Road trip!

     Anyone who knows me knows I love to travel. I haven't done nearly as much traveling as I would like thus far in my life, but it is something I really enjoy. I love to see new places, try new cuisine, observe new cultures, etc. I also love to visit regions of the US that I haven't before. My dear hubby grew up all over more than any place else. He's lived in Louisiana, Florida, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Wyoming, California, and probably some others that I forgot to mention. I have lived in 3 towns in the same state.. one until I went to college, one until I married, and now the other.

        Anyway, although I haven't seen near as many places as I would like, I love to soak in a new place when I do. This past week, we traveled to one of my favorites.. Sunshiney Florida! (Ok, so I know it hasn't been terribly sunshiney for the past few days since Debby Downer came to town, but generally speaking...) Anyway, we decided to make it a road trip. We drove down (in 15.5 hours) to lovely
Melbourne.

Indian Harbour Beach near Melbourne, FL

      While there, we drove to this amazing, beautiful state park about 18 miles south down A-1A (the coastal highway.) Sebastian State Park is absolutely gorgeous. The picture is an aerial view, and it will sort of help you to see the whole layout of the place. Basically, as you are driving down A-1A, you go across a massive bridge across this inlet. (Sebastian Inlet, actually.) On the right side of the bridge, there is a beautiful lagoon, and on the left, the most gorgeous beach and fishing pier ever. Well, here.. have a look.

Sebastian Inlet, Sebastian, FL. LOVELY!

                                      

     You can see that this photo was taken with the beach side and pier in the foreground, to the right of the picture. To the right of the pier is the GORGEOUS beach, which is actually very quiet. It has spectacular waves, and lots of surfers like to hang out there. We saw quite a few doing their thing, which was a first for me. There are also a ton of porpoise and dolphin sightings out past the waves. So incredible to see them play!
        If you look just behind where the bridge crosses the inlet, you'll see the shallow lagoon. It's a fantastic picnic spot with its own little beach, tables, etc. The lagoon is roped off for swimming, and it's only about chest deep at the deepest point. A lot of times, manatees make their way into the lagoon, but we didn't happen to see any while we were there.
        In addition to the beach and lagoon, there are also hiking and bike trails you can take. I hear it's an absolute haven for bird lovers, and there are many different types of small wildlife in the area. The best part about it is you can stay there all day, bike, kayak, surf, fish, frolic, swim, hike, relax, nature watch, etc. for only $8 for an entire carload of your family and friends!

   Another really cool stop we made was Kennedy Space Center. I expected a launch pad and a museum. I got so much more! I really had no idea that KSC was located on a wildlife preserve! Wow! It was incredibly beautiful. We saw a giant nest of bald eagles, marsh, forest.. lovely. I found out that Merritt Island is home to many, many alligators (approximately 1800 per sq. mile!), manatees, fish, birds of all kinds, deer, raccoon, and basically any other animal you can imagine being located in the southeastern United States.
     Aside from the wildlife, there's also a ton to learn about the space program, past and present. We saw an IMAX presentation of images from the Hubble Telescope (narrated by Leo DiCaprio, no less), which was astounding. We saw pieces of Apollo shuttles, we saw pieces of the moon, we watched an entire presentation on the first moon landing, the inception of the Apollo program, etc. We went to a launch pad. We did a simulation of a launch. We saw space suits! It was incredible. I loved it.

Stole this from the website.. Apollo modules

    After leaving KSC (we had been there ALL day!) we stopped at a gem of a restaurant in Titusville called Dixie Crossroads. I'd been there before when I was in college, but didn't realize it until we got inside. It was a moderately-priced restaurant, and was typical of most seafood restaurants in the area, but it was really enjoyable. The highlight of the menu, I think, was the meal my hubby and I shared. (Yes, that's right. We shared one entree. It was HUGE.) Here's a photo:

Our amazing seafood feast!

                                

     Yep. That's one plate. Crab legs, an entire lobster, shrimp, scallops, and 2 side dishes! He had cheese grits, I had the baked potato (not shown.) It also came with an entire basket of sweet corn fritters. The best part? The entire meal was only $35. Yes, a lot if only one person was eating this, but I'm telling you, it was plenty to share. And it was very tasty. We also split a piece of  key lime pie afterwards, but I didn't get a pic of that. It was homemade, and it was deeeeeelish! Check this place out if you are ever in Titusville.

