As villa owners we often have guests staying with us when we visit our home which inevitably means we are visiting the same parks and attractions many times over!
Having visited the Kennedy Space Center several times we decided when yet more relatives wanted a day out there that we would drop them at the entrance and use the day to do a bit of exploring!
Our first port of call was Cocoa Beach. We parked up very close to the beach and wandered down to walk along the sand. The beach had very few people on it that day – ok it was in the winter months but the weather was still very pleasant. It seemed a very safe environment for families and had we wanted to spend a day just lazing around we could easily have stayed. However – the purpose of our day was to do a bit of exploring – so we moved on!
We decided to drive up the coast and head for Daytona. We had of course heard of Daytona because of the race track and although this particular aspect wasn’t of interest to us we wanted to see the resort for ourselves and sample the ambience!
The drive to Daytona took about an hour and a half. We did take the ‘scenic route’ rather than the main highway as we wanted to see the local area. Indeed we passed through several towns on the way.
Upon arrival in Daytona we were struck by the influence the racing has on the area! Everywhere were shops with a racing influence and many opportunities to buy racing and Daytona memorabilia. We stopped at one to buy some Nascar memorabilia for our son in law, who is a fan.
The highlight of the day for me was driving on the beach! Daytona is well known for its beach which stretches for several miles and there are many entrance and exit points for cars along its length.
The sand is packed flat and very easy indeed to drive on and we passed several other cars as we drove along. We parked up (on the sand) near to the pier. We decided to have lunch on the pier and then went for a walk.
We probably spent a good three hours on the beach before we decided to start our drive back to Kennedy.
We still had plenty of time before having to pick our family up so drove through the centre of Daytona and stopped at a shopping mall to make a few purchases!
We then took the main and fastest route back to Kennedy and arrived back in the car park about 10 minutes before the family emerged!
A great day!
Having visited the Kennedy Space Center several times we decided when yet more relatives wanted a day out there that we would drop them at the entrance and use the day to do a bit of exploring!
Our first port of call was Cocoa Beach. We parked up very close to the beach and wandered down to walk along the sand. The beach had very few people on it that day – ok it was in the winter months but the weather was still very pleasant. It seemed a very safe environment for families and had we wanted to spend a day just lazing around we could easily have stayed. However – the purpose of our day was to do a bit of exploring – so we moved on!
We decided to drive up the coast and head for Daytona. We had of course heard of Daytona because of the race track and although this particular aspect wasn’t of interest to us we wanted to see the resort for ourselves and sample the ambience!
The drive to Daytona took about an hour and a half. We did take the ‘scenic route’ rather than the main highway as we wanted to see the local area. Indeed we passed through several towns on the way.
Upon arrival in Daytona we were struck by the influence the racing has on the area! Everywhere were shops with a racing influence and many opportunities to buy racing and Daytona memorabilia. We stopped at one to buy some Nascar memorabilia for our son in law, who is a fan.
The highlight of the day for me was driving on the beach! Daytona is well known for its beach which stretches for several miles and there are many entrance and exit points for cars along its length.
The sand is packed flat and very easy indeed to drive on and we passed several other cars as we drove along. We parked up (on the sand) near to the pier. We decided to have lunch on the pier and then went for a walk.
We probably spent a good three hours on the beach before we decided to start our drive back to Kennedy.
We still had plenty of time before having to pick our family up so drove through the centre of Daytona and stopped at a shopping mall to make a few purchases!
We then took the main and fastest route back to Kennedy and arrived back in the car park about 10 minutes before the family emerged!
A great day!