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Monday, May 11, 2015

I'm so glad we still have a space program. Florida pt. 5


Who knew that this trip would have provided so many days worth of blog posts? It's really awesome though. Instead of relaying every little tidbit of the trip, just trow it up on the blog and let everyone read it. 

I'm blogging and waiting for some Paleo brownies to come out of the oven. Kev asked for real brownies last night and it's all I can do not to dive into them. I figured a healthier option was better. Side rant, when people on Pinterest sat that brownies are "fudgy" it just beans they aren't cooked long enough. Seriously, say "these are fudgy because I like raw dough and you should too." The recipe I used called for them to be baked 25-30 minutes. I put them in for 30, then another 5. Kev ate a "fudgy brownie" and then I put them in for another 17 minutes until they were done. :/ That's just a half cooked brownie. 

Any who, back to my trip recap. We left Orlando early that morning and headed to Cape Canaveral to the Kennedy Space Center. We stopped for breakfast at some cute little breakfast place that also had a lot of home-made baked goods. As a side dish, instead of potatoes or fruit, you could get tiny danishes. Kev was in heaven.  We did discover that the bakeries in Florida aren't awesome. They tried really hard, but northern bakeries are so much better. 


Yes, I always have eggs, turkey sausage and potatoes. Here's another picture of them. I ate this same breakfast this morning when I met Kev for Brunch.

Also, when your husband rolls his eyes that you're taking yet another picture of your food, just shout, "I'm a blogger dammit! I need to take pictures of my food!" It's awesome at fancy restaurants.

On to out trip. Small confession, I really thought that we no longer had a space program before I went to Kennedy. Like, I was pretty sure that the end of the shuttle program meant that kids no longer grew up to be astronauts. Thankfully, that is NOT the case! I'm so relieved. I almost posted something ob FB about going to see the "remnants of our once great space program". I did take it down, but instead posted it here for so many more people to see....

We pulled into the parking lot and the nice lady told us that the first thing we needed to do was to take the bus tour, then go to the Atlantis building, then the IMAX. She was on point. That's absolutely the way to do it.

I think admission was $49 per person and it was worth every penny. 




We got our tickets and onto the bus, it took us to an enormous building where we learned all about the early days of the space program.

The organization of the tours was fantastic, they made sure you learned stuff and had the experience they wanted you to have. On the bus there were TVs that broadcast videos that talked about NASA and what we were about to see.


We  passed this enormous building where they build all the rockets. The picture doesn't do it justice, I think the bus driver said that the flag on the side of the building was 21 stories tall.

When we got to the building, we waited by some giant doors and when they opened, we were ushered into a room where we watched a movie. 

Then we were ushered into another room that simulated being at Houston during a take off. All the monitors and everything was original. It was pretty awesome.


After that presentation we got to see one of the ships, I have not idea which one, I was in awe at how enormous they were.


We also saw the moon lander. One of the cool parts was that all the patches created for the Apollo missions were hanging from the ceiling, The did kind gloss over Apollo 13, but it was OK, Tom Hanks already told me what happened there.


As with every park, you have to exit through the gift shop. On our way through, Kev and I saw they had astronaut ice cream and we had to give it a try.


I remember as a kid seeing a astronauts eating "space food" and they always talked about the space ice cream. I'm pretty sure it was on Reading Rainbow and I thought it was the coolest thing ever.


It wasn't bad! It was actually pretty tasty.

Before heading back to the other section, I found a space man and had my picture taken.


After seeing all there was to see, we got on the bus and headed over to see the Atlantis exhibit. Same thing, we were ushered into a room and forced to watch a move on how the space shuttle program was created. 

The coolest part was they put us in a room with a big screen that showed an amazing montage of the space shuttle. Then the screen became clear and behind it was the space shuttle Atlantis. The screen rose up and we were standing in front of the actual shuttle. It. was. awesome.


We also got to sit in a shuttle simulation and flip all the switches.



Call him the Captain.

Then I crawled into a tube thing with a bunch of kids and pretended I was in space.


There's so much more I could say about the Space Center but it was really one of the highlights of the trip. If you're in Florida, you have to go!

I also learned that the shuttle program ended because there wasn't anything left to do in low-orbit space, instead it's time to go further and head to Mars. We can't do that with a Space Shuttle, we need powerful rockets and to prepare people to be in space longer than ever before. Again, so happy we're still doing space stuff.

After visiting Kennedy, I read the Martian. It made SOOOO MUCH MORE SENSE than I think it would have if I hadn't just learned all about the space program.



We were all finished and and headed to out hotel in Daytona Beach, where the views were amazing. 



My team was making fun of me before we left for going to Daytona. They asked if it was 1994 and TRL would be there. Unfortunately not. I don't really understand why Daytona was such big Spring Break destination. Aside from the beach, it was kinda gross, a lot of leather bars. It's Florida, and humid, and leather, ewww... But at least the beach was super pretty.

Fun fact. these NASA shirts were $40 in the gift shop and $13 on Amazon. With Amazon Prime, it was in the mail box when I got home. I got Kev one too


We also got a the Apollo 13 mug, because, Tom Hanks.


In conclusion, the Kennedy Space Center was awesome. You should go there.

Linking Up! BLoved Boston

6 comments:

  1. This will totally happen the next time I go to Orlando. Now if I could get into that book...

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    1. I SWEAR, the book made SOOOO much more sense after going to the Space Center. They talked about all the things in the book.

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  2. I couldn't agree with you more about the "fudge brownies" too funny! And yessssss to Kennedy Space Center, amazing :)

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    1. LOVED the Space Center! It was one of the highlights of the trip. And yes, just call them under cooked. Admit you want to eat raw dough and own it. lol

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  3. I never minded trying space food either, it's actually pretty tasty! Enjoy the rest of your week!

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    1. I like freeze dried food more than I should. Freeze dry a fruit, I'll eat it.

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