On Monday morning, after the rain stopped and the sky began to clear, my parents and I drove to a restaurant about ___ miles north of Vero Beach, not far from Melbourne. Getting out of the car, it was easy to imagine 'old Florida,' filled with little weather-beaten shacks with open shutters that served tequila and fresh fish sandwiches.
The cars in the parking lot -- mostly huge and muscular, an array of tanks -- left little doubt about exactly what year we were in. (The fish sandwich was excellent, however.)
After lunch, we drove south toward the Sebastian River Inlet and I photographed a seemingly infinite number of houses and condominiums that were either for sale or rent (most seemed to be uninhabited). The ocean, just to orient you, is directly to the left, so these houses are 'beachfront.'
We passed an empty condominium development, which the for-sale sign assured us was 'way under value.'
Approaching the bridge over the Sebastian River, my mother pointed out that it looked like a ski jump; I responded that it also resembled the cliff off of which the real-estate market had obviously fallen.
After paying an entrance fee to the Sebastian Inlet State Park (the only two-time national gold medal winner in the state-parks competition, according to the brochure we received), we walked through the dunes to the beach, pausing to admire several of the flowers that were in bloom. Sometimes it's easy to forget that warmer regions -- because they don't have snow -- also have seasons.
Thankfully there was no lightning.
We walked out onto the pier, where fishers were busy casting, and I remembered a childhood fear about getting a lure caught in my eye.
I backed away and contemplated the volcanic rocks on which the pier had been constructed.
On the other side of the river -- where there was an even longer pier -- four pelicans soared by. (Does four make a 'flock'?)
Florida as a whole is generally not considered a politically progressive state, but they are serious about recycling used fishing line. (I wondered how much of this line came from Germans or French.)
I admired a bird -- a sandpiper? -- who moved back and forth with the waves.
One thing I've noticed about Florida is that no matter where you are -- the beach, a highway, a strip mall -- it's not uncommon to see birds gracefully flying by, which gives me hope that the state will eventually reach a point of equilibrium in its relationship with the natural world.
The carcass of a pallet had washed up against the rocks.
And as so often happens, I could not suppress the feeling of falling off an eroding ledge.
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