How to fill time in retirement

 It was cloudy in Melbourne and there was a SpaceX launch at a reasonable time; that is not in the middle of the night or after sunset. I wanted to get some pictures, but Tell Me Why I should drive all the way to Jetty Park and found out it was just as cloudy there. In reality, I just wanted to get out of the house so decided to drive up. First, they are making A1A hell going through Cocoa Beach. The speed limit has dropped from 35 mph to a new 30 mph. Also, for some insane reason, they are starting to put in speed bumps. Not sure why but maybe it is too expensive to have cops patrolling the roads. Regardless, the trip is going to be about 10-15 minutes longer for me. I got to the Port and it was cloudy. This is looking South from the fishing walkway at Jetty Park. But it did clear up some to the North so I could see the beginning of the launch. It was right on time a 1:53 PM. The Falcon 9 is about 230 feet long so that is a big flame... The clouds did add a little contrast to the ...

At the rate I am visiting restaurants, It Won't Be Long before I reach my goal of 52 different places in 2025. So far I have visited 8 places, two of them NEW. The goal was to revisit a lot of the places I have liked in the past. As the year goes on, I am sure I will start going to repeats which won't count to the total. Here are three of the latest. Rising Tides Table & Tap Probably one of my favorite places at the Port, I have taken a few different visitors to this establishment. I was actually asked to leave early once so Elon Musk and the SpaceX team could have a party. Recently, they changes the menu some but I always like to go for lunch after walking and photographing at Jetty Park. They have like sixty Beer taps. I usually start with an Orange Blossom Pilsner, made in Orlando. A few of the beers on the menu including the OBP. The second beer, which came out with the lunch, was a Crooked Can Florida Sunshine Mango made in Winter Garden. Some more of the beers on the...

 My Bucket list item to visit 12 new restaurants in 2025 is on schedule, visiting my second NEW place. I was looking for A Taste of Honey , and I found so much more at  28 North Gastropub in Viera... When you walk into the place, you find a very fancy, eclectic array of decorations and adornments. When I arrived, the bar was empty so I decided to sit there. The photo shows two guys but they came after me and I took the photo as I left. There were a variety of different styles of bar stools, so I picked one with a pillowed bottom since I had just spent 90 minutes at Brevard Zoo. This place only recently starting serving lunch. I had arrived at 2 PM and the lunch menu was good until 2:30. My bartender/server was Cat, with a "C". She said it is her initials and kind of stuck early on. I said I was BJ and did not explain the history of that name. FYI, my Doctor was BJ Andrews and my mom had named me Brian Joseph. The nurse noticed it was BJ, just like the Doc... So here is part o...

 If I want to see a rocket launch, All I've Got to Do is step outside into my driveway. I was thinking of going to Jetty Park because there was also a landing with the obligatory Sonic BOOM. But I was making dinner and did not want to fight the traffic. Here are some shots of the launch and dinner... SpaceX Launch & Landing The launch was at 6:13 PM, just after sunset. That made for some pretty colors in the contrail... This is the Falcon 9 with the Stage 1 rocket still burning... The stage 1 rocket separates and Stage 2 takes over with the payload. This evening's mission deployed the third pair of Maxar Space Systems-built WorldView Legion high-resolution imagery satellites into orbit. Interestingly, the Stage 2 is on the lower right and the Stage 1 is the spot in the upper area. The stage 2 is heading over the horizon and is higher than Stage 1, although it don't look that way. Usually on most missions, the Stage 1 lands on an unmanned barge out in the Atlantic. Not ...