Southern USA 2013: Day 5 - Wellington

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Southern USA 2013: [Day 1: Atlanta] [Day 2: Atlanta] [Day 3: Orlando] [Day 4: KSC] [Day 5: Wellington] [Day 6: Jekyll Island] [Day 7: Chapel Hill] [Day 8: Raleigh] [Day 9: West Virginia]

	Wednesday, July 3, 2013: We drove 2 1/2 hours south to visit Debbie's former first-cousin-once-removed-in-law, Pam, and to meet her husband, Jim. They live in Wellington, Florida, on a private runway.
	Their home is in the Aero Club. Pam gave us a tour of their gorgeous home but we were foolish and took no photos, but suffice to say, with white and wood and stone and modern touches everywhere, it was our dream home.
	Pam made us a wonderful lunch and we had a great time catching up and getting to know Jim.
	After lunch, we toured their hangar, attached to their home just like a garage would be, except much, much larger. Jim showed Tom the modified Cessna 152 he uses for ...
	... his aerial photography business.
	Jim's been a pilot for years, so it was really interesting to hear Jim's stories about his planes, including this Micco SP26. The runway behind their home is just visible behind Pam in this photo.
	Here's a very cool aerial photograph Jim took of the runway. Their home is pictured on the right, midway up the runway.
	Jim's office is attached to the hangar and we took a look at his collection of photos and memorabilia.
	Next, it was time for a photo of us, ...
	... and a photo of Pam and Jim, ...
	... and a saying goodbye photo.
	Wellington also has an equestrian community near the Aero Park, and we passed numerous horse crossings on our way out.
	We drove north again and headed to Ft. Pierce Inlet State Park. We had heard that it had some decent snorkeling, so we thought we'd give it a try.
	Bobcat crossing? Cool! We looked and looked but didn't see any large kitties anywhere.
	We grabbed our snorkeling gear, changed into our suits, and headed down the short path to the beach.
	Hello, Atlantic Ocean! We are here!
	We blew up our diver's buoy (which turned out to be nearly unusable), put on our snorkeling gear, and unsuccessfully fought the rough surf.
	Our snorkeling consisted of putting our camera underwater to take pictures like this.
	So, we ditched our gear and decided to just have fun in the waves instead rather than risk being tossed into the rocks.
	So that's exactly what we did!
	The water was refreshing and the waves were great fun.
	Here's one now!
	We played for 45 minutes or so, ...
	... then got washed up, changed, and back on the road, but not before getting one last shot of the ocean from the parking lot.
	After braving the strong surf, we deserved pancakes. Swedish ones, to be exact. Thank you, Florida, for your convenient selection of IHOPs up and down the coast. Day 6 >