Daytona Beach, Florida - October 24 - 26, 2015

Daytona Beach, Florida - October 24 - 26, 2015

October 24, 2015

Today is the day we move from St. Augustine, Florida to Daytona.  It was an easy trip – only 63 miles. 

We got to the park and got parked.  We were able to relax for a while, but we needed to be ready by 1:20 p.m. to ride share to the Daytona International Speedway for a 2:00 tour.  It is a good thing we started that early, because the address and instructions took us to the Corporate Headquarters rather than the Tour Offices.  Luckily, that was not too far away, so we made it on time.  We were on a couple of trolley cars which was pulled by a truck with a tour guide.

There was some racing going on, so we got to see the action.  They were using the inner course as well as the outer course, so that was a bit different.

The tour guide took us to see the required drivers meeting video, which was interesting and drew a lot of questions from the group.  We also went to the infield and got an extra bonus of going up into the stands.  That gave us a better look at the track layout.

Being the winners that we are, we got a group picture in the “Winner’s Circle”.  Fantasy bought us all a copy which we haven’t seen yet, but I am sure it will be “Fantastic”, the cute bunch that we are.

After a visit to the gift shop, we headed back to the RV for a welcomed relaxing evening.

October 25, 2015

Today is the last tour day for the trip. 

Kennedy Space Center
 

We are looking forward to the visit to the Kennedy Space Center, but are also looking forward to a well-deserved rest after a VERY BUSY 40 days.  We have had a wonderful time, but are not used to this pace anymore.  Also, we are not used to this muggy weather.  We are sticky all of the time, since we arrived in Florida. 

Bev & Stan at NASA

T

he Kennedy Space Center is an amazing place that takes much more than one day to visit.  We left the park at 8:30 a.m., and arrived at the 9:30 a.m. with a 10:30 a.m. tour appointment.  The tour took two hours.  In addition to seeing the many buildings on both Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center, we saw an abundance of wildlife. 






Bald Eagle scoping out the area
 

Pelican
 

Alligator lazing in the sun
 

One of the most exciting was seeing alligators.  Apparently, there are reported to be over 5,000 alligators in the area.  We were lucky enough to see four of them.  Additionally, we saw a bald eagle, and many other birds, as well as a HUGE bald eagle nest.  We were told that Eagles mate for life, and head north in the summer and return to Florida in the winter. 








After returning from the special tour, we went in and had lunch.  Stan didn’t think the hamburger tasted much like beef – maybe alligator??  We wandered around that area a lot longer than we should have before catching the bus back to the Visitor Center.  We thought we had plenty of time to cover all of the things to see – big mistake. 

When we finally went took the bus back, we had to wait in line.  When we finally got back, we proceeded to the Atlantis Building to hear all about the shuttle development.  What an interesting process.  At the end of the second movie, the screen raised and there was the Atlantis, which is no longer in use.  It was very moving.

Retired Atlantis Shuttle

Of course, from there they you have to go through the gift shop
to go to check out any of the other exhibits.  Bev
needed to buy a cute “cat in astronaut gear” tee shirt and bag. 







From there we wanted to go to the IMAX Theater.  Unfortunately, we had wasted too much time with the other exhibits and had missed the last show before the bus arrival.   We were bummed.  I guess we will need to return to Kennedy Space Center for another visit.

The bus was there on schedule to pick us up at 4:15 p.m.  We all headed out toward the restaurant for dinner.  We had reservations for a 6:00 p.m. dinner.  We arrived early, and the “girls” all went in to freshen up, the “boys” headed to the patio to order drinks before dinner

Many of our activities during the trip

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The restaurant “Martini Chophouse” was only open for us for the evening.  We had a great dinner.  Stan had Salmon, Bev had Chicken.  It was awesome. 

Following the dinner, we had a “Farewell  Party”, where everyone had a chance to tell their favorite part of the trip.  Then there were certificates awarded to everyone.  We received one for Stan’s love of lighthouses – they did indicate that Bev would need to carry the oil up to the top of the lighthouse.

We finally left the restaurant at about 8:45 p.m., heading back to the RV Park.  We will have a final get together in the morning between 8:00 & 9:30 a.m.

We plan to stay an additional day and play lazy, to we will head over and tell everyone else goodbye.