Monday we took a short drive down to Cocoa Beach to check out the area.  There are many public parks along the beach, interspersed with the big hotels and condo complexes.  We opted to check out Lori Wilson Park, because it is the only park with an off-leash dog park (we didn’t bring Makena though). The park is split into 2 parts, North and South.  The North has a large play area for kids, and the South side has the play area for our four-legged kids. It offers plenty of free parking, no park entrance fees, no dog park fees, and best of all, it has the best street name of any park we have been to.

The main entrance to the park is on “I Dream of Jeannie Lane”!!!  Loved that show growing up!

They have a large fenced in area for dogs, with 3 separate areas.

Each side of the park has a nice boardwalk leading over the sand dunes, to the beach.  It was a beautiful day to spend a few hours, and we were glad we went early, as the parking lot was full when we left.

And yes, there was a shark sighting!! (you might need to double-click on picture to view)

Okay, so some kid lost their inflatable shark, but…..!

After the beach, we headed to the famous Ron Jon Surf Shop.  The shop was founded in New Jersey back in 1959, when Ron DiMenna wanted to buy a surfboard from California.  His father told him to buy 3, sell 2 at a profit, and then his would be free.  An idea was born, and the rest is history.  In 1961, Ron moved to Cocoa Beach and opened up his second surf shop.  There are many locations now, but the one in Cocoa Beach remains the largest, and is open 24 hours.

The store has a large sculpture honoring Kelly Slater, considered to be the world’s greatest surfer.  He is a native of Cocoa Beach.

And since we were in tourist mode, we did the obligatory touristy photo:

Then it was time to beat the traffic out-of-town (Cocoa Beach is popular with Orlando residents, as it is a straight shot East to get to the beach).  Our campground has a small lake with a small dock on it.  Unlike Cedar Key, where the docks were used to watch the sunsets, this dock is for alligator viewing!  And we have seen 2 gators and one snake (not sure if it was the venomous kind though) in the past few days.

This gators like to hang out on the opposite side of the lake, so it’s hard to get a close up view of them, but I’ll keep trying!

The middle of this photo has a shot of the head of the water moccasin.  We were told they usually come up on the banks at night.

And there are small lizards that like to hang out on the dock with us.

On a sad note, Dan’s Uncle Don that has been in the hospital for a few weeks has passed away, so we will be attending his funeral on Saturday.

Quote for the Day: “Despite our ever-connective technology, neither Skype nor Facebook – not even a telephone call – can come close to the joy of being with loved ones in person.” – Marlo Thomas