Day 5 of Florida travels

December 18, 2008

Today was a great day! We went to Kennedy Space Center and Cocoa Beach.

We started the adventures out with Kennedy Space Center. I felt just like a child again. It was so amazing! I got to try the launch simulation ride with a bunch of middle schoolers. I was glad though that the school finally got a grant to introduce these kids from Orlando to the possibility of dreams!
We got to walk in to the retired shuttle: Explorer. They had two decks opened up to people, only slightly modified. I did the ride, which was pretty neat. Then we caught the bus tour over to the first stop. It was the LC-39 Observation Gantry. It is the place where you can actually see the two launch pads from a distance. As we were headed there, you could see inside of the Shuttle Assembly Building. The shuttle Endeavor had just returned to KSC yesterday. It had landed last weekend at Edwards Airforce Base in California. I got a few distant pictures of things.

From that stop, we headed on down to the Apollo / Saturn V Center. We watched a couple of short movies about the first launch to the moon Apollo 8. Then we walked out into another room and there, low and behold ..... a Saturn V that had not been used because the last few missions were canceled. We had an overly expensive lunch. I got a few pictures, got to play with a rover, and wish I could play with rockets like that for a living.

Then we moved on to the International Space Station Center stop. By this time, my aunt and uncle were starting to realize we were running out of time and I still wanted to see the ocean. They basically ignored the last stop and let me quickly look. I figured that since this was the kind of stuff I would be working on on my next co-op I should have a gander. It was neat to see portions being built right there!
I grabbed a couple of things in the gift shop and on we went.

I quickly changed at Cocoa Beach. I only had about 45 minutes left to enjoy the Ocean. It was beautiful! I was in aww! I went on a shell search. Told Jimmy he'd get a shell not a rock. But instead he'll get both! I played in the ocean until I couldn't any more. I got body slammed by a few waves, got knocked over by a few others, and just enjoyed it. I was soaked when I got out! Yet it was so worth it. I found a crab on accident. No it didn't grab my toe, but I grabbed it's arm, dropped it, and ran.
It was a great day!

Day 4 of Florida travels

December 17, 2008

Today was a down day. I still enjoyed the day though!

I spent the morning sleeping in. I got up and just checked the web comics and things. I was waiting for my aunt to get home. And napped in the process. We went to the flea markets. I got a small pink striped purse for myself. A hat for dad. A faerie for April. And a tiny Pepsi in a glass bottle. I also picked up a shot glass for my collection from Kissimee.

The Old Town area was pretty sweet. I enjoyed a few of the little shops there. Tourist oriented but neat all the same.

I was really disgusted by the alligator heads. They were literally severed heads with glass eyeballs in them. It was just disturbing.

Tomorrow: Cape Canaveral and Cocoa Beach

Day 3 of Florida travels

December 16, 2008

I got to go swimming in December! Still a strange feeling. We went to the pool this morning before showering and going to Sea World. I loved Sea World! It was so amazing!

We got there in time to sit down and watch the Sea Lion and Walrus show. It was funny, the mime before was also funny as he made fun of most of the people that came in to watch the show. After the show we checked out the other sea lions before heading over to see the Shamu Show. We watched the small pool of sharks for a bit, and my aunt pointed out they give a free cup of beer to those old enough as we walked by the Budweiser Hitch.

The Believe Shamu Show was pretty amazing. When Shamu came out is when everyone close enough got soaked. The other killer whales basically just played with the humans and did amazing little jumps and things. It was pretty cool, but almost impossible to get a good picture.

After the Shamu Show, we wondered back to get that cup of beer and see the horses. I had bud light of course, but I got myself a beer mug for when I move out of Wesley. We walked back by the divers and I couldn't help but think that $15 was a deal for a real pearl. I ended up picking an oyster with a pinkish 6.9mm pearl in it. I brought it home and may choose to have it set by a jeweler I trust with my jewelry. We saw the penguins and the sharks up close and personal on a convayer build walk way. Checked out the manatees and dolphines, then headed for the turtles.

