After a pretty awful year, we finally got away for some rest and relaxation. We debated about where to go, but decided on Palm Coast, FL, one of our favorite places. Bonus, the place we stay has a private beach where dogs are allowed.

We were wondering about damage from Hurricane Matthew last October. Flagler County, where we stayed, was hit pretty hard. There was wind damage and the storm surge breached the dunes in a few places causing some flooding. A large section of A1A in Flagler Beach was also washed away.

The condos where we stayed were also hit. There was wind damage, and a breach in the dunes caused some flooding and saltwater intrusion that destroyed a lot of the landscaping and part of one of their golf courses. Here are before and after views from the condo balconies.

Some houses up and down A1A were still being repaired. (A local told us that insurance companies were requiring houses to be torn down if the damage was more than 50%.) In Daytona, there was still visible damage to some hotels, and some appear to have taken the opportunity to close and do complete remodels.

But overall, a lot of the damage has been repaired. A1A in Flagler Beach was quickly rebuilt by making the undamaged southbound lane the new northbound lane and building a new southbound lane. The dunes have been mostly restored there, but there is still massive work going on at the nearby Matanzas River inlet, which was mostly destroyed.

Most of the wind damage at the Palm Beach condos has been repaired and a lot of the landscaping has been replaced and common areas re-sodded. They decided to completely rebuild the partially destroyed oceanside golf course.

The nearby Washington Oaks Gardens state park did not fare so well. The beach ramp and parking lot were completely destroyed when the storm surge breached the dunes. The flooding covered hundreds of acres on either side of A1A and saltwater intrusion killed nearly everything. The beach ramp, parking lot and dunes have been repaired, but a local said the rest of the park would probably never come back. Here are some photos of the damaged vegetation, including scrub habitat and majestic oak trees.

Another place we like to go when we're down there is the Merritt Island Wildlife refuge. It's a little late in the season to see migratory birds. They have mostly left. And, a severe ongoing drought has left large portions of the salt marsh dried up. And on top of that, a wildfire broke out the day before we arrived and the entire area was closed. The fire was believed to have been started by someone, perhaps intentionally. It burned over a thousand acres near the Blackpoint Nature Drive. The refuge reopened after a week of intense firefighting. Here are some photos of the effects of the drought and the wildfire. We did see a few birds, but I'll save some of those photos for Friday.

Another fun thing to do is to watch a space launch from Titusville down near Merritt Island. The last time we were there was for the final Space Shuttle launch. This time we got to see a SpaceX Falcon launch. It was launching a secret spy satellite into orbit for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. We got up at 4AM and drove down to the Space View Park on Sunday morning for the launch. Unfortunately, it was scrubbed because of a bad sensor reading. We would have had a perfect view. Here is a photo of the crowed gathered for the launch attempt, along with a few others of the launch the next day taken from the beach walk behind our condo about 70 miles north.

(The man in the photos is Ozzie Osband. He sets up PA speakers hooked up to a live feed of the launches for Space View Park visitors. He's been doing it for years. Among other things, he is also famous for getting the local area code changed to "321", as in the launch countdown.)

In addition to spending some time at the beach behind our condo, we cruised up and down A1A. We wanted to go to the beach at St. Augustine because they allow driving on the beach AND dogs. But it was closed to all but 4X4 traffic because of loose sand from the drought and high winds. (Speaking of high winds, here are some guys kite surfing at Titusville.)

We did get to drive on Daytona Beach. They don't allow dogs, even in cars just driving on the beach, and it's a $250 fine if you get caught. We put Gracie in her crate and smuggled her in anyway. At the toll booth, the nice man was taking our money for the entrance fee and Gracie started woofing when she heard him talking. He had to have heard her, but he just grinned, said "have a nice visit" and waved us on through.

While we were there, there was some sort of Jeeps on the Beach event. There were hundreds (thousands?) of tricked out Jeeps from all over. Here are some photos from the beach and Jeeps on the Beach.

And finally, here are a few photos of some cool looking Florida houses and buildings from up and down A1A (plus one seen on the interstate on the way home).

BONUS: The Mrs. showing off at Cracker Barrel...