Category Archives: Vacations

Day 10 – back to the space center

Posted on by
Reply

So today I spent driving back to KSC from Key West.  It’s still ridiculously hot and muggy – I didn’t sleep much at all last night.  Drove through a couple of rain showers and it was looking a bit nasty, but on arriving here in Cocoa, things are looking sunny again and the forecast calls for 80% chance of good weather for the 5:40 a.m. launch tomorrow.

I’m going to grab a bite to eat and relax a little before heading over to the space center around midnight.  And I’m staying in a hotel tonight – though I won’t actually be sleeping here – but it’s nice to hang out anyway.  I don’t know how people managed to live here before air conditioning – I’m a wimp.  Just standing in the shade I was sweating like crazy!

If all goes according to, the latest, plan I’m going to start the drive home tomorrow sometime late morning.  I figure I’ll come back and grab a couple hours sleep, take a shower, and hit the road.  We’ll see…

Day 9 – Dry Tortugas NP

Posted on by
Reply

So I spent the day at Fort Jefferson which is the main, OK really the only attraction besides birds, of Dry Tortugas NP.  It’s a pretty amazing place.  The fort was constructed from 1845-1874 and is the largest masonry fort in the world,  It consists of over 16 million bricks.  Most brought in from Pensacola, FL, but the upper courses (due to the Civil War), along with the granite all the way from New England.

DSC_0046

Today, it’s just a 2 hour boat ride in air conditioned comfort, but would still be a monumental undertaking to construct.  This was built in the mid 19th century when it took a sailing ship nearly a full day to reach this place, 70 miles west of Key West.  Can’t imagine how difficult it would have been to live here – and at its peak there were over 2,000 men, women and children living here.  Amazing!

STS-127 is now on track for a Wednesday morning launch.  So tomorrow, I’m heading back up the coast of Florida to KSC and will hopefully see a launch at the crack of dawn on Wednesday.  Keeping my fingers crossed!

Day 8 – Key West & Dry Tortugas, NP

Posted on by
Reply

So with the delay of the launch until Wednesday at the earliest, and there is a conflict that day with the launch of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), I have a few days to kill. Driving up to D.C. was out of the question given the distance, so I decided to head as far south as I could.

So, I’m in Key West – OK, not quite, as the campground is about 20 miles short of there.  But I’ll be heading over there bright and early tomorrow morning in order to catch the ferry for the day tour of Dry Tortugas NP.  It’s a small island group about 70 miles beyond Key West.  There was a fort there at one time and a tour is included with the trip.  I may do a little snorkeling as well.

I got here about 4:30 and wouldn’t you know as soon as I laid out my tent to set it up, a nice little thundershower passed through.  It only lasted about 10 minutes, but it was enough to soak the tent through since it was laying on the ground already.  Oh well, it’s nearly dry already, so it’s not the end of the world.  It’s also hot, of course, but there’s a fairly nice breeze blowing through occasionally, so hopefully it won’t be too bad.  I’m also hoping that being just 50 yards or so from the water will moderate the heat…

Day 6/7 – perhaps I’m jinxed

Posted on by
Reply

Rather than sitting at the steamy campground, I found a nice air conditioned theater to spend the evening in.  I went the the latest DisneyPixar movie, “UP”, which did not disappoint.  Then I saw “The  Taking of Pelham 123”; with Denzel Washington and John Travolta – Great flick!

DSC_0006

Then I was all pumped up for the launch of STS-127 and as I had to be at the visitor center no later than 2:30, I decided to head on over.  Along the way I pulled off Hwy 1 in Titusville at a place called Kennedy Point Park (there’s no park as best as I could tell).  In any case, it’s approximately 12 miles across the Indian River to the launch pad.  I snapped a couple of pictures including the one above which shows Endeavour on the launch pad in the center of the image and the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on the right-hand edge.

From there, I headed over to the visitor center which was only about a 15 minute drive.  I parked and got my gear situated; cameras, tripod, chair, bug repellant, snacks, book, iPod, etc…  As I was walking across the parking lot, I overheard a woman walking in the opposite direction utter that dismal word “scrubbed”.

That’s right, yet again, the mission I’m here for has been scrubbed.  And the best part is, at least according to initial reports, that it’s the same problem that scrubbed the launch of STS-119 when I was here in March!  Well, at least this time, I’ve got the time to hang out.  Only questions are; how long, and what am I going to do.  Time will tell..  They will meet Saturday morning to assess the issue and hopefully set a new launch date.  Looks like I won’t be going to D.C. this trip.

