With a beautiful view of the water from our balcony, I intended to get up early to watch the sunrise. I did not manage to get up in time, but with the low-lying clouds, the sun was not visible as it crested the horizon. I sat on the balcony for a while, enjoying the early morning hustle bustle on the street, and was able to watch a sunrise of sorts as the sun rose above the cloud cover.
As we walked to Maple Street Biscuit Company for breakfast, the streets were once again flooded. We enjoyed the beautiful Spanish architecture with the lovely Spring flowers blooming. As we walked around the night before, we found a Steam Punk Store, which looked to have some really interesting items for sale. On our way back from breakfast we stopped in and bought a few things for this year’s Imagine Festival.
As we loaded the car for the next leg of our journey, Chris talked to the valet. We asked him about the flooding and, apparently, it is a normal occurrence caused by the tide. We decided to take the scenic A1A Highway to Daytona. The trip takes a little longer than following I-95, but the scenery is worth the extra time. The drive is not all right on the ocean, but the part that is was spectacular. The ocean was an angry ocean (apparently there was a Nor’easter somewhere offshore) and the extremely rough waves crashing on the shoreline were gorgeous.
Eventually, we made our way into Daytona and a course we love to play, Tuscawilla. Tuscawilla is a beautiful course that winds its way through a lovely park with a zip line course. There is an amazing amount of wildlife living in the park dotted with palm trees. The course has two tees for most of the holes and several pin positions so is always just a little different when we play. There are several ponds and streams running through the area creating water hazards on many of the holes. Amused, we approached one of the tee pads to find there were people using the pad to sunbathe. When we explained that they were in the middle of a disc golf course, they were kind enough to move so that we could play through.
Our original plan was to play a course in Cocoa as well, but the day just got away from us so we headed to our hotel. The hotel we stayed at is a massive complex on the beach. Our room was about as far from the ocean as was possible. Unfortunately, our request for a courtyard room was not honored. Instead, we had a room overlooking the parking lot and the dog park next door. After a little downtime, we headed to Fish Lips Waterfront Bar & Grill to meet up with our friends, Jenn and Phil. We haven’t been able to see each other very often since she moved to Florida (seems like a million years ago). When we make our annual trip, we always attempt to get together, but it doesn’t always work out. When we can get together, it is usually rushed (life has a tendency to get in the way), but this time was really nice as we had nowhere that we needed to go. After dinner, we went to their house and relaxed on the patio around the fire pit. This visit is one of my favorite parts of our vacation this year.
With the late night, we readjusted our plans again. We have learned over the many years that we have made this trip, that a more relaxed pace works for us. We set a plan but then can play it by ear and make adjustments to get the most enjoyment from the experience, as opposed to ticking off everything on our list of things to do. We decided that extra sleep would take priority over playing an extra course. After a later start than originally planned, we went to Barrier Jack’s for a lovely breakfast before heading to the Orlando area. While at breakfast, we looked up Disc Golf Center to see if their store was anywhere near the route we would be taking. It was nice to see that they have opened up an official store in DeBary. Their original store in Orlando was a small space, full of cardboard boxes containing discs. The new store is wonderful. We loaded up on new discs and were on our way.
After lunch at Ikaho Sushi, we headed to Champions Pointe at Lake Hiawatha Preserve. This was a new course for us, so our play was somewhat slower than normal as we had some trouble navigating a few of the holes. Overall, it was a fun course with some wide-open throws and plenty of more technical holes. As we walked back to the car we saw a sweet, red sports car that we didn’t recognize. Upon further investigation, we found out it was a Jaguar.
The drive from the course to Tampa was mostly little country roads. We saw one of the most remarkable driving demonstrations I have ever seen. We were in a line of cars driving through a long straight stretch of road when a truck roared past us. Amused, I didn’t understand why he was in such a hurry to pass us when, with the line of cars, he would not be able to go any faster than the rest of us. He passed about three cars and then abruptly stopped and turned left into a store.
After checking into the hotel, we walked to The Lucky Dill for dinner. It was a beautiful night, with a gorgeous moon, and we enjoyed the walk. On our way back to the hotel we noticed a very large, seemingly random, nitrogen tank sitting next to a parking lot. We still have no idea what that was about.
Part 3
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