February 11, 2023

It’s Sangria Saturday!!

What better place to spend this day than in Cocoa Village? We arrived in Cocoa first thing in the morning and found space on the city free dock. Can’t beat a free. Bonus points for also being walking distance to Cocoa Village.

I can see myself retiring here. Cocoa Village has a great vibe with lots of color and fun. The shops are unique with paintings and decorations. The local arts have great senses of humor. We stopped in a pirate shop with a pirate museum, a magic shop with demonstrations, a Gluten Free café with amazing Elderberry Lemonade, a theater, and so much more.

We picked a great day to visit. There was a live concert scheduled with Clay Walker.. I’m not familiar with his music, but I guess he’s a country singer with some hits. We could hear his music from the boat, which added to our fun evening. There was also a beer crawl with a costume contest and a Sip and Stroll.

Matt had friends visiting so we hunkered down at the local Biergarten (this is where I found the sangrias) and socialized into the evening. Michael played at the park most of the day/evening as it had a great climbing tree and Annette would go between us and the boat.

February 12, 2023

A launch was scheduled at 12:10 am. Alarms were set and Annette and I awoke ready for a show. Michael refused to wake, which he later doesn’t even remember.

We sat on the fly bridge wrapped in blankets. Off in the distance was an orange glow that reached the clouds like the end of a sunset. Shortly after that, a bright ball of fire could be seen shooting for the sky; as it got higher, it grew a tail and resembled a comet. It grew fainter as it got higher and eventually became a dot among the stars. A few moments after, a new sight could be seen: a lighter smaller comet caused by the fuel tanks returning. At the end, a deep rumble and vibrations could be heard, similar to thunder. It was an amazing experience and I’m thankful I was able to see it at night. There is another launch scheduled Thursday. We will be further north, but should still be able to see it at night. This time I’m going to make sure Michael wakes up.

We left Cocoa and headed to Titusville. It was another stern docking with the bow lines attached to pilons. I’m getting better at this. We intentionally arrived early as the wind was going to pick up. While docking, we met our boat neighbors who happen to be Platinum Loopers. They were so friendly and shared so much insight on our next few destinations. So thankful to have met them.

A rental car is necessary for all our planned Orlando adventuring, but first, we have one more local excursion to see: Kennedy Space Center.

I visited this place when I was 16, but don’t remember too much of it. I always wanted to be an astronaut when I grew up. My plans in college was to be an Aerospace Engineer, but I didn’t get along with Physics and had to say goodbye to that dream. NASA doesn’t want people who don’t play well with Physics.

We toured around for a few hours. Saw Hubble, Atlantis shuttle, learned about Mercury and Apollo projects, and did the space shuttle simulation. It’s was a good way to Segway into our next homeschool science curriculum: Astronomy.