Don & Sandi at "home", back in the Stockton area.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

The Florida Keys

Hi.

We have been busy the past few days...having fun.

-Visited Disney World's "Magic Kingdom".  It is similar to Disneyland, but it is missing a few things, such as the Matterhorn, Indiana Jones, Blue Bayou, and the submarine.   It was definitely fun (but we like Disneyland better :-).

-Visited South Beach (Miami) and we swam in the Atlantic.  The water is sooo much warmer than the Pacific in California.  We walked along the South Beach hotels, shops, and restaurants...there must be three outside/patio restaurants on every block.  We had a wonderul dinner at an Italian restaurant alongside the beach.

-Arrived in the Florida Keys on Friday.  We drove down to Key West and found the Southernmost Point in the Continental United States...only 90 miles from Cuba.   We then walked around Old Town in Key West...a very nice area.

-We are camping on the "Grassy Key", about half-way through the Keys (and 55 miles from Key West).  Our campsite is on the water (Gulf of Mexico).  We can snorkel about 10 yards from the back of our motorhome...hope to do that later today.
 
We are really enjoying Florida (and the Keys are quite beautiful).

Take care.
Don & Sandi

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Kennedy Space Center

Hi.

We spent Saturday at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, about an hour's drive from Orlando.  Let me start by saying, "Yoo-hoo!".   Space Shuttle Discovery was on its launch pad in preparation for lift-off on Monday, November 1st.   As you can see by our main web-page photo above, we were able to get within a couple miles of the shuttle on our NASA/Kennedy Space Center bus tour.  Discovery, and its crew of six astronauts, will deliver a payload to the International Space Station.  This will be the last trip for Discovery, as the shuttle program winds down in the next six months.

On the first photo to the right, you can see a wire cable leading downward from the launch tower.  If something goes wrong during pre-launch, the astronauts would high-tail it out of the shuttle cabin, hop into wire baskets, and slide down the cable into a bunker.  They would then hop into an armored tank/transport and drive out of the area ASAP!   The crew has been at the Kennedy Space Center for the past week or so practicing that maneuver (and many others).     

We really enjoyed the visit and seeing so much "space history" (rockets, space capsules, launch pads, shuttle runway, mission control center, and so on).   We also had the chance to see a couple of alligators in the canal running alongside the road...those critters are apparently everywhere there is a body of water in Florida!   (I am staying out of the bath tub!)

On Monday we head to the "Magic Kingdom" for the day, and then take-off to the Miami area by mid-week.

Take care.
Don & Sandi

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