Before there wasn’t that much more to Disney that other theme parks didn’t offer. Of course, Disney just does it exceptionally well. Epcot was fun in that it was more a chance to let your brain get out and play some. Magic Kingdom, awesome, because everyone has seen the iconic images from all over that park. Hollywood Studios was like having the chance to get your entertainment and celebrity fix.

Animal Kingdom is just in a class of its own for those people that love animals. Its better than a zoo, in some ways, because it’s the chance to take an African safari without a passport. Not so many rides or attractions as the other parks but enough to keep interested.

So, we met up for breakfast with Uncle Bob, Richard and his wife. Of all the breakfasts, the buffet at Animal Kingdom’s Resort was pretty awesome. This is prolly gonna be the next resort to check out on the next Disney trip. If I can convince a certain someone about that.

Once we got to the park, it was already a bit of a more relaxed pace to it.

I was amazed by the Tree of Life from a distance. By the time we would leave the park, I would have shot over 200 photos in the Animal Kingdom, half of those for the Tree of Life. Its in this gallery linked here on my blog, and its highly detailed sculptures of animals formed around the giant trunk of a tree.

The group of us would move forward but I would head off to places on a whim coz an animal was easily seen from a viewing area. We’d finally made it to the first ride, the Kilimanjaro Safari. Uncle Bob used to be a driver on this ride, until an untimely encounter with a baby rhino and momma!

We made our way to the truck and we were off. The storyline of the ride was interesting but the chance to see some of this amazing wildlife was spectacular.

When we finished the ride, I would have gone back quite a few times but I knew there was more ahead to see. Bob, Richard and his wife left soon after the safari and Nicki and I stopped off at the first store. Big mistake.

I found myself a nice, dorky safari looking hat. I was even more happy to see something I have wanted for years but never found a nice one of. A photographer’s vest…

Back when Banana Republic first opened its doors, they had sold these cool looking, multi-pocketed photo vests. I never could afford one at the time, but now…I finally got one. Nicki of course had to tease me about my wardrobe choices, but I was very happy to finally have one of these things. Heck, had the clerk take the tags off and not even bag it…that vest was being worn out of the store with my new hat.

Another guy asked where I had found the hat while we were standing there talking to the store clerk. Heh. Well, teasing Nicki right back that she needed her own cool, safari type hat…she gave that flat out…No!

Well, we didn’t get out of the store before she found the cutest hat in the store that looked adorable on her.

With new wardrobes, we headed out to the next ride, and took a ride on the Wildlife Express Train. We just went around, didn’t check out Camp Minnie-Mickey with the petting zoo and such but we have to leave some stuff not seen for the next trip.

A little more wandering around, a little more stopping and shooting pictures of almost everything at this park…and we wound up on the Maharajah Jungle Trek where you could see some beautiful scenery and tigers. It was so hot that almost all the animals were hiding in the shade sleeping but I still got some nice photos, here in this gallery.

All through the walking around, we could see the Expedition Everest ride, and Nicki was anxious to go on one of her favorite Disney Coasters. Sad to report, she got her single ride and headed out while I wandered around the Yeti store, wimped out!

We had kept to the late lunch, early dinner plans. So, we wound up at Dinoland looking for grub. It was pretty empty, so we were able to sit for awhile while another small rainstorm passed through. Since we were here, we wandered over to get a Fastpass to the Dinosaur ride. We had over an hour to wait, but a nice couple of guys gave us their Fastpass, since they didn’t need them.

Off we went and I was given a great responsibility…yes, I was given a red tag to hand off to the Cast Member at the end of the ride. Whew! I was nervous at the responsibility.

It was a pretty cool ride though, too short…once more….but you could tell one thing through the time at Disney. The beginning rides in Magic Kingdom were classics of the age like Peter Pan, Small World and Pirates of the Caribbean. As you made your way through the parks as they got newer, you could see how things got better with technology. In a way, for me, watching the progression as we’d go from Pirates and Small World to Spaceship Earth to Soarin’ to Test Drive to Dinosaur, it was fascinating, to me, to see this visual evolution.

