can nest as many as 5 or 6 times in a summer, but average about 4. I had assumed that it was only once. They go back and forth between the beach and several miles offshore, where the males just swim around waiting for a female whos ready for coffee on the verandah. (Sorry Cynthia, I know Ive already used this line in the trip report, but hey, it works.)

The presentation also showed us some pictures of TEDs, turtle excluder devices, which are used on shrimp trawlers to allow accidentally captured sea turtles to escape. They said that shrimpers have been slow to embrace them, thinking that they will lose a big portion of their catch because of them, but the people at the Center are hopeful that improvements and legislation will change that.

One really encouraging thing they mentioned though, was that due to their location they have a higher sighting rate as compared to the Sebastian Inlet State Park. The state parks rate was about 75% and theirs was about 95%. So, we couldnt strike out twice in two nights, could we?

We finished the presentation and went out on the deck behind the building. They said that theyd already had reports of turtle activity. Woo hoo! We were just going to wait there for a while, while the turtle dug her body pit. They werent sure if she was going to complete nesting, because she had chosen a location that was up in the vegetation.

We waited, let our eyes adjust to the darkness, and I got my night-vision goggles going, which Id remembered to bring this time around.

Around 10 oclock we had a report of we have contractions and we were off. Quick, boil some water! (Why do they always say that in old movies?) I was almost as excited as I was when my own kids were born, and my kids could hardly contain themselves as we walked to where the turtle was.
:yay:

We didnt have to walk far, the mama turtle picked a spot only about 50 yards south of the beach access.

Our group made a semicircle around the mama turtle, but the guides asked us to stay behind her head -- they didnt want anyone to spook her. I tried using the night-vision goggles, and so did James, but actually the red lights that the guides had illuminated the turtle just as well as looking through the goggles, so I soon put them away. The guides said that she wasnt tagged, and they dont do tagging. They measured her shell and she was 99 centimeters long (they measure the shell only), and estimated her weight at probably 250 to 300 pounds. She was one of the biggest turtles theyd seen so far this year.

Its kind of nice that the process takes a little bit of time, because we all had an opportunity to get a good look at her eggs dropping into the egg chamber. So cool!

At one point, one of the guides asked who was the youngest person in our group. It turned out to be a 7 year-old boy. The guide said that its their tradition that the youngest person gets to name the turtle, and the boy thought for a second and said Sasha. So there you have it, we watched Mama Sasha nest on this night. The guide said that they get a lot of Sandys, which is kind of interesting after our recent hurricane.

When she was done laying eggs, she started covering and camouflaging her nest, which involves a whole lot of flailing flippers and flying sand. James got hit by some sand, which ordinarily would be an unpleasant experience, but tonight it was kind of cool.

Now, we werent supposed to have any lights, but I was thinking of you guys, my faithful trip report readers, and wondered how I could get some kind of picture for you. So, before Mama Sasha finished and headed back to the water, I put my phone under my jacket and adjusted the brightness to the lowest level possible. Then, as she made her way back to the surf, I tried to get a picture. Its pretty bad, but hopefully you can kind of make her out.

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I also took a few seconds of video. The sound may give you a better sense of the night that the actual picture.

sea turtle video

Once she was done camouflaging her nest, it was amazing how quickly she made her way back down to the surf. I followed her down, and almost ended up in the water myself.

By 11 oclock were heading heading home, and what a difference it was from the drive back the night before, we were so psyched. I dont know what else to say other than it was an awesome night! What a great memory well have of that occasion.


Up next: From Hufflepuff milk to the Vero Beach campfire and everything in between
Link to next chapter
 
I'm pretty sure that's Judy's reflection in the bake beans, so I'm going with 4 Judy's. :rotfl2:
 
Ok - Wow - that whole turtle egg laying thing sounds so cool. I am definitely intrigued, even if Sasha was animatronic. :rotfl:

I didn't know Judy's sister lived in Vero. That is so cool. How nice that you got to visit and hit a local joint for dinner.

The towel incident is too funny and I can definitely see something like that happening in my house. Too bad you had to sacrifice your towel animal for th cause. Kids!
 
Pictures 2,3,5,6 Judys

total 4

Make it 3 no judy in 5

I will go with Pat's original 4 Judy's in pictures 2, 3, 5 and 6. I see pink in the top right of picture 5 and Judy is the only one wearing pink.......

Just in case.....between the ketchup, glass of tea and above the salt shaker............
 
Whoo Hoo for a turtle sighting...... :cool1::cool1:


I can seet the whole towel thing. It might STILL happen in my house and mine are supposed to be grownups. :rolleyes:

We have Sonny's here too. I am slowly developing a taste for BBQ. sheesh been down here long enough might as well. :lmao:
 
glennbo123 said:

Another great update glen! And yup, pretty much every family experiences "incidents" on vacations in Florida, I guess it must be the heat? At least, that what I tell myself ;)

Glad you got to see a turtle though, I bet it was just as good as it sounds. Ill have to put that on the bucket list I think!
 

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