Shuttle Launch Trip
OK so we decided to buy tickets and go see a space shuttle launch on Febuarary 13. For this trip it was Me, Dad, Riley and My Uncle Glen (Dad's baby brother). The Shuttle was scheduled to take off early on Saturday Morning, we had to be on the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) base by 12:30 am. So we left early friday morning and drove down to Sandie's dad's house in Cocoa Beach Florida, we arrived around 6:00pm. We all tried to grab a few hours sleep before heading over to the KSC base around midnight. We arrived at the gaurd house for the base and were told that the launch had been scrubbed and would launch at a later time. So we head back over to Sandie's dads house and crash for the rest of the morning. Saturday we can't check in to the hotel till after 3:00 pm so we pretty much hang out at Sandie's dad's house and try to rest, since we pretty much didn't sleep much the night before. So we found out that the reason the launch was scrubbed was a problem in the system that vents excess Hydrogen from the external fuel tank. Wouldn't be good to have extra hydrogen aroound the launch pad when the engines fire off. We finnaly get checked in to the hotel and get a good nights sleep. Sunday, June 15th we hang out at the Hotel and beach, Riley body surfs in the Atlantic Ocean. For dinner we go to Jack Bakers Lobster Shanty, a great spot to eat dinner and watch the sunset. We ate outside on their deck that over looks the Banana River. You can feed some type of catfish that live in the river and hundreds of them come up to the surface when you start feeding them, kinda neat and gross at the same time. After dinner we played a round of Put-Put golf, then headed to the Cocoa Beach pier to hang out for a little while and a stop by the Dairy Queen for ice cream on our way back to the hotel. Monday back to the pool and beach .. no shuttle launch today either. Tuesday we head into Orlando to go to Sea World, Shuttle supposed to launch early Wednesday morning. So we spend the day at Sea World, Riley and Poppy ride a BIG log flume ride, we see shows with dolphins, whales, birds, you know, you've been. Dad and Uncle Glen finish the day with a ride on the New MANTA RAY roller coaster, looked like fun!! Tuesday night we pack up the truck, head over to the KSC for what we hoped would be the launch..we had to be on base around 2:30 am this time. Once we get there Uncle Glen and Dad get in the bus line, they catch a little sleep in their chairs while me and Riley head off to play around the KSC, we have hope they open the bus lines to actually get us on the buses then.... launch gets scrubbed, next oppuortunity for launch is in July. So disappointed, we get in the truck and head back home to Tuscaloosa, we all have stayed longer than we planned but had a great trip. I believe Uncle Glen took more pictured than I did.