Well, we skipped some of the rides here in Animal Kingdom but wound up at the It’s Tough to be a Bug!

Once more, the lines were short for most all the rides, which made me quite happy because I could stand around taking pictures of the Tree of Life animals as we’d see them. Even after the ride, we ran into a Disney Cast Member who was into photography. Nicki told her about how I was amazed by the tree. She told us how to get to the pathway that takes you around the tree. We went back and found it.

I was able to get so many detail images of these animals. Nicki had said she didn’t even know there was a path around it. We ran into a Security Guard, who told us before we left the area, we should check out the giant catfish nearby.

As Nicki talked with the guard, I was snapping away when she got my attention to the deer that just came close by. I turned in time to see these two deer getting closer to each other and wound up with two of the most beautiful pictures of the day.

We wandered out to find the giant catfish and waited at the bridge until we saw him. Once he appeared it was true, this was one giant catfish!

By now we figured we had done all we wanted to do for the time and headed out to the car. Snapped a few more pics as we walked and I had thanked Nicki many times for helping make this vacation trip possible and so special.

This park was just the perfect way to have the last full day at Disney.

We would head back to the hotel and catch the Monorail back to the Magic Kingdom, to get to some of the stuff we missed that first night. Again, right place and right time, and Nicki got us in the front Monorail car. I set the camera on video to record the trip to Magic Kingdom.

Once we got back to the Kingdom, we were excited and sad, since this was the last night at Disney. We had a light dinner at the Tomorrowland Terrace before hitting the last few rides.

While we went on the Tommorowland Transit Authority ride, we had some excellent views of the fireworks. I took a look at Space Mountain and decided that would be next trip along with the train. We did do the Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, sort of fun.

Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor, one of the best attractions of the night. Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress was interesting again, as I kept sitting back and studying what they would do with these attractions visually.

Once we finished up those rides, the park was getting ready to close. We decided to get to Haunted Mansion one more time, and ended the night with that. A boat ride back to the hotel, and it was time to pack for the morning trip home.

We had planned out the right time to visit, as when we would leave…there were more and more people coming in as we were heading out.

Now our day was just beginning as we headed to Hollywood Studios. We got there a little earlier but the heat was already kicking up. When Nicki kept asking where to start, I figure I must have been like a little kid that we should start there…but then Star Wars is over there….but then there are the Muppets…ya know? So, we figured that we would just wander around and go wherever we would wind up at.

We headed down Hollywood and Vine, checking out the shops. Got a nice lady to take our picture with us wearing the bride and groom ears. The first stop was the Sounds Dangerous with Drew Carrey but when I saw how close we were to that Imperial Walker from the good Star Wars movies, we headed out to that. Again, no lines and no waiting and we were on the way to the Star Tours. My Star Wars geek was coming out, as was everyone else taking photos of the Star Wars stuff. It didn’t take too long and we found ourselves at the very first row of the ride. NICE! It was fun but I still have my little dislike of George Lucas for personal reasons.

On the plus side, that dislike saved us a lot of money in the Star Wars store at the end of the ride. Oh, I could have bought a bunch of cool stuff but…

Next up was on the trip to the back lot and the Muppet area. I have always loved the Muppets, so I was anxious to see the show. We did find the next set of rude people when a family slipped past an open spot in the line to bypass everyone else standing in it. Well, that didn’t last long.

Nicki turned em in. heh. But everyone in the line had noticed. Idiots. Like the wait wasn’t even that long to begin with!!

So, we got in and I was already excited. When I saw the model of the spaceship from Pigs in Space…heh. Nice!!!

This would wind up being my favorite attraction at this park. I think the show was awesome and how they mixed in the 3D movie with live action was way cool. The humor was typical Muppet humor and I think everyone had a great laugh. Plus, it was in an air-conditioned replica of the Muppet Theater from the show, on a hot day…you can’t beat it.

When we left, Nicki pointed out Buzz Lightyear and Woody were doing a photo opportunity close by. The line wasn’t long and we managed to get into the line before they closed it off. Since Buzz had gone up to the Space Station, I was happy to get a picture with the character. We waited a little while in the heat but got my picture. Sweet!!!!

