Florida may actually be so much more than beaches, but occasionally you do have to take a beach trip. A couple of weeks ago we decided to do something we have never done before, which was take a small trip by ourselves without our poodle, Leia.  We absolutely love bringing her places, but unfortunately cute doggies aren’t allowed everywhere and sometimes we are unable to enjoy certain things because either she can’t go or she would have to be alone at home for too long.  We boarded her at Dog’s Day Out in Bushnell, Florida and honestly can’t say enough good things about it.  We were beyond grateful to be able to leave her somewhere and feel so comfortable.  We liked it so much actually that we are going to start bringing her there occasionally just to get her some exposure to other dogs.

So, we had our baby taken care of and headed out to Daytona Beach.  The drive on US Highway 40 to Daytona was beautiful.  Tons of tall pine trees, as well as the palm trees and live oaks with Spanish moss that all of us Floridians love.  It amazed me that just minutes from getting to Daytona and the beach we were in the “country”.

When we got to Daytona, we found a parking spot and beach access but basically took a few photos and left.  We didn’t even get down close to the beach.  Too many people.  Even if we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic, there was an uncomfortable amount of people there.  I know, I know.  It’s Daytona Beach I should have known right?  Lol  Live and learn I guess.  But you never know, and with a lot of things being shut down because of Covid-19 and people being out of work etc, we have found that a lot of things aren’t as crowded as normal. 

We decided from there to take a short drive down the road to Ponce de Leon inlet and lighthouse.  It’s a really pretty little area with some of the most beautiful beach houses ever.  We got out and walked around by the pier for a little bit.  We saw some people who just got in from their deep sea fishing tour with their catch for the day which included some sharks!  There is a dog beach nearby to there which we are going to have to check out another day.  They have things like kayak and canoe rentals as well as deep sea fishing tours so if that type of thing interests you, it is definitely worth checking out.

After that, we put on some Vanilla Ice and got on A1A (beach front avenue) to go to Cocoa Beach.  If you don’t know what I am talking about I highly suggest you listen to the late 80s song, “Ice Ice Baby“.   We listened to it more than should be legal, but there couldn’t be a more fitting song for the drive.

This blog is running a little long, so this will be a two or maybe even a three part on Daytona and Cocoa because we did do a lot!  And ate alot! 

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I will leave you with these photos of Ron Jon Surf Shop.  Pretty much everyone on the planet has heard about Ron Jon’s.  We didn’t go to the museum part, but we did look around the store itself for a while and they do have lots of other things besides surfing equipment.  Pretty much anything beach related you can think of was there along with thousands of souvenir items. 

Make sure to follow so that you can read more about Daytona and Cocoa beach as well as the rest of the fun things we are doing in Florida!

Have somewhere you want us to check out?  Just let me know

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