There was a small pool of sting rays before the turtles. Sting Rays! You could pet them or feed them. I stuck my hand down in the pool and was started by the first string ray that approached me. He scared me because it looked like he was going to fly out of the water at me. I calmed down a bit and realized they just wanted to be petted. We had about 5 little rays that kept returning to be petted. If you weren't paying attention, then they just rubbed themselves along your hand and did the petting themselves. They really like the full back stroke though! I loved it and we almost missed the turtles because I was enjoying it too much.

The final stop was the Turtles! I told them Jimmy said "Hi", before we moved toward the door. I got a really pretty much I can actually take home to my mother. But I thought about having the pearl set in a necklace and giving it to mom for Christmas, only problem is she very rarely wears jewelry. And so the day of adventures came to an end after a short drive and dinner at Shoney's.


Tomorrow: Sleeping in and then shopping ....

Day 2 of Florida travels

I left out from Lenoir City a little before 8:30am this morning.

Travels were great. Traffic kept a good pace, normally better than the speed limit all through Tennessee. Saw my first cop sitting under an overpass. It was raining or misting the whole way through. But at least down there, people understand that rain will not hurt them when they drive.

It basically stayed rainy off and on until I got south of Atlanta. Then the only other rain I hit was in Northern Florida for like 5 minutes and it wasn't bad at all.


Atlanta is a beautiful city. I personally don't think the picture I did manage to nab does it justice. It just glimmered and I didn't try to catch that. But I did love how the buildings partly hid in the clouds. It was so pretty. Definitely a city I would love to spend a few days exploring. That was one of my main thoughts as I drove through. And I guess at some point I did experience the 16 lanes of hell .... I just never realized it since traffic moved at a good speed the whole time.


South of Atlanta, I took the Macon bypass. Once south of Macon, I thought, Oh, I must be getting close now only to realize I was only at like mile marker 225 or something. It just drug on. But then when I hit Florida it was the same way. I hit Florida about 4pm. I had to continue down for like 200 miles before I even got the Turnpike. Only to get on the turnpike and give Florida $6 more than they deserved of my money because I miss calculated what I was suppose to do and went a good 30 miles too far south and had to turn around and do that back. I had to pay to get BACK on and to get OFF. I didn't expect this. Then after getting frustrated that I couldn't seem to figure out which stop light was the one I needed on 27, I had dinner at Friendly's. Turns out I was just grossly under estimating how far I had to go before I got to the right light.

I finally got here at 10:15pm. Clarance did well! But it was a horribly lonely and boring ride ....

Found gas for $1.45 in GA. And paid $1.60 in FL.

Day 1 of Florida travels

December 14, 2008

I wanted to go to Florida for vacation. I plan to stay with family but I needed a vacation. And well Coco Beach just sounds drawing with Cape Canaveral and maybe Disney ..... Hmmm ..... The adventure begins!

So, I started out way late, just to begin the adventure right. I had to make a stop in Cincinnati because I had left my directions and the final address there. Then the drive continued. It got dark before I was very far into Kentucky, and that just made things super eerie. I mean, curves I don't know, alone on road with nothing around, and its pitch black out! Got kinda eerie/creepy as I drove. I couldn't see that well half the time.

I drove straight through Lexington and just kept going. I was trying to make up some time for the lateness of my departure from home. I made a stop for gas at Exit 24 in Kentucky. Found gas at the Speedway to be $1.43 a gallon, and the bathroom out of toilet paper. I grabbed nuggets from MickyD's (easy travel food). And made a phone call. Figured I needed a place to sleep and I wasn't going to make it much past where I have stayed before. And having friends in Tennessee does come in handy. She refused to let me stay at a hotel. And here is where I will lay my head for the night: Lenoir City.....

The driving will commence in the morning around 8am. After a Cracker Barrel breakfast! (heart and smiles).