Florida Trip: Sun, Space, and Shopping

Last weekend John and I escaped blustery Boston and headed to my mom’s house in Fort Myers, Florida. I love Florida. It’s such a nice escape and we’re perfectly at home with all the snowbirds. The weather was a bit on the cool side (low 70’s) but it was gorgeous, relaxing, and just nice to get away.

We flew to Fort Myers on Thursday and got in in the late afternoon. We unpacked, went outlet shopping, and got our favorite BBQ (our post-engagement BBQ place).

Day 2 had us up early and off to Lovers Key at Fort Myers Beach.

We had a little beachside picnic lunch. Fun!

Then we were off to our favorite outlet mall, the Miromar Outlets. It’s so huge that we spread our shopping out over two days.

After shopping we went home, packed up, and hit the road to Cape Canaveral 3 hours north.

We stopped in Kissimmee at El Tanampa for the best Mexican food I have ever had. This restaurant even had a mariachi band!

We finally arrived in Cape Canaveral and stayed in a very nice hotel for the night.

On Saturday morning we were up early for breakfast at the Waffle House and then off to Cape Canaveral!

Going to the Kennedy Space Center was the thing I was most looking forward to during our trip. John and I are both huge space nerds and I couldn’t wait to go see this part of history.

We took the Up Close Tour which was a little pricier but took us behind the scenes to the places the regular tours don’t go.

It was so funny, there is nothing around this whole area except the Space Center. The stretch of launch pads is actually on 40 miles of uninterrupted, gorgeous Florida beachfront. Nice!

The first stop on our tour was the Vehicle Assembly Building. Enormous is not even the right word to describe it. The size was unfathomable.

We got to see the space shuttle Endeavour up close and personal. It was amazing, totally breathtaking. I couldn’t believe I was seeing this iconic piece of history with my own eyes.

This is launch pad 39B where the majority of liftoffs occur.

This is a different vantage point of 39B with a placard explaining everything at the site.

The bus tour ended after an hour or so of touring around the complex. It ended at the Saturn V Center where we saw a cool video and a replaying of the actual launch of Apollo 11.

We also got to see the actual Saturn V rocket which was incredible. There’s me and the rocket in that first picture. Crazy, right?

Lunar Sample and place where you could “Touch The Moon”:

The Rocket Garden:

Actually walkway used by the crew of Apollo 11 (Aldrin, Armstrong, Collins) to board their space shuttle:

After our full day in Cape Canaveral we made the long drive back to Fort Myers. We had pizza, watched the Patriots kill the Broncos, and went to bed.

On Sunday morning we made an early trip to Naples Beach.

We strolled around the always lovely 5th Avenue.

We had lunch (including garlic knots) at our favorite 5th Ave restaurant (Cafe Luna), window shopped, and John had a cupcake.

After lunch we went back to the Miromar Outlets for a second round of shopping. We had dinner with my grandparents that night and then hopped a plane home to Boston very early Monday morning.

Vacations go by way too fast. Can’t wait for the next one!