Music, Sugar Mills, and a Mixed Bag of Adventure

 Our first full day (20 Feb) in Florida was a mixed bag of activities. After sleeping in a bit Ross started making breakfast, Charlotte was doing homework, and I worked on the first blog post. We eventually got showered up and headed out to the Iron Horse Saloon where Colleen likes to listen to open mic music and hang out with some of her Florida friends. 


The Iron Horse Saloon is a biker bar through and through. We definitely looked a little out of place from the regular clientele, but there was some good music to be heard. We met a few of Colleen's friends and wandered through the gift shop. Ross had a pretty tasty bloody mary too. After hanging out for maybe an hour, we decided it was time to move on to the next adventure of the day. 

We made a stop at a consistent favorite, the Dunlawton Sugar Mill Gardens. It is a very pretty location with a lot of neat foliage to see. But the star of the show at this location has to be the dinosaur sculptures! In the 1950's some folks thought that "Bongoland" would be an incredible attraction with these "historically accurate" dino sculptures. Surprisingly, the attraction never because popular, but we do get a bit of entertainment out of the remaining sculptures . I will say, the grounds are beautiful and quite a nice backdrop for weddings, cute baby photos (which we saw happening), or family photos.



Once we were done admiring the gardens, we decided to drive the beach for a few minutes. It was a little "chilly" to hang out on the beach today, so we just drove up and down. There were still plenty of people having a nice beach day. After getting off the beach, we got stuck in traffic waiting for the draw bridge that goes over the Intercoastal Waterway to go back down. We made it through traffic and one quick stop at another site of some ruins we call the "Basement" before heading to Cafe Heavenly for an early dinner.

Cafe Heavenly is a place we visit once almost every time we come to New Smyrna Beach. Colleen is a big fan of the Lobster Roll and we typically get a wood fired pizza. Today was no different. Ross and I shared a tasty veggie pizza, Colleen got the lobstah roll, and Charlotte opted for a simple grilled cheese, though she did snag a few bits of lobster and a slice of pizza. 

Ross brought up the idea of going to an escape room which sounded fun, but the time slot available was for 8pm. We debated for a bit, but decided to go for it since Charlotte had never done one before. With the room booked, it meant we had two hours to kill before we tried to escape. 

Filling 2 hours in a town where all the shops close at 5pm proved to be a bit of a challenge. We wandered through yet another Sugar mill ruin and nature trail, walked up and down Canal street to do some window shopping of all the stores that were closed, including one of my favorites, The Posh Pineapple, and eventually stopped at Yellow Dog Cafe for a beverage. I had a pineapple cider and Ross found a Dukes Brown Ale that he liked. After what seemed like a lot longer than 2 hours, it was time for our escape room.

The four of us played The Warden's Room 2 at New Smyrna Beach Escape. According to the website, the room we were playing had an 18% success rate. It started off with Ross and Colleen locked in jail cells! While we didn't make it out in 60 min, they do allow you to keep playing for up to 10 more minutes and we "escaped" in 63. So close! It was a challenging room, especially with only 4 of us and it was Charlotte's first room. It is always fun to try another escape room! 

With that wrapped up, it was time to head back to the house and tuck in for the day. We plan for the beach tomorrow!

Stats for the day
Steps: 8,036
Sugar Mill Ruins visited: 3? 
Hours spent figuring out what to do: probably too many
Goodyear Blimps flying over the Daytona 500: 1





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