We were near the Sci-Fi Dine-In theater, where we had made reservations for dinner, but decided to stop in for a late lunch instead. Good thing too, cause the heat was making me a bit sick to the stomach. Once we got in and sat for awhile and ate, it wasn’t so bad. They did mess up Nicki’s food, giving her the burger of the lady in front of us, and vice versa. But, they didn’t charge us for her lunch.

Once out of the diner, we started wandering around again.

This day was a little more crowded, so I didn’t get too many chances for nice photos. But we did wander our way over to the Great Movie Ride. I liked this attraction for the movie recreations, like Alien was awesome, and the mix of Disney Cast Members.

We headed back towards the backlot to get to the Movie Set Adventure, it was another amazing attraction, even if the flames from the truck scared the little boy behind us and made a hot day even hotter. The poor little boy was even more terrified with the water. However, I was disappointed to not be near the water…just wanting to cool off.

Once there, we checked out the American Film Institute’s showcase on villains. Since the heat was getting worse, we skipped the stunt show and made our way over to the Animation Courtyard. Nicki was really anxious for me to see this part, I mean…how could an artist not like this.

We were able to get right in line, with no wait again but we did have to wait for the doors to open. We walked around looking at the various conceptual drawings from Disney movies. Even though the technology has changed, the process is still the same. We checked out the Magic of Disney Animation, Eddie Murphy was hilarious in this with his Mulan character.

Since Wall•E is the newest Disney/Pixar feature film coming out, they had all sorts of conceptual things on display. We went to the area where you could learn how to draw a Disney character from a Disney Studio Trained Artist. At first, I wasn’t going to do it.

I mean, I do draw for a living and didn’t want to appear like a show off or worse, look like a wannabe cartoonist. But Nicki and the cast member talked me in to giving it a show. So, we went in to learn how to draw Minnie Mouse.

Nicki was getting agitated with my Minnie Mouse, since I did start to show off just a little. She kept calling hers a mutated Minnie Mouse and kept wanting to quit. I kept telling her not too, so she did finish it. However it took longer to convince her not to throw it away when we left.

We signed our art, held it up for others to see … though Nicki kept hers hidden. Since people were going up to show their art to the artist, I decided what the heck…I did the same. I showed him my work, he was impressed that I went with an angled approach and a closer crop. Heh, told him what I did for my job and how I just couldn’t do a flat face Minnie.

We hit the store and I even bought one of the drawing sets, just for the heck of it. Nicki bought a Winnie the Pooh character book to learn how to draw them. I always give her an ‘A’ for effort.

It was a little late in the afternoon, so we decided that since it was getting hotter and we were close to the entrance of the park, that’d we’d head back to the Polynesian.

We wound up taking a nap and feeding a snack to our duck friends.

Because we had gotten a bit burnt out on the parks, we decided to take the bus to Downtown Disney. We did some shopping in the Christmas store and I was determined to get a cigar by night’s end.

Had a nice dinner, once we finally got to the House of Blues. I had been sampling Bloody Mary drinks all vacation, but finally found one that I couldn’t finish. The House of Blues has a nice and spicy drink but it was the thickness of the mix that made it one of the worst Bloody Mary drinks I have ever had. It was like drinking a thick tomato soup with bits and pieces of pepper and onion. Blech!

By the time we walked to the restaurant and ate, we decided to go back to the bus. My cigar stores had closed, rats! We walked to the bus stop and waited for our bus to the Polynesian…and waited…and waited….and waited.

Turns out, that people that night would wait up to an hour and a half for the bus to the Polynesian. The buses were running full from the other stop, we found out from a driver going off-duty. So full, that they were going right back to the resorts without telling anyone, basically.

The supervisors are in some control center with no public access, so we couldn’t complain to anyone but we could talk to someone at the hotel concierge if we wanted to. After waiting about an hour ourselves, the bus finally showed up. In fact, a few minutes after ours left, another showed…someone must have figured it out!

We didn’t complain when we got back, mainly because we were too tired and just wanted to go to sleep.

