After finding a site to view the launch and marking in on the GPS so we could find it again on Monday morning, we drove east from Titusville across to Merritt Island.
Merritt Island is home to the Kennedy Space Space Center. In most cases where the government needs large tracts of land for safety and security (such as rocket launching facilities, bombing ranges, and nuclear testing comes to mind), buffer areas in the vicinity make great wildlife refuges. Merritt island is no exception:
Turkey vulture.
Osprey on nesting platform.
Our first American alligator.
Tri-colored heron.
The kids find something in the shallows.
Tiny fiddler crabs.
Another tri-colored heron, actively chasing fish.
I think this wing flashing behavior startles its prey into moving.
Caroline, Andrew and I stayed in Cocoa, Florida for the the next few days. It was a cheap motel, but perfect for our needs. My first order of business was to find a good spot to view the launch. We drove to Titusville and found a park you can see the launch pads and massive Vehicle Assembly Building (525 feet tall, worlds largest one story building, and the worlds fourth largest building by volume) about 12 miles away. This was the closest we could watch the launch without a special pass and a very popular place to watch Shuttle Launches.
I talked to some friends of a friend who work at NASA and they were very helpful. Steve told me to go down the waterfront a few blocks to a large condo building. On the east side of the building, there was a grassy area where people could watch the launch. He also told me which pad to look at and what to expect at launch time. He sent me a few texts around the launch time and to make sure I was in the right area and doing ok. He was very helpful. With the launch viewing site scouted out and a parking spot scouted as well, we were ready to see some Florida wildlife.
I’m going to share some photos and stories of taking Caroline (6) and Andrew (3) to Florida for the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery on April 5, 2010. It was a big undertaking for a single dad to take two kids on such an ambitious trip but the trip went extremely well.
Except for when I got to the airport and realized that I forgot my backpack with my camera! While it would have been a good excuse to buy a new Canon 50D and 400mm prime lens in Florida, I saved myself an additional couple of thousand dollars thanks to my girlfriend who can drive really fast and short security lines at the airport. With backpack finally on my back, I literally ran with Andrew under my arm like a football and made it to the gate as they were boarding. In fact, the flight crew distracted the kids in the cockpit while I got settled in three seats near the back of the plane. Southwest Airlines is great!
Notice how they both wanted the left seat!
Besides the camera, I also forgot Lunchables and cold pizza. Southwest kept us satisfied with a nearly unlimited supply of crackers and peanuts and cookies.
The kids were great on the flight. I’ll take a middle seat between them any day!
We had a stop in St. Louis but didn’t have to change planes. The kids loved watching the ground crew working at Lambert-St. Loius International.
I think this is the Mississippi river full of barges. We saw what I think was the Missouri River west of St. Louis. I love figuring out where we are while flying but that ability is greatly diminished anywhere east of Texas where I rarely fly.
Andrew slept most of the way from St. Louis to Orlando.
Ready for Florida!
Look kids! The pilot deployed the spoilers!
Riding the people mover in the Orlando Airport.
Caroline dragged this huge suitcase and her backpack through the airport and to the rental car.
I dragged all this through the airport. Andrew was useful in pressing elevator buttons. The two car seats were in the plastic bag.
Settled in the rental car. We would spend a lot of time driving.
We had dinner with my niece Julianne near her dorm at the University of Central Florida. It was great visiting her!
We dropped Julianne off and checked into a motel in Cocoa Florida for the next few days.
Often in April we will see our first 90° day of the year but also we will see a final winter storm sweep through. The latter was true yesterday and we had a bit of rain (0.02 inches at the house, 0.07 inches at Warm Springs), a lot of wind, and a very cool day. When I left the house it was sprinkling and 45° and the official high was a record low: 56°.
Also, my friend Sean reported some sleet at our downtown office. Since he’s from upstate New York, I’ll assume he’s correct. Oh, he took pictures too:
See that white stuff on the fake grass that was rattling when it hit the ground. That’s sleet, kids. Consider yourself lucky you don’t see it all the time!
Record low maximum temperature set Thursday in Las Vegas…
The high temperature at McCarran International Airport only reached 56 degrees on Thursday April 22 2010. This broke the old record low maximum temperature… or coldest high temperature… for the date of 57 degrees set in 2003.
The above information is preliminary and is subject to a final review before being certified by the National climatic data center.
Great video of the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupting. I suggest watching the video in full screen and watch for some spectacular lightning at the end during a plinian eruption (named after Pliny the Elder’s observations of Vesuvius burying Pompeii). This video was shot for British Channel 4 News. Blogger Dean Armstrong has been in that valley (Þórsmörk). (Yes, I have always wanted to use Þ (the letter thorn) in a blog post!).
I took Caroline and Andrew to Florida for the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery and the trip was an amazing success. Here are a very few of the 1750 photos I took while in Florida. We flew into Orlando on Friday, watched the launch in the pre-dawn hours on Monday, did a quick trip to Disney’s Animal Kingdom, went to the beach in Juno Beach, drove to Key West and spent the day in the Florida Keys, and finally spent some time in Everglades National Park. I drove 1,675 miles in a rental car with the two children and we had a wonderful time. Here are just a few photo highlights. I hope to get more photos posted soon.
American Alligator near Orlando.
Shuttle Launch Pad Before Launch
Space Shuttle Launch
Space Shuttle smoke trail
Juno Beach
Endangered Key Deer on Big Pine Key
Pelican close up
Sunset in Key West
Dave, Andrew, and Caroline at Everglades National Park
All my current pets have scales. They are easy to take care of and they don’t mind if leave town for the weekend. However, sometimes I miss having a cat.
