Florida’s Space Coast — named for the region’s long-standing role in space travel — is packed with educational attractions that make it the perfect destination for a family road trip. Your adventure along the coastline (spanning 72 miles in total) starts at the Kennedy Space Center, where there’s interactive activities and exhibitions designed to fuel kids’ and adults’ fascination with outer space. You’ll then head down to Cocoa Beach to learn about Florida’s rich surfing history, before finally arriving at Brevard Zoo to see animals up-close-and-personal in their habitats. With so much to see, learn, and do, it’s bound to be the road trip of a lifetime.
Explore the Kennedy Space Center
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Merritt Island is the place to head to learn all about the exciting history of space travel. Check out Rocket Garden and see the replicas of the rockets used in the Gemini, Apollo, and Mercury space programs. The Delta II rocket was used to launch over 150 NASA missions, including Mars Rovers Spirit, which successfully landed on Mars in 2004. Heroes & Legends is also a new immersive experience that celebrates America’s greatest astronauts. Here, you can meet and chat with a real veteran astronaut at the live Astronaut Encounter show, and learn all about their unique experiences.
Cocoa Beach: learn about Florida’s surfing history
Next up, hit the l-95 and head to Cocoa Beach, a quintessential beach town with plenty of history. This is roughly a half-hour drive, and it’s important you choose a reliable car to get you safely from A to B. Full-size pickup trucks, in particular, are a popular family vehicle, with the Ford F-250 now hailed as “America’s favorite pickup”, the Wall Street Journal reports. Full-size pickups are easy to drive, comfortable, and spacious, particularly in the backseat, which makes them ideal for road trips.
Once you arrive at Cocoa Beach, visit the Florida Surf Museum for a fun lesson on Florida’s surfing heritage. The museum continually hosts fascinating events and exhibits (suitable for all ages). Right now, you can check out the “Space Coast Surfing History — The Right Stuff” exhibit, which showcases local surfing history dating back from 1909 to the present day. You can also scan QR codes on display to watch online videos and fun stories about Florida’s surfing community.
See the animals at Brevard Zoo
Hit the road again, and take the A1A south to Brevard Zoo in Melbourne, home to over 900 amazing animals from around the world. Take a Treetop Trek, a self-guided aerial course, where you can sail over acres of forest to get a birds-eye view of parrots, monkeys, and crocodiles in their habitat. There’s different levels to suit all ages and abilities. You can even take a guided kayak tour through the Expedition Africa exhibit. This is a unique opportunity to learn about awesome exotic species from giraffes and ring-tailed lemurs to white rhino and impala.
Florida’s Space Coast is the perfect destination for an educational family road trip. With such a great variety of attractions, there’s something to suit all interests and passions.
