My youngest brother spends part of every winter in the Florida Keys. We joined him for a few days last year. The trip started with a two days in St. Augustine where my brother and my sister, her husband, and one of their daughters met us. We visited the grave sites of our parents, our maternal grandparents, and some of our aunts and uncles at San Lorenzo Cemetery. We walked by some of the houses our Italian grandfather built in the Davis Shores neighborhood of Anastasia Island.
From there, we headed for Marathon Key. Along the way we stopped for a couple of days to visit old friends from Colorado at their home in Palm Coast. My wife really liked the area and thought we should spend more time there to see if we might like to live or buy a second home there.
So, this year, we decided to spend the month of November, including the Thanksgiving holiday, at a rental house in a neighborhood near the beach on the far north end of Palm Coast just south of Marineland. The house we rented was a 1960s bungalow nicely refurbished into a small but comfortable getaway a block from the Atlantic Ocean.
After settling in, we walked to the end of the street and onto the beach for a late afternoon stroll.
On the second day of our month-long visit, we met our friend from Colorado who was showing her water-color artwork at a local arts and crafts show.
We rented a pair of bicycles during our stay. Bicycle trails parallel many of the major roads throughout Palm Coast. A paved trail extends along Highway A1A from Marineland to Flagler Beach and beyond. We rode from the bungalow to Flagler Beach and back a couple of times. We stopped for meals at various cafes, bar-grills, and seafood houses along the way. Oceanside in Flagler Beach became one of our favorite spots.
But a couple of small cafes became our favorite morning stops.
We also made a short road trip further south to visit old friends in Vero Beach, Florida. We had met them while living and working in Germany in the 1990s.
They showed us around the quaint and fashionable seaside town. The town center and the surrounding neighborhoods sit on a barrier island. The old town and neighborhoods are both elegant and quintessential “Old Florida” style.
We had breakfast at Mulligan’s Beach House Bar & Grill (1025 Beachland Blvd., Vero Beach, FL 32963). It’s a local favorite. Its location on the main beachfront plaza of Vero Beach made it a perfect spot to spend some time getting a feeling for this Old Florida town.
Our friends, who retired in Vero many years ago, drove us around on a scenic tour. We saw both a quaint but bustling oceanfront town and quiet, shady residential neighborhoods. People like the writer Carl Hiaasen, among other celebrities, live or have vacation homes on tree-shaded lanes on the barrier island between the Intracoastal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean.
Shortly after, we made our way back north to Palm Coast and our rented bungalow in Marineland Acres. Early one morning near the end of our stay, I went out to capture the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean.
As I waited for the sun to rise above the horizon, I was joined by a fellow traveler who, without hesitation, walked right up to and around me.
Soon, it came time to make our way west across the country and home.
Bye, bye Florida, until next time. And, there will be a next time!
A Finis Terrae 