     It's the day after Kennedy! What are you going to do? I'M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD! That's right, folks. My first ever trip to Disney World. Keith grew up going to Disneyland in Cali, and Disney World, so he wasn't nearly as excited as I was, but let me tell you.. I was pumped! Since we only had one day to spend at Disney, we decided to opt for Magic Kingdom -- the Disneyest of all.

The Happiest Place on Earth!

                                

     I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. I was very impressed that the lines and the rides were mostly indoors, so even though it rained off and on all day, it was manageable. Yes, we did get completely soaked at one point (and had to buy t-shirts to change into),  but it was great. My favorite ride of the day was the Haunted Mansion. More of a drive-through show than ride, it was amazing. Loved the holographic ghosts. Super, super cool. My favorite part? Meeting Mickey and Minnie, of course. Hubby totally made fun of me, but I don't care. He wasn't nearly as thrilled as I was, but what can I say? I'm a kid at heart! (I'm working on uploading a photo of that, but it isn't cooperating. I'll try to get to it later.)

     For dinner at Magic Kingdom, we ate at Tony's Town Square. (Think Lady and the Tramp sit-down Italian.) The highlight of the meal? Surprisingly, it was a tomato and mozzerella salad dressed in balsamic vinegar. What's that you say? "Don't you hate tomatoes?" Yes. But I guess there was some Disney magic going on, because it was fantastic. I think the combination of all the components is what did it for me. It was less about the tomato and more about the dish itself. And it was pretty.

Yummy tomatoes.. something I never thought I'd say!

                                      
  

   We also had yummy snack, but I'll share more about that tomorrow! (Hint: it comes with a recipe!)


   Finally, on our food and fun road trip, one more Italian place. (We like it, can you tell?) We had originally planned to dress all up and head to a nice steak house on our last night in Florida. Unfortunately, the directions we had for the one we planned to go to were pretty crappy, and we couldn't find it. So, we set back toward the hotel intent on finding something good. Well, a mile before we got back to the hotel, we spotted this place we'd passed by all week long, Melo's Ristorante. We decided to give it a try. It looked pretty run-of-the-mill on the outside, but the parking lot was packed, and that's always a good sign.

Melo's Ristorante, Indian Harbour, FL

     I had to steal this picture from the restaurant's website because the photo I took that evening didn't save. Anyway, it looked nice enough on the outside, so we stopped. What we found inside was even better! It is a really nice, quaint-upscale (is that even a thing?) Italian restaurant. The owner has been doing the cooking for over 20 years. He uses fresh ingredients and everything is homemade - pasta, sauces, hand-pounded cutlets, hand cut steaks, you name it. The service was excellent. We shared a server with only 2 other tables. Tuxedo pants, white shirt, white towel, bow tie. They filled your water glass nearly every time you took a sip, and were incredibly friendly and professional.

      We had some calimari for an appetizer, and HOLY COW. I love calimari, but I don't think I'll ever enjoy it as much from the chain places. It was hand cut, perect light breading, and melt-in-your-mouth tender, which is atypical of calimari. My entree was veal parmigiana (one of my favorites,) and it was fantastic. The homemade linguini and sauce was to die for. Hubby had a veal porterhouse and some kind of green vegetable that I'd never seen or heard of. The steak was thick, cooked to perfection, and although the greens were a little bitter for his taste, he said they were cooked and seasoned wonderfully. Although we were absolutely stuffed, we couldn't turn down house-made dessert. He had a half-slice of key lime raspberry white chocolate cheesecake (yep), and it was wonderful. Mine was better, though. I had a cannoli.. mmmm... I can almost smell it now just thinking about it. Perfect.


   Our week-long vacation was pretty amazing, but I have to say it is wonderful to be home in my own bed, in my own space, and with my sweet "Fur-Baby" Asa. Hope you enjoyed your virtual trip alongside us, and happy travels to you this vacation season! :)