{"id":1353,"date":"2016-04-08T16:43:38","date_gmt":"2016-04-08T16:43:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/?p=1353"},"modified":"2016-04-15T11:34:15","modified_gmt":"2016-04-15T11:34:15","slug":"cocoa-beach-and-blast-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/2016\/04\/08\/cocoa-beach-and-blast-off\/","title":{"rendered":"Cocoa beach and blast off"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Our 5 days in Manatee Hammock were mostly spent at the campground but we did take one day to go check out Cocoa beach. \u00a0Our neighbors, Mike and Pat, recommended the Lori Wilson beach and suggested the southernmost parking lot as it had good parking spaces for big trucks. \u00a0Their directions were spot on and the beach was really nice. \u00a0I needed to get some work done and I scored a phenomenal office site in the shade with a table!<br \/>\n<a title=\"Cocoa Beach branch office\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/136797225@N05\/26145235440\/in\/datetaken-public\/\" data-flickr-embed=\"true\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/farm2.staticflickr.com\/1681\/26145235440_490cbef94d_n.jpg\" alt=\"Cocoa Beach branch office\" width=\"320\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><script src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" async=\"\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\nWe had a picnic lunch at the beach and Steph and the kids played. \u00a0They played and played and played. \u00a0They loved letting the waves crash on them, digging holes in the sand and burying their older brother. \u00a0Their\u00a0perfectly\u00a0golden brown skin is evidence of the many hours of PE they&#8217;ve had in the Florida sun! \u00a0All three kids declared that Cocoa Beach was the best beach so far! \u00a0But we had to leave as it was T-1:43:00 before lift off of SpaceX&#8217;s Falcon 9 rocket. \u00a0One of the primary reasons we returned to the Cape was to view this rocket launch!<\/p>\n<p>Our research led us to believe that our campground was actually the best spot to watch the rocket launch. \u00a0Many others gathered at the water edge and the kids (and Steph) made a big jug of Rocket Fuel (AKA lemonade) to share with other spectators. \u00a0We watched the official online countdown clock and then we watched it rise from the horizon. \u00a0It was far away but it was beautiful. \u00a0It seemed to lift off so gracefully and silent from that distance. \u00a0But eventually the thunderous sound reached our ears and it was spectacular. \u00a0I&#8217;m sure the view on the live stream was better. \u00a0But we saw it live. \u00a0We watched it leave the pull of earth&#8217;s gravity right before our eyes. \u00a0And it was the first time that SpaceX (or anyone for that matter) successfully landed the first stage rocket on a floating platform! \u00a0Someday that will seem so trivial, but our kids will be able to say, &#8220;I was there the day they launched the Falcon 9 and they landed it on the barge!&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>On our first trip to the Cape we had just missed a rocket launch. \u00a0But thanks to not being able to get reservation in Georgia and having a flexible schedule we were able to return to this great campground and watch an historic rocket launch live! \u00a0It was awesome!<\/p>\n<div id=\"flickr_72157667127296865_8524\"><div class=\"slickr-flickr-slideshow landscape medium \"><div class=\"active\"><img src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1615\/25814137773_fa47ddbb67.jpg\" title=\"Boardwalk to Cocoa\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Boardwalk to Cocoa<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1625\/26390983076_4d6195bc40.jpg\" title=\"Cocoa beach\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Cocoa beach<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1660\/25814137483_b1f37b4616.jpg\" title=\"Waves!\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Waves!<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1692\/26144072250_84b19d104a.jpg\" title=\"Castle\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Castle<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1631\/26324572592_eb08ee7dee.jpg\" title=\"Deep hole\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Deep hole<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1459\/26144071940_904b4443cb.jpg\" title=\"Buried\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Buried<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1528\/26144071730_5ceb405e57.jpg\" title=\"Waiting for launch\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Waiting for launch<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1478\/25814136563_ca37852a6d.jpg\" title=\"Wach shadow\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Wach shadow<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1573\/25814136363_1631100ed1.jpg\" title=\"Lift off!\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Lift off!<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1672\/26324571702_e8ac867fec.jpg\" title=\"Falcon 9\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Falcon 9<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1445\/25812077064_5c1695216a.jpg\" title=\"This is where the sound hit us\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>This is where the sound hit us<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1611\/25814136073_c53510f0f8.jpg\" title=\"Just a speck in the sky\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Just a speck in the sky<\/p><\/div><div><img src=\"https:\/\/farm2.static.flickr.com\/1681\/26145235440_490cbef94d.jpg\" title=\"Cocoa Beach branch office\" alt=\"\"  \/><p>Cocoa Beach branch office<\/p><\/div><\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\">jQuery(\"#flickr_72157667127296865_8524\").data(\"options\",{\"delay\":3000,\"autoplay\":true,\"transition\":500,\"link\":\"next\",\"target\":\"_self\",\"width\":\"\",\"height\":\"\"});<\/script><div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our 5 days in Manatee Hammock were mostly spent at the campground but we did take one day to go check out Cocoa beach. \u00a0Our neighbors, Mike and Pat, recommended the Lori Wilson beach and suggested the southernmost parking lot as it had good parking spaces for big trucks. \u00a0Their directions were spot on and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[13,34],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1353"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1360,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1353\/revisions\/1360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thewachs.com\/wachsacrossamerica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}