Vero Beach - 2 days becomes....5 days

It has been said that Vero Beach has two names. Vero Beach, of course, and Velcro Beach.

We scheduled 2 days for our visit and on the first day Jim became ill. One day! On the second day Karen Drake, from Dutch Connection (bicycle trips) fame send me a message, saying she was in Vero Beach for a month. We thoroughly enjoy her company so we extended our visit to 5 days. After Jim felt better, he worked on the teak (his never ending task!), I hung out at the beach with Karen and Jim and I just enjoyed the city along with Karen.

BF (before Karen) we took the Vero Beach bus to Publix. Bus runs only hourly, so it takes some planning. Jim wanted to sit down, so he found a grocery cart, turned it on its side and we had a bench! Karen called and rescued us from the humiliation of sitting on the main street on a grocery cart!

AF (after Karen's arrival with a car), we stocked up on groceries, drinks and water. Our usual grocery stops entail carrying heavy items on the bikes and Karen, being the accommodating person she is, drove us all over town! We even went to Home Depot. We forgot we were gypsies for a while there. She even drove us to restaurants! No headlamps and flashing lights clipped to our clothing at night in Vero Beach!

Vero Beach Marina is within walking distance of the beach as well as within a short bus ride to the city. There are two mooring fields, north and south. We enjoyed being near the bridge, Vero Beach Power Squadron (we love Power Squadron!) and the Vero Beach Yacht Club. The Power Squadron guys noticed we were "loopers" and yelled "hello loopers". We waived a hearty hello in return!

As you can see, we loved Vero Beach, but I have a "history"! I have memories of Vero Beach when I was in my 20's. I worked as a Banker and financed a very exclusive residential development. I visited quarterly and loved the area then. Much has changed in that (haha) short time period. Johns Island is now the premier development in the area and it was fun to ride the gorgeous homes as we left Vero Beach headed north.

Karen loves the beach (who doesn't!) and we had a great time watching the birds. She also drove us down Ladybug Street with trees growing over the top of the small dirt street. She even came over for dinner and we grilled salmon, roasted red potatoes and roasted asparagus in our wonderful oven. We miss her already!