Orlando, Canaveral and Cocoa Beach

Day One (Saturday, March 10^th):
Well it’s been a while since I have last blogged but I’m going to make up for it with the amazing Island Hopper Loop road trip I have just completed! I headed back down to Florida, the homeland of my BFF Jess where she had planned out a South Florida adventure. Jess’ friend Lindsay was also along for the ride.I arrived on time at the Orlando Airport and was greeted by Jess, Lindsay and Claire (Jess’ sister). I was whisked off to Downtown Disney which is an avenue of shops and restaurants that is free to get into. We drove under the famous Walt Disney World sign which was neat. We ate at the T Rex restaurant which was a huge sensory overload. It’s like a Rainforest Café but a prehistoric version. Dinosaurs move around, fish hang from the ceiling and every once in a while a meteor shower descends. Plus it is jam packed with people and waiters scurrying around. It was stressful just eating there, I can't imagine working there.

Day Two (Sunday, March 11^th):The next day we headed over to Canaveral National Seashore. It was cloudy and windy and the waves were crazy. I dipped my toe in but there wasn’t anyone on the beaches due to the weather. Canaveral is known for their sea turtles and while this wasn't the right time of year, the visitor center has a nice display of some shells.There's a short path to the Eldora State House. The residence has been rehabilitated and now holds photos and artifacts that tell the story of the town of Eldora and the people who lived there. Eldora was a prominent community of orange groves in the latter part of the 19th century. After a freeze destroyed most of its crops, it was nearly completely abandoned and has never regained its population. Its last resident died in the 1980’s.After leaving Canaveral we drove down to the “World Famous Ron Jon’s Surf Shop”. There are signs for this place everywhere along the interstate. It’s basically a surf shop but they have live bands playing and tons of beachy gear. We only stayed long enough to walk to the bathrooms as we wanted to get to Miami by nightfall. Plus none of us were in the market for a surfboard.We made it to the Miami Everglades Resort just as the sun was setting and got the tent set up. Here is Officer McGator, guarding the entrance and enforcing the speed limit.