This year for Mother's Day my sweet husband planned a small weekend getaway for us. He made plans for us to drive down to Cape Canaveral for the day to get some enjoyment from our National Parks Annual Pass. We left around 9 a.m. and headed south. We made a pit stop in New Smyrna Beach to visit Turbull Ruins. Located at Old Fort Park on North Riverside Drive. If you'd like to learn more about the Turnbull Ruins, please visit this website: Mystery Surrounds New Smyrna's Historic Turnbull Ruins
Afterwards we hopped in the car and headed out to lunch. We drove past this little place called Taco Shack and had to stop! It was cheap and very satisfying. Definitely worth a stop if you are in the area. They opened at 11 a.m. and there was already 10+ people in line waiting to order.
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| Amara's tacos |
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| Jesse's tacos |
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| Our nachos to share |
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| My tacos |
After lunch we got back on the road to head to Cape Canaveral. We saw this giant paint can with paint brush and has to snap a photo for our American Kitsch photos.
We arrived at the park right around 12:30 as a park ranger was putting up the sign that the park was full. I rolled my window down and explained to him that we drove all the way from Jacksonville just to come here and how Amara wanted to take part in the Junior Ranger program to earn a new badge. He let us in and directed us towards the visitor center and said if we would like beach access to give it about an hour or two and people would begin to leave.
At the visitor center I picked up some postcards and Amara picked up her Junior Ranger book and began her lessons.
We went out onto the boat dock outside the visitor center to look around and enjoy the view. We saw a dolphin off in the midst swimming and playing. He was a little too far out for me to get a good photo of, but we marveled in the beauty of observing him in a natural environment.
Shortly after the dolphin swam away we turned to head to the shaded tables on the land. Some movement off to our left side caught Jesse's eye and we watched as a manatee was feeding near the edge of the water at a tree. It slowly swam to the side and another manatee emerged from under it. Then we noticed an even smaller one swimming close by. After a minute or two of feeding near the edge, the momma manatee swam towards the dock with her baby who took a curious look at as while swimming by. They were so cute to watch.
Amara soon finished her booklet and we headed back to the visitor center after walking along the beach some and other wandering. We watched a short video about Cape Canaveral Shoreline and the park as a whole. Amara took her oath and earned her third badge and second patch from the National Parks Junior Ranger Program (a free service at all National Parks!)
Afterwards, before heading out, we stopped at Turtle Mound and took a hike through its gorgeous scenery.
It started getting late in the afternoon so we decided to start finding our way to our motel so we could get checked in and go have some dinner. Along the way we passed Peter Wolf Toth's place and dropped in for a mini tour of his always changing menagerie of carvings and paintings. Peter is a world renown artist and his sculptures can be found in each of the 50 states, plus various countries all around the world. His work is beautiful and breath taking. I feel fortunate that he was there and we were able to take a small tour of his studio / museum.
We then headed to our motel in Titusville and searched around for a place to eat. There isn't much there, but we did manage to find a Cuban infused Mexican joint with some pretty high ratings on Foursquare and Urban Spoon. It was called. El Leoncito Mexican Restaurant. A little bit on the pricey side, but totally worth it. I only managed to get a photo of my food because Jesse and Amara were already inhaling their meals. This place will be on a detour on some of our trips to and from Disney for sure!
