Florida

The Sporking Life

The Sporking Life Cocoa Beach





The Sporking Life


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http://cbzone.cocoabeachcom.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/CS97-Cocoa-Beach-Florida-Travel-Poster1-300x208.jpg
Photo courtesy of   http://www.cocoabeach.com/cocoa-beach-history/



Blog #1:  Cocoa Beach, Florida





A few decades ago, National Geographic (NatGeo) made a shift in the way they selected places to cover in their monthly magazine.  Whereas they once focused on exotic, unusual, and faraway places, NatGeo began to shift their spotlight to places that are more likely to be close to home.  I respect NatGeo and their robust brand of curiosity and exploration. 


Many of my readers hale from Michigan, so I tried to emulate NatGeo in my writings, authoring reviews of nearby attractions:  Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan; Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan; and Detroit History Museum, Detroit, Michigan.  Like NatGeo, I attempted to focus on the unique and exceptional experience close to home.  Analytics showed me that these were my least read blogs.  How could NatGeo be so wrong?  I believe it’s because my blog readers are more imaginative and purposeful.  Nat Geo plants a mental image, leaving one to say, “I’d like to visit there one day.”  “Meet Me in the Gift Shop” hopes to imbed some of that same longing while simultaneously thinking, “I’d like to see <that> the next time I visit Florida.  That’s pragmatism, stating “when” instead of “if.”

With this in mind, we tooled around Central Florida this past year visiting museum, public gardens, and the like in an effort to highlight what to visit and how to make the most of allotted time.  While I still believe in this approach, I’ll be widening my focus to include festivals, parades, and communities.  I call this blog: “The Sporking Life.”

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The name “The Sporking Life” came about during last year’s holiday season.  We were chatting up Jim Leonard, my artist cousin (http://www.brooklynartscouncil.org/artists/28284), when someone said the word “spork.”  A Spork is a utensil used in many fast food places, and is a combination of a spoon and a fork.  We all laughed at this quirky word, which led one of us to exclaim, “We are all living a Sporking life.”  Hmm…  Catchy name for a blog.  This started rotating the wheels in my mind, and I decided to explore that concept.  The Sporking Life should deal with broader concepts, as opposed to the specific content of Meet Me in the Gift Shop which cherry-picks individual places to visit.  The Sporking Life will be published at odd intervals during the summer, having no set agenda.  I believe summer should be like that:  spontaneous, carefree and fun.



I thought of the expression “can’t see the forest for the trees” while visiting Cocoa Beach and declared myself guilty as charged.  Tourists, I claimed, see what they came to see while travelers aspire to see what’s really there.  I realized that I’ve been a tourist, especially as it concerns Cocoa Beach.  We’d travel the 15 miles to the north of our home base and visit specific places:  Surf Museum, Ron Jon’s, and Museum of Dinosaurs and Ancient Cultures.  We’d poke around, visit gift shops, and then head out for lunch after which we’d return home.  In writing about the specific, I neglected to step back to absorb the overall vibe of the place.  Shame on me. 


The Sporking Life, my occasional summer blog, digs deeper.  It uncovers the brand / personality of the local community as opposed to the vibe of a single business.  I invite you to travel with me this summer, as we uncover more of Florida’s many quirks.
Image result for beachwave beachwear
Photo courtesy of   https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beachwave_Beachwear,_Cocoa_Beach.JPG
 
Cocoa Beach was hosting “Uncorked,” a wine / good food festival that weekend, and the 17th Waterman Challenge (https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2016/05/31/watermans-challenge-part-cocoa-beach-history/85188898/    2016 write-up) was happening just offshore, in the Atlantic Ocean.  The only parking we could find was a few blocks away, in front of a store that sells sunglasses and hats.  We parked the car at Beachwave Beach Wear, which turned out to be a good move since I forgot to bring sunglasses or a hat on this sunny day.  I’ve visited a similar type of shop before, and was put off by all of the cheap and shoddy merchandise.  I entered Beachwave Beach Wear and received a pleasant surprise.  Sure, they had inexpensive towels and cheesy children’s sunglasses, but they also had oodles of good stuff.  I would have been content to spend the day here, but this was not the day for that.


