New Smyrna Beach Adventure!

One of my favorite things to do is find a random place to go visit and take off on a adventure! This particular adventure had to be relatively close to home because I only had a few hours free. I googled a few random places and nothing caught my eye until 'Old Sugar Mill Ruins' popped up in my search results. I hate to admit that I've lived in Florida for nearly a year, and had only been to New Smyrna Beach as a pit stop. I made the mistake of selecting the first address to appear on my GPS and we ended up here...

Turns out the ACTUAL Old Sugar Mill Ruins are a little further down the road and fairly difficult to spot. The ruins are marked by one very difficult to spot sign. We ended up having to make a u turn, we then took a right into what appears to be a private driveway that leads up to the site of the ruins. The ruins are a little smaller than I had imagined, but worth a look. The sugar mill was originally built in 1830 and was turned to ruins in 1835. It is so amazing to be able to see something that has been preserved for so long, and that our ancestors had the foresight to leave it for others to enjoy!

After exploring the ruins we decided to venture through the nature trail. We had forgotten bug spray, so it was a very quick trip through nature. There were so many cool things to see on the nature path!

Once we finished up our trip to the Old Sugar Mill Ruins we got hungry and headed toward the beach. I have to say, New Smyrna Beach, is now one of my favorite beach towns in Florida. It reminded me a lot of one of my favorite beaches in California, Pismo Beach. I spotted an oceanfront pink building in the distance and decided that was where we should have lunch! As we got closer to the beach we noticed that you can drive right on the sand, just like at Pismo Beach. The view from our table was amazing, too bad we couldn't open the windows!

With full bellies we continued driving around New Smyrna Beach. As we were making our way to the highway so we could head home I noticed an old fashioned soda fountain. I could hardly contain my excitement and made my husband turn around and go back. Since childhood I've wanted to go on a date at a soda fountain! We parked and walked through a door that led us right into the 1960's! We took our place at the counter on barstools and ordered a chocolate shake...it was the most perfect ending to an adventure yet!