Special things are everywhere

We've been on the road for four weeks now, and we're already talking about which place we stopped was our favorite.  I liked my husband's answer best, that each place was very different, and there was something special about each of them.  This is something I want to remember, even when the trip is over.  There's something special everywhere, and we just need to find what it is, do it, and appreciate it.  This includes home in Ohio.  When our kids have said they're bored, or there's nothing to do (which doesn't happen often, because then they get to do chores), there's really always something to do.  Find what's special about the place and do it!  So, in case you were wondering, here's what's special about where we've been lately.

Our last campground, Manatee Hammock, had a large, open green space, surrounded by palm trees, that looked out over the Indian River.  It was beautiful, and ended up being a terrific place to play a family game of soccer.  This might not be something special for every family, but for our family, it was pretty great!

The area this campground was in is called the "space coast," and we had meant to visit the Kennedy Space Center while we were there.  Then, I discovered it would be about $320 for our family to visit the Space Center for a day.  Guessing that our little two would get bored pretty quickly, and our older two express some interest in space, but not $320 interest in space, we decided to skip this stop.  We ended up finding this instead:

It doesn't look like much from the outside.  I wonder how often we miss special things because they don't look very nice on the outside?  The inside is great!  First, it was free.  Second, it's staffed by ex-astronauts and others whose passion is space.  One man took just our family around the museum, told us all about everything, and the kids got to play with the enormous consoles used to operate and launch rockets from NASA.  (NASA had been throwing them away, and this museum "rescued" them.)  Plus, the astronaut suits and other equipment were cool for the kids to see up close.  I'd say this place was special, and we'd recommend it to other families.

Since then, we've moved on to St. Augustine, where we're camping in Char's mom's yard.  Of course, one of the special things here is spending time with Char's mom.

St. Augustine Beach is definitely special, too.  This beach looked rather orange, with bits of orange shells all over.  The best part, though, were the sand cliffs, that were as tall as our children, going down to the ocean.  They were fantastic for climbing, building, and jumping:

One day, our lunchtime sight-seeing plans were changed from climbing a lighthouse to going on a tour of a chocolate factory.  We have climbed lighthouses before, and so our family was quite happy with this choice.  There were lots of samples included in this tour, and it was also a great science lesson.  Science of chocolate is the best science possible.  Chocolate will always be special - everywhere.

Something else interesting I've noticed - history is different in different parts of the country.  In Ohio, we have Hale Farm, and I always figured that was the normal old-fashioned village.  We went to Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth Archeological Center in St. Augustine, and its old-fashioned village was nothing like Hale Farm.  We saw people dressed up as Native Americans and saw them use the weapons they used to fight the Spanish, and we saw a show in the planetarium of how Ponce de Leon used the stars to navigate to Florida.  It was all very different from the way we'd learned history in Ohio, and very interesting.  Who knew?  I wouldn't have counted Hale Farm the most special thing about northern Ohio, but history is told differently everywhere, it seems, and it's special to hear stories told in different places.

Then, there's Christmas lights.  I always love Christmas lights, but it St. Augustine, they're extra special.  St. Augustine is, of course, the oldest city in the U.S.  There are many impressive buildings with all the old architecture, and all the buildings in the historic area are covered in white lights for the months of December and January.  Seeing this was a great date with my husband!

Well, that's what we've been doing lately - finding special things wherever we are, and doing them.  Isn't it wonderful the variety and beauty God's put throughout the world?  I want to always be grateful for the special things around me.  I wish you the chance to do special things wherever you are today, too!  Sled riding?  Much love to all of you reading this, from the Utter family!