Image result for cocoa beach florida uncorked 2017
Photo courtesy of   http://www.orlandotastes.com/2017/04/cocoa-beach-uncorked.html


 
Happy with my new pink hat, we meandered toward the wine festival, being held on the beach by the Atlantic Ocean.  It was too crowded for my tastes, and we stood there deciding what else we could do.  That’s when we caught sight of the surfers offshore.  The Waterman Challenge had set up shop about 100 yards from Uncorked. 
Image result for waterman surf challenge cocoa beach
Photo courtesy of   https://www.surfguru.com/surf-news/9th-annual-watermans-challenge-cocoa-beach-fl

    
Surfing competitions sound like they’d be fun, spirited, and action-packed.  They’re not.  I’d rather watch paint dry then watch a live surfing competition.  Here’s why: once the surfer paddles out far enough out, the clock starts ticking.  In professional competition, each surfer has 30 minutes to catch a wave.  I assumed the same time limit was in effect here, so all the crowd sees are surfers bobbing up and down in the water waiting for the best wave.  To make matters worse, the ocean was calm that day with waves no higher than a foot or two.  We looked at each other and simply said, “no,” then ambled off the beach.

Ron Jon Surf Shop has a strong presence in terms of billboard advertising on Florida’s highways.  It’s not unusual to pass two or three of their billboards, regardless of the direction headed.  I think they’re slick, with that whole “original” surf shop thing.  I spotted another surf shop’s billboard on a recent trip, but paid it no mind.  If you have Ron Jon’s, you don’t need anything else.  Besides, this billboard belongs to Cocoa Beach Surf Company (CBSC), and their logo was a weird and squiggly line drawing of a person running with a surfboard.

Image result for cocoa beach surf company
Photo courtesy of   https://myspace.com/cocoabeachsurf

As we left the beach behind, we could see part of the Ron Jon building two blocks away.  I wanted to go in and browse, but that’s not much fun if the present company isn’t into shopping.  Inwardly sighing, we walked back to the car.  There was no way of knowing this at the time, but this turned into my lucky day.  Guess what was across the side street from Ron Jon.  That’s right, the CBSC.  My feet headed toward the door and, really, all I could do was follow along.  In my mind, I thought that I could shop the store in less than ten minutes, based on my interpretation of their squiggly logo.  That time frame vanished once I stepped inside.  There was loads of good stuff here which nudged me to change my opinion.  CBSC predominately sells apparel, and unisex t-shirts, footwear and men’s apparel is displayed on the first floor with women’s clothing and accessories are on the second.  That seemed like a good place to start, and I approached the stairs with grit and determination.  No elevator for me!  I eyed the distance wearily, because it’s a long set of stairs, but my luck returned.  The CBSC replaced the stairs with an escalator, enabling shoppers to “shop on” in comfort.  I saw bathing suits, beach cover-ups, shorts, sundresses, sweatshirts and so much more that.  At the top of the escalator, I had to stand there for a moment with my mouth hanging open.  This wasn’t what I expected.  Although CBSC has a children’s department, Ron Jon’s has a better one.  The one here has a few racks of t-shirts and other generic beach clothing displayed with just a handful of beach toys.  In general, the merchandise at CBSC is targeted toward an older demographic than Ron Jon’s.  There’s no need to decide which of the two stores to visit.  I recommend visiting CBSC first, then heading across Marion Lane to visit Ron Jon’s.  You can’t go wrong with either of these shops.

Image result for ron jon surf shop
Photo courtesy of  http://www.wikiwand.com/en/Ron_Jon_Surf_Shop





In the past, I considered Cocoa Beach as a place choked with tourists and gaudy t-shirt / souvenir shops.  What I saw last weekend, however, were festivals and competitions mainly geared toward the local population.  All in all, Cocoa Beach changed my mind so much that I’m considering taking a vacation in Cocoa Beach.  There are so many shops, restaurants, and things to do and it’s all within walking distance. 

Image result for cocoa beach pier
Photo courtesy of   https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cocoa_Beach_Pier_(Cocoa_Beach,_Florida)_012.jpg

We considered visiting the famous Cocoa Beach Pier, since we caught sight of it from our spot on the beach.  Those that weren’t at Uncorked, Waterman’s Challenge, Ron Jon’s or CBSC where at the pier.  SpaceX (those rocket people) had a satellite launch scheduled for early evening.  Cape Canaveral is a 5-minute drive to the north of Cocoa Beach, making the pier an excellent spot to watch launches from.   The influxes of space fans made parking impossible anywhere near the pier.


All in all, I feel humbled that Cocoa Beach gave me another chance.


Here’s to summer!

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