Spoiler Alert: We didn’t do anything related to NASA or space at all.
The area around Titusville, Florida is often referred to as the Space Coast. It’s the home of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. We saw both of these places from a distance, and at some point we’d really like to visit Kennedy Space Center (I imagine it’s changed quite a bit since I was there in 1991), but it wasn’t in the budget this time around. Still, we made the most of our visit to the area, and did things that we might have missed if we had focused our visit on this major tourist attraction.
What primarily drew us to Titusville was to visit friends that we hadn’t seen since we were in Florida in 2012. Between the two families, we’ve added three more kids in those years and it was definitely time to catch up. So much of our visit was focused around enjoying the blessing of friendships that can pick up right where we left off, even though we so rarely have chances to be together. We still have so much in common. Mothers of little ones should generally not sit up talking half the night like we did in college, but it was so easy to feel like we were 20 again that we forgot this bit of wisdom. Jess and David – we love you guys and your sweet kids. We’re so thankful that we got to spend a weekend with you and hope it won’t be 4 years before we get to see you again!
Since our friends had a prior commitment at their church on one of the days of our visit, we were on our own to explore the area for a day. We decided on a beach day at Canaveral National Seashore, stopping along the way at the manatee observation deck. In the winter months (still hard for me to consider it winter when we spent a sunny day splashing in the ocean) the manatees swim up in this area seeking warmer water. We also watched several dolphins swimming and playing in the wake behind boats coming up the river approaching the draw bridge we’d just driven across. We’d never seen either of these amazing animals in the wild before and I felt that I could stand there all day watching them. But when you’ve promised the kids a day at the beach, they can get impatient after a while, even while watching dolphins.
Sitting in the sand, watching our kids delightedly splashing in the surf, building sand castles, and exploring shells, sand dollars, and other ocean treasures, it was easy to forget that it was January. At moments like these I feel such peace, and also tremendous gratitude for the lifestyle we’ve chosen.
Even though it was a Saturday, the beach was practically deserted. The locals thought we were crazy for swimming in the middle of winter and most of the tourists were visiting the better-known attractions of the area. For us, a weekend full of sun, beautiful nature, and the company of good friends wasn’t lacking anything.
For fellow tourists in the Titusville area, we recommend taking time among the other attractions to visit Canaveral National Seashore and the manatee observation deck to truly make the most of the Space Coast!
