Note I said, "most of it". We headed out toward Cocoa Beach's little piece of the ocean via NASA. Talk about cool - there's a retired shuttle "parked" outside the Astronaut Hall of Fame. (Yes, that's our unnamed gnome stickin' his head into the picture.)
The H.H. really and truly LOVES anything and everything about our country's space program, so he was pretty much in heaven. We didn't tour the Hall of Fame, but did look around the gift shop,and around the area. And, of course, we went the wrong way out of the visitor center parking lot, and had to stop at a heavily guarded security checkpoint, where we were afforded the opportunity to turn around. Security is pretty heavy in the NASA neighborhood right now because of the scheduled shuttle launch this week. Sooo... We turned around, and found the highway leading on down the coast to Cocoa Beach.
By the time we'd been to see the NASA cool-ness, and made our way to Cocoa Beach, it was almost time for lunch, so we drove along "the strip" and found - you guessed it - a kinda sorta Celtic place. :) We found an English pub called "The Pig and Whistle". They had traditional specials on the menu like shepherd's pie, and fish & chips. It was fun little place, and we enjoyed our time there.
After lunch, we hit the beach! Wednesday's Atlantic-side beach was alot different from Monday's Gulf-side one. The water was cooler, the sand was hotter, and the waves were bigger and rougher. Different, for sure. But every bit as much fun!
In fact, even I got out there and played in the waves.
Amazingly, while we were there, someone brought a small shark that had been caught, and that she was going to throw out for nature to take care of. Jack was thrilled! He, and the other kids on the beach, got to touch it. And, in fact, Jack got to carry it out and throw it into the ocean. He says it was much heavier than it's size would lead you to believe.
We stayed at the beach for most of the day. We stayed for two whole cans of spray on sunscreen. I have been sort of crazy with the sunscreen on this trip. I don't want any one of us to get terribly burned, and end up miserable and missing out on anything. So we've been applying, re-applying, and then re-re-applying sunscreen like crazy. Every time one of us came back out of the water, we got sprayed. And it worked! So far, the only sunburns have been the tops of H.H.'s feet, a thin strip along the edge of my back, and Sarah's cheeks and nose. Not bad, considering.
When we finally left the beach for our home-away-from-home called Sabal Palms, we were all pretty "beached out". (Jack was, literally, in the waves for all but about 30 minutes of the day!) We made one quick stop at the Ron Jon Surf Shop, and then hit the highway. We'd all reached that point where we wanted a shower more than just about anything else in the world.
As just about everyone agrees, that shower after a day at the beach is an amazing thing. You can be feeling drained after a day of sun and fun on the beach, but as soon as you get into that shower, you are revived and ready to go again! And that's just what happened to us. We all freshened up, got dressed, and headed out for a dinner adventure.
We didn't miss our turn this time, and we knew exactly what we were looking for (for a change). We were in search of some seafood. I mean, really... we're on the coast. You have to have seafood when you're on the coast, right? :) Besides, Sarah loves, Loves, LOVES seafood. So we made a bee-line for a place we'd seen along International Drive called "Boston Lobster Feast". We had no idea what to expect, but were tickled by the lobster car they had parked outside the front door. This pic was taken with my iPhone, so it's not the greatest, but I just HAD to get a picture. (And unnamed gnome just HAD to get in it!)
Turns out the place is an all-you-can eat lobster and crab buffet. They had other things, too, of course - like oysters, clams, scallops, shrimp, various kinds of fish, sushi, and even prime rib for those who weren't interested in all the seafood. It was a blast - definitely a dinner adventure.
All-in-all, a pretty good vacation day 5.
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