Florida is a long state

I had driven to my folks condo in Deerfield Beach after the Marlins game.  I then got up and aimed to drive to Hilliard, FL, 20 minutes from Jacksonville in the northeast corner of FL.  So from the bottom to the top, made for a long day of driving.
I kept debating where to do my usual stop.  I had thought about a botanical garden but it was hot and humid.  I actually had some more rain periodically and had to use my wipers again for a few minutes.  The audacity of the weather!  While at a gas stop, I decided to shoot for the Arts and Science Museum in Daytona Beach.  I was chatting on the phone and missed my exit.  Usually I would just keep on going and find something else to do.  For some reason I decided to get off at the next stop and made my way back to the museum.  Great move.  I really enjoyed this museum. 

 My back is still slightly stiff, but I was still surprised that I was seeing stars.  First up was another planetarium show.  

  Of course being in Daytona there were race cars.  Car on the left was the one that won the pole for the 1957 Indy 500.

  The major donor for the museum is the guy who owned a bottling company..  They received the patent for the design of the Coca-Cola bottle.  There was an entire section of the museum dedicated to Coca-Cola items.  (are you looking at this Rosemarie and also Mark???)

  Two full size old fashioned Coke delivery trucks.

  They also had a section of the museum dedicated to teddy bears. 

  a 10 foot tall doll house filled with teddy bears.

  This is 1 of about 8 showcases stuffed with teddy bears.

  They also had 2 full size train cars and a section on trains.

  The obligatory dinosaur in the museum. 

  I had never seen this ancestor of sloths before. 

They also had a kids section, that I got to play with some experiments.  Unfortunately, most were ones I had seen at the previous dozen or so science centers I had been at.  I am so glad I went back and found this museum.  It was a true pleasure and highly recommended if you are ever in the Daytona area.

  I finally made it to Larry "Guru" Tipton's at 5:30.  At 5:40 it started raining.  At 6:00 the downpour started.  It knocked out power to Larry's and we had to look at baseball cards via flashlight and oil lamp!  All told we had 2.43 inches of rain in about 2 hours.  It waited until after I was inside. 

Monday is an R&R day, before heading to Atlanta on Tuesday.  Due to all the driving this week, I may not be able to blog again until next Monday, when I plan on being in Washington DC.  Even then I hope to see a Smithsonian again, and will not spend much time blogging.  I may only have another 40 or so hours of driving to do on the trip, but it will come in clumps.