Titusville Fl

Titusville Manatee Hammock County Park November 27

Departing Skidaway Island State Park bright and early Monday morning, we drove out to Dorsey Tire to have a valve stem extension added to the inner rear wheels. After trying several items on my own, we were in need of air and no easy means to reach the factory valve stem (very, very frustrating). The people at Dorsey were prompt and added the extension to the right wheel where needed, added air and we were on I95 South in two minutes. (Unfortunately, they did not add an extension to the left side as expected-this will be addressed later).  We had approx 280 miles to our next stop in Titusville Florida- Manatee Hammock Campground. We had made our reservation at MH last December as a place in the general area, but the more we checked into it, the more we were looking forward to staying there. With the devastation caused by the back to back hurricanes this Fall, we weren’t sure if they would be open. We had received a call from them several weeks ago stating that our site had been damaged by the storms and we could get a refund or another site. We went for the other site and WOW!! What a change. We were placed in the row closest to the water with gorgeous views of Indian River and miles away - Kennedy Space Center (the huge Vehicle Assembly Building clearly seen). A large portion of the park is still closed due to storm damage, including the water front, pier and multiple sites unavailable, possibly permanently. Pleasant temperatures both day and night were ours to enjoy.

sunrise at MHCP - Indian River

view from our campsite - NASA visible across river

First on our list of interests was to visit NASA - Kennedy Space Center. 11 miles away, 15 minutes of driving and we were looking at items from the beginning of the space age to the present. We upgraded to the guided launch pad tour and our guide was very knowledgeable, and included many interesting side notes. The bus trip took us to the launch pads where the Apollo and Space Shuttle launches took place and the Vehicle Assembly Building (the doors were open and the tractor and mobile launch platform clearly visible). A good bit was said about the Mars mission, they are working on the rocket now and if you know any 7 -17 year olds who want to go to Mars in 20 years, have them get their applications in. We also saw a Saturn V rocket, lunar rovers and.... touched a piece of moon rock as well as saw the Shuttle Atlantis. A great day.

Kennedy Space Center Visitors entrance - early rockets and capsules in background

Vehicle Assembly building in background - stripes in flag are 8 ft wide!

tractor taking mobile launch platform out to pad

launch pad for Shuttle, Apollo and future Mars missions in background

Shuttle Atlantis

Titusville is Manatee country, and the next day was devoted to Nature. The next day we drove through Canaveral National Seashore-  Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Our campground neighbors (they have been Wintering there for 18 years) had mentioned that we should be sure to take the Black Point Wildlife drive. There we saw many interesting species, including a close up of the Roseate Spoonbill.

Roseate Spoonbill- color comes from eating shrimp!!

several Spoonbills along with Egrets, 

This is not something you could easily overlook. Many interesting birds and alligators were viewed closeup as well. From Black Point, we continued on a few miles to Manatee Observation Deck, overlooking a canal where manatees hang out on a regular basis. At first we weren’t seeing any, and then, rocks slowly started moving- Manatees! They slowly moved to a small inlet and there were over a dozen, mostly young ones hanging out.

look closely - those blobs in the water are Manatees!

Our stay here was rather short, only four days and we are off again!

take care

Cooper and CJ