We started the first day at Disney with a Winnie the Pooh character breakfast. Felt a little guilty having bacon with Pigglet walking around. Doh! But I am going on record here when I saw Nicki’s eyes light up seeing not just Eeyore but Pigglet. I managed to retain my composure, even for Tigger.

From there we headed back to rest up for a busy day at Epcot. Had one of those blast from the past moments, when I remembered back at ECC doing a travel tour poster project on the state of Florida. Two images I worked into were the Space Shuttle taking off and Epcot. Irony, isn’t it great? We won’t talk about Figment.

Again, the lines weren’t bad and we only had a long wait for the Spaceship Earth. Nicki was anxious to see my reaction to this ride, since it has so much to do with what I do for a living at USA TODAY. It was quite the experience to see how they tied so much progress to the simple progression of language and words. Half the time I spent studying the animatronics and settings just to eye all the detail and the other half just following the presentation.

The weather was a definite factor in the day though, as we kept spacing out the time from standing in line for rides, walking and then finding a shop to cool off at. The Cool Coke Spot was a great place to cool off at, with ice cold samples of pop around the world.

We checked out some of the things in the Innovention area, I mean…anytime I see a fire engine, I have to stop and check it out. So, there was this amazing looking Darley engine in Innovention. Before we left though, we had created our own Velcro Frogs.

Since we were close to the Figment area, I dragged Nicki to his show. Unfortunately, we rolled Skunk on the sense of smell. Since Figment came on the scene when I was big in to drawing dragons, I always liked Figment. In the store, I actually did buy quite a few Figment items…again, the right place at the right time and I found a pencil sketch of Figment on sale holding an artist’s brush and paint.

After Figment, we headed out to get some Fast Passes for Soarin’. Once we got to that area and saw how empty The Land exhibit was, we decided to get on that one too. If anything, Epcot is truly an educational experience. I didn’t think riding around learning about things like hydroponics would be interesting, but by the time we got off the ride…it gets you to thinking. Oh, and the fact that NASA had some seeds going in this exhibit as well sure helped.

We then decided to take a walk around the International area. Another tip I learned is, since we had a large breakfast and rested back at the room, we decided to have an early dinner. Seating was no problem and you didn’t feel rushed to get out of the place because lines of people were milling about. We had a nice Mexican dinner and, since the line was so short, did the Three Caballeros ride. Anything to keep cool was a good thing.

We kept wandering around hitting the shops to cool off. Nicki got one of the Chinese girls in the China area to help me learn how to use Chopsticks…I am still Chopstick Challenged.

The only problem we had with the rides was with the Norse ride. We wound up getting stuck for about 15 minutes, but we were out of the sun and heat, near a waterfall…no complaints. Sort of interesting that the Norse exhibit promoted how they explored the world so early in history…they just seem to have left out those little details like the Viking Raiding Parties.

About the time we got halfway around, a storm had come in. As luck would have it, we got stranded in the French portion, right in the wine shop. So, we did one of the wine tastings. As the rain eased off, we decided to go back to Germany, and sample the German wines. The rain really picked up by then and we took up at a table with some wine and German cookies. With a German dessert wine, even cookies go good with ‘em.

As we wound up getting to the halfway point of this part of Epcot, the IllumiNations was going to be starting. We found a great spot in the American part. Nicki had told me about these world famous Turkey Legs they sell here, so while I saved the bench for us, she went and got us a late snack.

Now, for the most part the people we had been around had been nice and polite. However, just before the show began this extremely rude group of women and a younger girl came close by. The girl would keep pushing Nicki to get her to move, which wasn’t happening. Then they’d put stuff on the bench we had been at for half an hour, finally had to tell them to move the stuff off or it would get knocked off.

Then the girl would stick her camera practically in Nicki’s face so she could video the show. We weren’t the only ones to notice, this girl had also pushed away a little girl a couple of times away. Even the mother had had enough of this and wound up putting herself between the rude girl and her daughter.

Meanwhile, we decided to get a bit snobby about our saved bench and Nicki got off the bench so a couple of little boys from England could see the show better.

Still, we had a great view of the show, it is an amazing experience visually. Even with the rude people, it was a great time.

