My initial thoughts for today were to find something interesting to do in/near Miami and then head up the coast to Cocoa Beach for the night. However, when I looked at the top attractions in Miami on TripAdvisor, nothing grabbed my interest (it mainly seemed to be beaches or water activities). The reason to stay in Cocoa Beach was nostalgia. For many years I accompanied our 10th grade on their Florida trip and, before we started flying to Orlando, we always stayed at the Holiday Inn in Cocoa Beach because of its proximity to the Kennedy Space Center. It was a resort type hotel with extensive grounds and was directly on the beach but it no longer exists as a hotel and neither does the Chinese restaurant where we always had dinner. New thoughts were needed.

I have now spent longer in Florida than any other state on my Perimeter trips (Florida 7nights, California 6) so I decided I should get a move on. Florida has a road, called Highway A1A, that runs close to the Atlantic ocean along most of the state’s east coast; the equivalent of California’s Pacific Coast Highway. Unfortunately, its closeness to the ocean is its main similarity to the Pacific Coast Highway as A1A mainly runs through beach towns and offers very rare glimpses of the ocean. There are a couple of sections that are designated as scenic byways and one of those is between Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach. I therefore left the freeways to follow this section. It was very pleasant but, in my opinion, not particularly scenic. Thus I ended up driving all day to get to Daytona Beach which is where the second scenic section begins. This should be the last full day of driving and I am looking forward to a more interesting tomorrow.

The map/video is here.