Wednesday - December 1, 2010 - Daytona Beach

Wednesday – a great morning to sleep in a bit. The weather was cool and windy – not exactly what we had hoped. Barb went for a run around Lake Ivanhoe across the street from our hotel, then we both had breakfast then headed out to Daytona Beach. This community located on the east coast of Florida has a famous beach – what else – Daytona Beach. The route there – I-4 is between 4 and 6 lanes each way and the traffic is heavy.
We had lots of fun wandering down the beach and playing with the gulls and these ‘Royal Terns’. It is an interesting beach, one that is open to traffic as seen here in these pictures. The sand is the finest white sand we have ever encountered. It sticks to the bottom of your feet, and compact hard enough to hold vehicles, and lots of runners. There is also a pier (currently closed) and an amusement park, also closed.
 
We stopped for lunch at a great little restaurant that has a car racing theme. Good food, and great Bud Lite Lime.
We walked around a little more after lunch, then headed back to Orlando across this dramatic bridge which connects the beach area with the rest of the community. As you can see from this picture - there are some lovely and different birds - like this white crane. There was a grey one close at hand, but too skiddish and flew away as soon as we stopped to take the picture.

We then stopped just long enough to take this picture of the Daytona 500 Racetrack. Quite a facility!
Back to our hotel through rush hour traffic – then relaxing in our room with a glass of winebefore going downstairs for late dinner.