October 2020 Road Trippin - 10-22-20 - Space Coast Day 4

We knew this morning that we had a 50/50 chance of seeing a rocket launch from the Kennedy Space Center.  We got to the National Seashore a couple of hours prior to the planned launch.  We spent the morning being beach bums, or rather, birding beach bums.

We thoroughly enjoyed our walk along the beach, seeing Shorebirds and Crabs while having our toes in the water and our ass out of the sand!

After about an hour of walking the beach, we got in the bed of the truck, sat in our chairs and waited, excitedly, for the launch.  About 11 minutes before the launch, we found out the launch was scrapped.  Dang it!! We knew coming in that there was a 50/50 chance of the launch not happening today.  But, it would have been cool to see.  Maybe we will get another opportunity before we leave.  

It was probably not a coincidence, when we drove out of the park, that the Final Countdown was playing on the radio, at the exact time the launch was planned.  Just saying.

We went to the Haulover Canal to look for Manatees and found them.  There were several of them on both sides of the canal.  

While we were eating our lunch, off the tailgate of the truck, under the shade trees, we saw Manatees, Dolphins, Ospreys and such.

Our excursion to check out the Biolab Boat Ramp was a little more than we expected.  We thought we would ride in and out in just a few minutes.  That few minutes was not in and out, and not a few minutes.  6 miles later on a one way road, we found ourselves 2 miles inside the National Seashore from the entrance gate.

Our attempt to drive thru the Black Point Wildlife Drive was cancelled when the road was closed for construction.  Oh well, we have a few more days for this opportunity. The ride over was well worth it, seeing a Bald  Eagle sitting on his favorite Osprey nest.

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October 2020 Road Trippin - 10-21-20 - Space Coast Day 3

We were hoping to see a rocket launch at the Kennedy Space Center today.  We got up, checked it out, and the launch was cancelled.

We had a rainy start this morning.  Which was not a problem.  We lounged around, ate lunch, then went looking for Limpkins, which was our back up plan for the day.

We checked out the Chain of Lakes Recreation Park where we were greeted by 100's of White Ibis, along with lots of other species of birds on our drive in.

We hiked along the 3 miles of trail, meandering through the woods, and over and around the water.  It didn't take long to achieve our goal of finding Limpkins.  There were plenty of them here.  Another Cha-ching for us!

A walk up the 50 foot Tower rewarded us with a spectacular view. It also rewarded me with wobbly legs.  But it was definitely worth the rewards.

We saw lots of Loggerhead Shrikes, aka the butcher bird today.  We got really close to a couple of them.  We never knew they had such a pretty song.  We also got a close up view of that wicked looking bill as they were singing.  

We thoroughly enjoyed our couple of hours at this park walking along the beautiful scenery, watching all kinds of shorebirds, songbirds, gators, etc.

We saw some more pretty views and critters at our next stop, Marina Park. 

 We went back to Black Point Wildlife Drive for another looksee.  We didn't see as many critters as we did the other day when it was rainy, but, it was still a very enjoyable time.  

We finally saw our first turtle in Florida, a Florida Softshell Turtle. The things that excites us!!

Tomorrow, may be another rocket launch day.  According to the Facebook post, we have a 50/50 chance of that happening.  We will 👀.

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October 2020 Road Trippin - 10-20-20 - Space Coast Day 2

We went to Apollo Beach in the Canaveral National Seashore today.  We had a cloudy day, but not the rain we had yesterday.  We actually were able to walk inside the visitor center, the first one that has been open this trip.

It was another pretty ride with the lagoons on one side of the road and the Atlantic Ocean on the other side of the road.  

Our first stop was the Turtle Mound Archeology Site.  It was a beautiful walk along the boardwalk.  We were looking down from the boardwalk to the 45 foot shell midden.  It is the largest shell midden of  the mainland U. S.

On our drive to check out Eldora House, we found a cool tree limb that looked like an anaconda head. 

We had a nice walk to the house.  The house was closed due to covid, but as usual we found some pretty neat plants and critters.

We went to the last parking area on Apollo Beach, which was another nude beach, Just Saying!  The waves were way much bigger than yesterday with a high tide.  We took pictures of the waves and critters.

We saw a Black Runner Snake basking in the grass near the walkway as we left.

We hiked the 1 mile Castle Windy Trail and finally got a bunch of pictures of the Zebra Butterfly.  

We had our picnic lunch at the Visitor's Center overlooking the lagoons.

As we were driving out of the park, we found another snake that was laying in the grass with his head sticking up.  Our first thought was, it was another Black Runner, then we saw the black head and neck with a brown body.  Our very first Coachwhip sighting! Cha Ching!!

We took Highway 1 instead of the interstate on our way back to camp.  We rode through several of the nice parks along the waterways taking pictures of the scenery.

  We got a close up of a Wood Stork sitting in the grass.

Ferny Kat had us outside early evening.  She really annoyed a squirrel in the tree trying to get down with his acorn.  She ignored him, and the squirrel found an alternate route.

A really vocal Pileated Woodpecker bellied up on grub before going to roost.

A Red Shouldered Hawk perched in a tree nearby camp, then flew away.  

Space Coast Day 2 is a wrap!

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