Day 6 – final leg to KSC

Posted on by
Reply

So today was a driving day from Cordele, GA to Titusville, FL near Kennedy Space Center.  I got here just after 4 this afternoon and got my camp situated, and now I’m sitting in the shade updating my blog and sweating profusely.  Supposedly it’s 89 degrees, but it feels like about 120 to me!  OK, the heat index says 96, for whatever that’s worth…

Anyway, I can’t handle this heat and it doesn’t look my campsite will have shade for a couple of hours.  So, like last night, I’;m going to go sit in the air conditioned comfort of a movie theater for several hours!  It works out fine, because I have to be at the space center by 2:30 a.m. anyway.  The launch is scheduled for 7:17 Saturday morning (Eastern time) – so they make sure everyone is there early in order to load up the buses and get people to the viewing site.  Hopefully they get us out there before sun-up, some pictures of the launch pad all lit up should be pretty cool.

That’s all for now, more to come after lift-off tomorrow!

Day 5 – Stone mountain, GA

Posted on by
Reply

Today was just another driving day for the most part.  On my way through Atlanta, I stopped at Stone Mountain Park just to snap a few pictures of this monumental carving.  I considered the hike to the top as it was only a little over a mile – but since it was 90+ degrees and ridiculously humid, I skipped it.

DSC_0018

I opted to get my driving done for the day and made it to my campground in Cordele, GA around 3:30.  I got situated in camp, but couldn’t take the heat so I went to a couple of movies, The Hangover and Land of the Lost.  Neither was spectacular, but I did enjoy the AC.  I’m back at the tent now, and with the sun down it has cooled off a bit, but its still humid.  Gotta love it!

Day 4 – Great Smoky Mountains NP

Posted on by
Reply

So, my plan called for one more night at the park, but I changed it up a bit after reviewing my plan for today and Thursday.  Instead of taking a drive through the park and returning to the campground and somewhat retracing my route tomorrow, I decided to just head for Georgia today.  I took the drive along the New Found Gap road, which connects the Tennessee side of the park to the North Carolina side.  Along the way was a side road up to Clingmans Peak which is the highest peak in the Smokies and the third highest east of the Mississippi.  Unfortunately, it was a very “smoky” day in the mountains, so the visibility was quite limited.  But still worth the hike up to the top.

DSC01346

After heading south out of the park, the big decision was where to spend the night – I was supposed to be in the park still.  I debated between campground and hotel and had nearly made up my mind to camp when it started to rain.  OK, a hotel sounds great!  So, I’m spending the night in Gainesville, GA, a little less than an hour north of Atlanta.  This will make what was going to be a long Thursday drive into only a four hour drive, so I may spend a little more time at Stone Mountain – depending on how the weather cooperates.

Day 3 – Great Smoky Mountains NP

Posted on by
Reply

Today I spent touring the Cades Cove area of the park – which is where I’m camping.  A “cove” here in the Smoky Mountains is essentially just a valley between two mountain ridges.  This area was first settled around 1820 – of course the Cherokee hunted these lands long before, just didn’t live in the area.  Interestingly, Great Smoky Mountains NP, is the only park (or one of very few at least) that was created out of almost entirely privately owned lands – most other parks were originally government owned land.   There are a few historic buildings (farms and churches) along the route, but given the volume of traffic on this route and the very limited parking areas, I didn’t visit any of those.

DSC01334

Instead, I hiked out to the falls on Abram’s Creek.  It’s about a 5 mile hike round trip that takes you through the woods along the creek and eventually down to the falls.  I’ll post some pictures in the next few days.

That was all the excitement I could handle for the day – I got back to my camp and did a little reading.  I’m currently reading “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson – which is a story of his travels on the Appalachian Trail.  I’ve read a couple other books he’s written and, as usual, this one doesn’t disappoint.

Day 2 – Driving

Posted on by
Reply

Well today was a driving day just getting over to Great Smoky Mountains NP.  It was about a six hour drive which was mostly uneventful.  The only excitement came about half way when I noticed some dark clouds along with a few flashes of lightning up in front, but off to the north of my route.  I was planning on stopping for gas and lunch anyway so wasn’t too worried.  I was driving with the top down though, so I did want to get there and put the top up.

I can now honestly say that, at speed in the rain (at least a little), you will still stay dry with the top down.  That’s right – I got rained on and stayed dry without a roof!  It may have been just the leading edge of the rain and a few stray drops, but the outside of the car was completely wet and there were maybe two drops on my seat when I pulled under a gas station canopy a minute later in London, Kentucky.  This was perfect timing however, as I stepped out of the car and started to pull the top up, the sky let loose and for about 30 seconds there was a torrential downpour.

From there I drove the rest of the way with the top up.  I arrived at my campsite about 6 this evening and got my campsite setup.  I’m staying at Cades Cove campground which is at the eastern end of the park.  There’s an 11 mile scenic loop drive that I’m planning to take tomorrow along which there is a short hike to a supposedly nice waterfall.

Time to hit the tent…