As I mentioned before, we had sampled the German and French wines. Nicki had made it a goal to sample them all as we got to each place…but around Japan, we chickened out. Though the French had this cool looking Champagne, the $35 a glass price made it less cool.

By now, my legs and feet were hurting, so we got to the French Bakery and had a pastry with something cold to drink. As we got closer to the end of the International area, we spent less time exploring the shops, go figure. Oh well, have to save some things for the next trip!!!!

Since Epcot was open late that night, we did get a chance to get back to some of the rides we missed. First up was Soarin’. We had our FastPass from before, but our entry time was during the middle of one of the storms. Fortunately, the guys honored the tickets for us and we got up through the lanes. I was a little nervous, I kept reading all the warning signs and hearing people talk about the ride and how it can drop like a plane in turbulent weather. Oh boy!

But I wasn’t going to miss this. So, we got on the ride and I have to say, this is likely my favorite Epcot ride only in that it is truly amazing. Once it gets started its just like a jet ride over some beautiful areas. They mix in some of the scents of the land, like pine when Soarin’ over pine trees. It was simply the best ride of the night. Even if the ride was too short.

We made our way over to the Mission Space Training ride, good thing I wore my Kibo Mission Polo shirt. This shirt got more conversations started with people we happened by. Almost everyone that stopped me that saw the shirt, had to ask about it. Which would turn into long talks in the store about the launch and what I do for the paper, even a few plugs to the Website here.

As we stood in line, I became the engineer of the mission…Nicki was the commander. I must have looked disappointed, since Nicki gave up her command and we traded spots. This ride was a bit like having the chance to experience a rocket launch and when we flew by the space station…well….it was way cool. Way cooler than all those spaceship command centers my friend Brian and I would make in my parent’s patio over the summer. Not that those weren’t cool…but this…

Once out of there, we headed back out to the Test Drive ride, and got right on…once again. I did get in trouble though, when at the end of the ride…Nicki asked what I thought about it. I told her, it was just like riding with her in a car. Well, the people behind me had a nice laugh. I don’t think she found it as amusing. We did a little more shopping, I did try to get them to deliver the Hummer in their showroom, but they wouldn’t take my check.

After that, we headed back to the monorail, it was time to get back and get some sleep. We had walked a lot that day, and I think I dreamt about walking that night.

We headed out of the Cape Coral Canal’s in Spirit, the name of their boat. Saw some really beautiful homes, homes that needed work and homes that….well….we could call them fixer-uppers.

Oh, and some really big boats. REALLY big boats.

After getting through the Miserable Mile (A no-wake, slow-speed stretch on the Caloosahatchee
River headed out to the gulf for the Manatee Whales), we finally got to open it up a little and we were on the way towards Sannibel Island.

Very beautiful morning to be on the water, the waves were calm and the sky was perfect. A little sun but not overly hot.

It was a great way to spend the morning on a boat headed to the Gulf of Mexico.

We did see that Melinda Gates must be wanting more of Bill’s money, as he has started to sell real estate in Cape Coral, as seen by the picture below…

Once there, we had probably the best lunch yet at Matanzas, a better Miami Vice and the Stuffed Grouper was the best seafood we’ve had. We just pulled up in the boat and got right in the place. No Key Lime Pie report, the Grouper was way too good and we got filled up on that.

Heading back out on the Gulf, we were racing a storm front in, it is so different to see weather from past the shoreline and out in the water. The clouds look so much different on the water.

We did beat the rain in but watched a thunderstorm in front of us. Way cool!

Through the time at Nicki’s dad’s home, we could have stayed the week there and had a great time.

Still, it was time to pack and hit the road to Disney. The time passed by quickly, hit a couple of major rain storms but it sure helped the humidity once we got to Disney.

We got checked in at the Polynesian, talked Space Shuttle with some of the front desk people and headed to the room. We met up with Nicki’s Uncle Bob and his friend Richard at the hotel and hung out for a little bit with the both of them before I finally got into Disney World’s Magic Kingdom for the first time.

