Monday was a busy day of visiting for us. We had made plans, via facebook, to meet up with a friend from Ford for dinner in Ft. Pierce, and then found out that our friends from Lovers Key, Don and Carol, were volunteering at the state park in Ft. Pierce. So, we made plans to spend the afternoon with them at the state park.
We drove down Highway A1A from Vero Beach towards Ft. Pierce, and we arrived at Fort Pierce State Park before we had even started looking for it!
The Ranger in the entrance station knew we were coming, and she directed us to Volunteer Village, where Don & Carol were waiting. This is a new volunteer gig for them, and it looks like a nice setup. The volunteer sites are shaded and spacious (I forgot to take a picture!), and their work hours and jobs are flexible. Carol works in the entrance station, and Don does beach patrol and monitoring.
We visited for a while at their campsite, and then they took us down to see the beach. We stopped at the Jetty Beach first.
This beach is along the inlet that goes from the ocean to the intercoastal waterway. The little town of Ft. Pierce was just across the inlet from us.
The crane at the mouth of the inlet is removing debris from a boat that sunk and broke apart at the mouth of the inlet a year ago. The location of the boat is keeping some of the bigger ships from being able to come into the port. While the crane works, the inlet is being patrolled by the Coast Guard and the Army Corps of Engineers.
Fishing is allowed at the Jetty Beach, but not swimming. There are several picnic shelters and a rest room.
Next we went down to the main beach, where swimming is allowed, but not fishing. It’s a really beautiful beach, with super fine sand and crystal blue water.
It was a really warm day, but windy, so there weren’t many people at the beach . . . other than a group of parasail surfers.
There were about 10 of these guys out there – zipping around and jumping over the waves!
It was really fun to watch them, and sometimes they would come in really close to shore!
We also had a better view of the crane working in the inlet from this beach. It was bringing up buckets full of rubble and dumping them on the deck of the barge.
We continued watching these guys as they flew around, and the occasional bird, too!
One of the other volunteers was on beach patrol, and he stopped to talk to Don and Carol for a few minutes.
It looked like there might be a storm coming, so we headed back tot heir campsite . . . along the way we saw this osprey enjoying his lunch.
Back at their place, we never did get any rain . . . but we enjoyed some snacks and lots of conversation about RVs and cars, work camping and volunteering, people we’ve met along the way . . . and, of course, we solved most of the world’s problems!!
Before we knew it, it was almost 5pm and time for the 3 of us to meet our friend, Mark, and his wife, Paula, at the 2nd Avenue Bistro for dinner. We said goodbye to Don & Carol . . . until next year . . . when we’ll catch up with them again!
In just a few minutes, we were in downtown Ft. Pierce and easily found the 2nd Avenue Bistro. It looks like a cute downtown – lots of empty storefronts, but it looks like many of them are undergoing some renovation. Our dinner was good, and we had a nice time remembering some of our more memorable moments at Ford, and finding out how life is like living in Florida all the time. Paula isn’t crazy about the summers . . . and I don’t think I would be, either! It was nice catching up with them, and we had a great visit (again, I forgot to take a picture)!
Tuesday was moving day, and we had another easy, 150-mile trip to St. Augustine. We’re staying at a small RV Park just a few miles away from the historic downtown – nothing fancy – but it’s a convenient location for exploring “America’s oldest city.”
It was great seeing you!
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