Today was the day for one of my birthday gifts from earlier in the year. A trip to the Kennedy Space Center. To say I have been looking forward to this is an understatement... It was about an hour and a half drive from the villa. We had hoped to get there for opening but it wasn't to be, arriving at about 9.45, but having said that, none of the attractions started until 9.30 so that was fine.
What can I say about the day, other than WOW... what an experience. Just being there and walking in the footsteps of all those great pioneers. Taken back to a time watching the early shuttle launches and the preparations - all that history...
The day rushed past so quickly - we managed to do everything except the talk by the astronaut timings and the weather jinxed this but we managed to meet him, shake his hand and get an autographed picture. His name is Charles 'Sam' Gemar and travelled on the space shuttle on 3 missions STS-38, 48, 62.
The tour around the spaceport was fantastic seeing where the space shuttles were launched from, together with the changes NASA and SpaceX are making for the next set of missions.
I took more photos on this one day than on the holiday so far...
KSC closes at 6 and we were there pretty much up until the end. The drive back was a bit of a challenge as the weather had got a lot worse with the wipers on the max and speeds reduced due to visibility and the weather, but we made good time anyway stopping off at Manny's Chop House for something to eat, around 8.30. It was very busy and we needed to wait for a table - everyone seems to eat a lot later over here...
A word about the roads - we visited 6 till pay stations each way so needed to have plenty of change on us. Other than that driving is OK - there are still idiots in cars wherever you go...