It was just amazing at night. There weren’t a lot of people so in about three hours we had already got to ride

The Jungle Cruise, where we learned that the African Gorilla weighed 500 lbs, could run up to 25 miles an hour and jump 50 feet. Then we say the elephants, who weighed 500 lbs, could run up to 25 miles an hour and could jump 50 feet…well…in fact, everything could do that.

The Pirates of the Caribbean (Way cool to see they worked in Johnny Depp’s Capt. Jack Sparrow in the ride now)

Had dinner and was able to sit and watch the night parade.

Splash Mountain, where got a little wet.

The Haunted Mansion, best ride so far

A Small World, corny and cutsey but how can you come here and not ride it?

And lastly, the Peter Pan Ride.

Nicki said we got to do more in just a few hours than you can do in a fully day.

But after a long day, we had to get back on the monorail and get some rest. Busy day ahead, Winnie the Pooh and the gang are waiting for us to have breakfast with!

Although this being the first time meeting Nicki’s dad….oh boy.

After getting the full-blown tour of his home in Cape Coral, the word that comes to mind is character. It was a pleasure to have finally met him and this being the last of her family to meet…big relief!

He was what I had expected in some ways from the stories I have heard about him and totally different in other ways, all good. For instance, the job he has done on both inside and outside the house just make it an awesome place to visit.

So very personable and one of those people that everyone seems to know, and he seems to know everyone. Just such a person full of character, and a pleasure to have finally met in person.

So, tonight’s post is from a reclining patio chair in the lanai (fancy Florida word for really cool patio, IMO). Its like being in a hotel and sitting poolside with a lot less distraction.

He’s opened his home for us to visit, and I am finally feeling relaxed for the first time this trip.

We’ve ‘researched’ boats on the Internet. I learned what makes for a good deal on the boat…like how many hours the motors have been used can really affect price.

Had a great dinner at Pincher’s Crab Shack in North Ft. Lauderdale. Nicki and I have decided the further south we go, the better the Key Lime Pie. While the drink of the day has got to be a Miami Vice, half Pina Colada and half Strawberry Daiquiri.

A short vacation post, as we are headed out in Bob’s boat and an early trip out to the Gulf of Mexico.

Fast fact of the day, Cape Coral has more canals than Venice, Italy.

How do you put into words the culmination of something from a day back in April, 1981 when I woke up early one morning to watch the launch of Columbia on television in the basement of my childhood home? Now, over 25 years later, I had the opportunity to view the launch from three miles away.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

It was a clear blue sky over Cape Canaveral. Hot….very hot but also very clear.

I made it over to the end of the Education Conference to listen to Lynne Cline, Deputy Associate Administrator for the Office of Space Flight, speak about the mission of STS-124 and the KIBO space lab. It was an interesting presentation, even having learned some things I didn’t know about the Station. Like it has been designated as a National Laboratory in regards to the American Space Lab, Destiny.

There was so much more that caught my interest in scribbles on my notebook, that I could keep writing this post longer than it should be.

On last thoughts and discussions from this group of educators, it was time to leave and get ready for the trip to Kennedy.

Cape Canaveral is a very busy place even without a Shuttle launching with the vacation traffic of Cocoa Beach and the Port Canaveral comings and goings of the cruise ships.

We would wind up joining the steady stream of cars and buses headed North from the Cocoa Beach Country Inn and Suites. (A great place to stay, the staff was more than accommodating to its guests and Nicki gives a big thumbs up to the fresh baked chocolate chip cookies….ok, we both do…but if you find yourself thinking of a place to stay in the Canaveral area, give Sean a call at the desk and make your reservations)

People were already lined up on the A1A Highway to the Kennedy Space Center. When you are told that you are going to have one of the best views of the launch available but its still three miles out, it gets you wonder just how much you will be able to see.

We finally got to KSC (NASA loves Acronyms, as in (K)ennedy (S)pace (C)enter) and were able to get off the bus. I had to give our reporter back in D.C a call, and thank you Traci for putting up with my excited ramblings.

Once on the grounds, it was a cool feeling to see that our bus was pretty much all alone on its way to the viewing area where a lot of other buses had already been parking. I had figured that the time would drag for those three hours or so until launch. I mean, sure its great to see a Saturn V Rocket on display but the Shuttle was perched on its platform, ready to go and so was everyone watching it.

We met a great family from Mississippi, the Balch family, who listened to me rattle on about the Space program and Blackhawk Helicopters. The father was from, and I am hoping I have this right, the Stennis Space Center, where they test the propulsion rockets. One thing I have to say was that the amount of nice people we met during this trip was totally unexpected for someone living near the D.C. Beltway.

I hope that they had a great view of the launch and that their sons enjoyed what I could only watch on T.V. at their age. So, if you are reading this post, Balch family, it was a pleasure to have met you, our photo looked good and I hope yours looked good as well!

The people we met before the launch really helped the time pass by quickly. The ESCOT bus driver for one, Brett I think was his name.

Also, meeting Joe Patterson, a Congressional Aide to Bart Gordon (Tennessee Congressman and Science Committee Chairman) and getting a look at the program that they have put together to bring teachers to Kennedy for tours and viewings of the launch, it is easy to get excited all over again about the space program. What a enthused group of people these teachers were. I hope they can help to bring about an interest in their students.

Its all about timing, and what a coincidence to have met Mr. Patterson during this NASA Education Group trip to KSC.

Before long, the last nine minute countdown began and I knew it wasn’t going to be too long before the rockets would be firing. With the camera on video recording, I kept it pointed towards Discovery as best as I could. I was glad that this camera would also pick up the audio because the sound of this liftoff is as impressive as the viewing of it from across the Banana Creek Viewing Area.

Having zoomed in as close as I could get, I finally saw the first hint of the rockets firing, the smoke pour out from the pad and then came the vision of the Shuttle lifting off the pad on a fiery cloud.

The brightness was like a small sun even from our vantage point. With the applause of the crowd, Discovery was a go for throttle up. The sound of the engines had arrived at our viewing spot and the rumble could be felt all around. When the Shuttle was little more than a speck of light and smoke as it rose, I could still watch it through the lens of the camera.

The weather was beautiful, skies were clear and I could hold the image of Discovery in the lens of the camera long enough for the separation of the Solid Rocket Boosters. Roger Oakey, a participant in the Education Conference and a new friend, had the much better lens on his camera that gave a nice sequence of photos of the launch and SRB separation.

Finally you could hear the chatter of Mission Control and Discovery giving one of the last signs of a good lift off, that Discovery was at Negative Return, meaning that they would continue climbing on its way to docking with the ISS.

The mood of everyone was overall elation. We were giving high fives to people on the way back to our bus. Even the over two-hour drive back to the hotel (when its usually about 15 or 20 minutes) didn’t seem to dampen the spirits. I had to make some phone calls to share with friends. Was most happy to have chatted with Traci Watson from the paper and fellow space enthusiast and my friend Joel from back home.

Unfortunately, the traffic and large amount of events happening kept us from going to make one last stop at Grills Tiki Bar in Port Canaveral. A two and a half hour waiting list with a three hour road trip was not a good way to end the evening. Which was too bad, as we had looked forward to dinner with Roger before everyone went their separate ways.

But we made it to Cape Coral, where I could at least write this entry before going to sleep. Lots of pictures to go through and video to look over, and I hope to post them very soon. For now, I am sure the bright image of Discovery’s plume and the sound of its powerful rockets will be a memory I hope never to forget.

If there is any final thought of this day, it is this…
All the years of sifting through images of the Space Shuttle and the posters of a launch or watching it on television will never match the humbling feeling you have when you watch this first-hand. Seven people followed in the footsteps of many other of explorers to this new frontier, they have come from all over the globe and ride on a trail of fire. It was an honor to be a witness to their initial journey, the crew of STS-124.

The ‘official’ start of the Kennedy Space Center trip started with the Education Conference. An early morning for non-morning journalist types, but it was the start of an exciting day.

A bit of a fish-out-of-water feeling being among University Deans and Presidents, but refreshing to see another view point that didn’t involve media.

