Day 50: Rockets and Body Boarding
We woke up early, and as luck would have it, the scrubbed rocket launch from two days ago was rescheduled for today. We also wanted to have a beach day, so we headed for Playalinda Beach, on the Canaveral National Seashore to do both.
It was time to take the Winn Dixie body boards out for a test. It was a first for the boys and me. We are all hooked!
As the launch time approached, Cooper had the great idea to go back up to the boardwalk, which provided a great view. The launch site was seven miles away, so we had a pretty good view. One thing we weren’t prepared for was the sound delay: about 35 seconds, so we didn’t hear anything until the rocket was well off the pad, and the sound was coming from far below the rocket. We could track it through the clouds for a full minute. This was also SpaceX’s 100th successful mission.
After the rocket launch and amazing day at the beach the weather took a twist. A super large wave hit soaking all of our things and had us scrambling to the shore to collect it all again. As soon as we collected everything again the skies opened up and we were pelted with huge raindrops (the boys and I thought it was hail). It hurt against our exposed skin and we tried to take cover under the body boards. Like they say, the weather here passed pretty quick and the rain lighted up, but it was also a sign we took that it was time to pack up soon. We did a little more playing in the water and then left.
Our next quest was to find manatees. The short version: we didn’t find any. We did get to see the local fishing dock, a remote dock, and a visitor center. All had rumors of manatees, but it just wasn’t in the cards.
We then headed back to the campsite to get the boys some more playtime with their new friends and get the chores done before the drive the next day. Rob did the last load of laundry, and dropped my camo shorts in the grass, but he found them hours later. He also did a grocery run to help fill in the gaps to get us through the next week.
This is likely close to the halfway point of our trip: 50 days already.