Even on vacation I rise early to better enjoy the day. This year’s escape from the Ithaca winter, at Cocoa Beach, up at 5 am with a beach chair and oranges in hand I walked in darkness from our beach side resort to the tide high point. My time occupied by sky watching I peeled, and ate, oranges while locating stars through the wind blown clouds. When the barely perceptible dawn light began I packed it up to find Pam, who asked to be awake for sunrise.

This day, we ate breakfast from ready to eat food purchased from the Publix market close by on Atlantic Avenue, and caught up with the news craziness. We had a day at the Kennedy Space Center planned after the sunrise walk.

Here is our view while walking north along the tide line. In the far far distance are the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly building and a space launch gantry.  Follow the shoreline to find the pier.

We walked nowhere near the pier, barely visible, not to mention Sam Shepard park. The pier and park are a day’s walk. We had a few hours free before our “Lunch with an Astronaut” event at Kennedy Space Center.

Click the photographs for my Online Gallery.

The highlight of this sunrise walk was this large sandcastle on the beach in front of a condominium,  the  Hilton is to the left.  Lori Wilson Park is out of sight to the left.  A great feature of the park, for us since the International Palms were we stayed is next to it to the north, was the park life guards.

So, we approached this sandcastle from the north.  It survived the high tide to a new day, obviously it required time and resources to build.  The day before was a big beach day.  Wednesday was a brilliant, summer-like day for the first of March.

A little closer, the footsteps inside the first moat are interesting.

Pam next to the castle provides scale

Here is the central pyramid.  I enjoy the dawn light on the grasses.  That is a sea gull feather on the apex.

Decorative sea shell band facing the ocean.

The destiny of all our human conceits.  Impermanence is part of the beauty of sand castles.

Click for the first post in this series.

Copyright 2017 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved