Yay! No shoveling! We spent the holidays in Florida where the only shoveling we had to do was in the sand.

We visited an indoor light display at Christmas Lane in Plant City on Christmas Eve, decorated the camper, and built a campfire on Christmas night. The next day we went on a hike in Peace River Park. It was a jungle of trees, palms and Spanish moss.

SIESTA BEACH

Over the break we visited Siesta Beach in Sarasota. It’s a great beach on the Gulf side of the peninsula. Parking and beach access are free, and there is a sizable, conveniently located snack bar. As an example of the offerings, Jeremy got a grilled chicken pesto pita wrap, Jackson got a soft-serve twist waffle cone, and I got chicken tenders & fries. We thought the food was average to above-average. Siesta is a white-sand beach, with 90% of the sand composed of ancient quartz. Because of this, the sand is said to be cool even on hot days. The water was clear and calm. It was probably about the most crowded beach day we’ve ever had, but we didn’t mind at all as Siesta is a wide beach with plenty of room to relax and enjoy.

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER

We also visited Kennedy Space Center, where Jackson ate astronaut food—a dehydrated ice cream sandwich. He liked it. (Jeremy and I thought it was quite bland, lol.) We didn’t consider how crowded it would be during the holiday break, so moving around the complex was slower than anticipated. We had a good time, though, and all really enjoyed the IMAX movie “Journey to Space 3D.” It gave a lot of information about the NASA space program both past and present, as well as the private companies now working with NASA, and future space exploration plans. The movie “Eyes on the Universe” was very cool, too. It showed us images of what the Hubble Telescope has revealed about the universe so far, and spoke about the Webb Telescope that is planned for launch in March 2021. This telescope will be 100X stronger than Hubble and will allow us to see even deeper into space. It may allow us to see lights on other inhabited planets, the way that we can see lights on Earth when viewed from space.

VAN FLEET STATE TRAIL

The Van Fleet bike trail is awesome! We received a tip about this activity from fellow campers. Located in rural Florida, it was once a railway. It is very straight, level and nicely paved. We took a 10-mile bike ride on New Years Day, and saw some turtles in the swamps. An otter even crossed our path, much to our surprise!

COCOA BEACH

The day after New Years was another beach day. We visited Cocoa Beach this time, and once again had a great time. This beach is on the Atlantic side, and has coarse tan sand. There are a lot of seashells on this beach and ocean waves. We played frisbee, ordered Pizza Hut from the beach and did a lot of swimming. We also visited the 52,000 sq. ft. Ron Jon surf shop, an icon in Cocoa Beach. There are two floors to the shop, and it sells anything and everything beach-related that you could possibly imagine.

WILDLIFE

Some local wildlife has made its way onto and near our campsite. No alligators yet!