A fantastic presentation from Jim Norman on the future of the space program and exploration got some creative flow starting. Now if only we could have those sorts of animations usatoday.com.

Having met more of these fine folks from NASA and the NASA education group. Having said it before and saying it again, its the human side of NASA that can be the most interesting part of visiting places like KSC or Goddard.

So, after meeting folks like Jim Norman, heading up the Ares program and Mimi Shao, who is in charge of the Bio-med division for both human and non-human, and it just one of another of these fascinating people.

After the conference wrapped up for the day, it was time to go and take the tour of the Kennedy Space Center. There wasn’t one person on the bus that didn’t seem excited to go!

The first stop out of the gates was to the International Space Station Center. Of course, this was a major highlight to start out the trip. Being that there were the mock-ups for the Nodes, Destiny Lab and the CanadArm, what was not to like?

Nice to see that all the hard work researching the heck out of the ISS for the model paid off as details on these mock ups matched the model. Even seeing the Cupola sitting on the processing floor was a great experience.

From here it was off to Launch Pad 39a via the Vehicle Assembly Building, which was empty but we got a very nice drive around tour of the pad. It was amazing to see a launchpad up close after drawing these things for various news graphics.
Unfortunately the VAB was closed to the tour, as they were prepping for ST-125 and the Hubble Repair Mission. At the time we were there, they were just assembling the Solid Rocket Boosters.

After looping around the pad, we headed off to see Discovery on the 39b pad. The parts to fix the toilet on Zvezda had shown up from Russia, so the Shuttle was still covered. But it still made for some great photo opportunities with the chance to see the external tank and SRBs.

Back to the bus and a quick loop around to the landing area, the T-38’s the crew had flown in were lined up nicely in a row but we couldn’t leave the bus for this. We also had gone by the NASA Fire Department at the landing area, where it showed that some baby ambulances could be found outside Elgin. Maybe these were adopted? Sorry, dad.

So, after that the tour was a wrap, it was back to the hotel on the bus. All told we saw one shuttle, four armored rescue vehicles, one armed helicopter, one bald eagle and an alligator.

Later during dinner at a fantastic sea food place at Port Canaveral, Grills Seafood Deck and Tiki Bar, we watched the two boats leave for sea that will recover the SRBs after launch tomorrow. Very nice! Another restaurant recommendation for those visiting the Cape. Nicki would recommend the Surf and Turf, I went with the Snow Crabs and the stuffed shrimp was amazing. Oh, and the key lime pie.

Last thought on the day is to have the Director of the Education Group compliment my work and accuracy on the Space Station and Shuttle graphics published in the paper.

To be continued, as launch day is tomorrow!

Some of the folks from Huntsville NASA were at the hotel we are staying at, got to chatting with them.

Bit of exciting time when the Port Canaveral Fire Department showed up to investigate a smell of gas at our hotel. Nicki came up to the room to get me so I could see the equipment that showed up.

Did a lot of driving around, Central Florida could have much better signage, but that’s a different story.

However, we did drive around the outskirts of Kennedy Space Center, while trying to find a good place for dinner. Found a great seafood place on the Banana River, Florida’s Seafood Bar and Grill (Where Shrimp Happens). One trip highlight was running into some of the guys from the Japanese Space Agency sitting at a table in the restaurant. The one I did talked to didn’t speak too much English…but what an experience…meeting people involved with KIBO.

Its been way overdue, to get a new site up and running. Nearly five years since the last update. Thanks to borrowing a template from this wordpress blog software, its off and running! If you are here reading this, please take the time to view the galleries and the presentation of the International Space Station, its full of imagery of my model and I just have to show it off.

And its been a hectic week, trying to get ready to take this trip to Florida and Cape Canaveral, wow! My first trip to Florida and its gonna be busy. A few days at NASA to tour the space center and view the launch. Then off to the Gulf side of Florida to meet my better half’s father for the first time (if I don’t annoy her too much before hand!) …then a chance to experience Disney World for the first time.

On top of all that, it was great to hear from an old friend from Larkin this week. Its hard to believe its going on 25 years since graduation. Time flies and all that.

So, its now official…my first blog!

Thanks for reading.