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Published: November 11th 2016
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Last weekend we went up to the next small city about 30 minutes north of here called Sebastian. They always have something going on there in Riverside Park. Where Vero Beach will have an art show, they have a clam bake. Vero Beach has live theatre; they have the local school jazz band. Not that there's anything wrong with an art show (lol!). It's just fun to have the option of different things. The events there always attract lots of people, and lots of them are snowbirds like us. So, I keep an eye on the events planned here, as they often are fun things that we drive up here to be a part of.
So the first thing we did once we got there was to find the food. There were several booths serving clams, steamed or fried, with or without fries. A couple of booths also had crab cakes and some other kind of fish, but we were here for the clams, so bring 'em on! Interestingly, I asked the vendor where the clams came from, and the answer was "the Pacific Coast!" Whaat?!
Shellfish beds were closed to harvesting after Hurricane Matthew caused rain and storm
wastewater runoff (read: sewage) which negatively affected water quality, making clams and oysters too dangerous to harvest for a while. So, rather than cancel the clambake, they flew in clams from the Pacific Coast. Better safe than sorry, I agree with that! So, a dozen steamed clams for $7 was the going price, and we are in! It looks like lots since you get them shell and all. A little cup of melted butter, a squeeze of lemon, and a few shakes of hot sauce. That's all you need. And they are pretty good!
The crowds all doing the same thing as us made it a challenge to find a place to put our food down. But, it was all good. We listened to live music while there, then browsed through the many booths selling everything from rubber sun visors (bought one of those to wear during aquasize at the outdoor pool - it floats!) to jewelry (bought a chain for a pendant I bought earlier).
Anyway, it didn't take long to get tired of the crowds and noise, so off we went. Instead of going back the way we came, Steve wanted to take the bridge across
to the barrier island and drive down at A1A to Vero, then back to the mainland and home from there. We saw an interesting side road just before we crossed the bridge, so Steve turned off. What a pretty view! It was called Wabasso Island, and the narrow road led us to Orchid Island with some pretty impressive properties. But, it was a dead end, so we had to turn around and come back. Back on Wabasso Island, we found the Environmental Education Centre, where they have kayak tours, and motorised kayak tours. One of these days, we will actually take the tour -- with lots and lots of bug spray!
On the way home, we went down to the beach to gather some sand to weight down my fall flower arrangement. The beach was disappointing. There's only about half the amount of sand there than there was last year, and the ends of all the boardwalks leading down to the beach were broken away. I guess it could have been worse, but it's still upsetting to see the results of hurricane Matthew. We haven't been down to the main downtown beach yet, but we've been told that it's
pretty much gone. So sad. We will have to take some time to explore the beaches, but for now, we are busy getting our condo ready to list for sale, and getting our new place habitable. The fun never ends.
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