Last October/November we went on a trip to Orlando hoping to see one of the last shuttle launches. Discovery was set to launch on November 1st, but because of complications it was delayed. Launch viewing attempt #1...failure! So after much debate, David decided we should try again for the Endeavour launch. He put his name into the lottery drawing for tickets, but wasn't selected. He read about a few tour bus companies that also had tickets for sale. David sat on their website for nearly a full day trying to buy tickets before he finally received confirmation. Set of 4 launch tickets $600!
April 27th
We had planned to have the car packed and ready to go when Nich got out of school at 3pm so we could surprise him on the way. Unfortunately, two days before, my car decided to leak oil into the brake system and needed to be repaired. We were told it could possibly be ready to go by 4pm. We finally got a call at 5:45p saying it was ready. We ended up leaving 3 1/2 hours later than planned, but Nich still had no idea. He saw that the car was packed, but wasn't sure where we were going. I made little clue cards for him and every hour that he was awake he was given one. He's smart I tell ya! Had it figured out by the 5th clue and they weren't super easy either!
April 28th
We pulled into our hotel in Orlando around 3pm. Today would be a lazy day. David and I both needed the rest after driving straight through, almost 20 hours.
April 29th -- Launch Day ...more like wasted day!
The bus was set to leave at 6am. First we'd be taken to the KSC (Kennedy Space Center) where we could look around for a bit while the bus went through security. Since we had been there only a few months before nothing was really new so we just walked around for a bit until it was time to board the buses again. We were told to be back at our boarding site by 9:45a. That was the most unorganized mess I have ever seen! 5,000 people all trying to get back on the same bus of 50 people they rode there with (a requirement) at the same time! Crazy madness!!
After weaving through a line for what seemed like a million miles, we were eventually back to our bus. We had to sit on this bus for another 2 hours in the parking lot before we even moved an inch! Finally we started to move, thinking we were on our way to the Causeway. The Causeway is an area 6 miles from the launch pad. It's the closest the public can get to it unless you are media or family. Their VIP viewing site is 3 miles from the launch pad. Anyhow, we start to move and our tour guide comes on the speaker saying the launch was scrubbed. There was an issue with the heaters on one of its power units, critical for powering the hydraulic system on the shuttle's return to Earth.
So here we were on a bus for the majority of the day, all for naught and we still had to make the trip back to the hotel. Going to KSC wasn't that big of a deal. Going back to the hotel was another story. Imagine all expected 700,000 viewers trying to take the only 2 roads out of the KSC area. The trip back took 5 hours! I had never been more ready to get off of a bus than then! Where's that private jet when you need it?!
We were told the earliest the shuttle would launch would be Sunday afternoon. Only a short time later it was moved back even further to Monday at 2:33p. If it did indeed launch on Monday, David and I decided we'd go ahead and wait it out. At this point I was frustrated. I had already planned to spend Saturday and Sunday with Sherman, Nichole and Kenzi at the beach. I hadn't seen them since Christmas and was really looking forward to it. Those plans were scrubbed right along with the shuttle. I was not a happy camper!
April 30th
We decided we'd make the most of our trip since we had some time to kill. NASA wouldn't be making a final decision until the next morning and we were all tired of being in the car so we wanted to find something local. On our last trip we went to Disney so this time we decided on Sea World Orlando, about 15 minutes away. The kids really enjoyed it. We sat in the "Soak Zone" for the Shamu show. About halfway through Hayden had enough of that so we moved up a bit.
We all rode the Shamu Express and David and Hayden rode one of the water rides while Nich and I waited. I'm not fan of walking around in wet jeans and my shoes were already soaked, icky!
We saw a featured Jack Hanna show. He brought out a bobcat, a lynx, a marmoset, a couple of foxes, a few owls, a sloth, and a cheetah. All pretty interesting.
The kids got to pet some sting rays, tried to pet dolphins, and fed the sea lions.
The dolphin show was incredible! They had so much going on at once it was sensory overload! Flying parrots, jumping dolphins, acrobats, music. Fascinating! We all really enjoyed that one.
Overall we had a great time, but the turtle exhibit was pretty disappointing. I was expecting to see a few sea turtles, but all they had were two little land tortoises.
After Sea World we had dinner at Cracker Barrel. Nich and I watched some sky writing then went for ice cream. Then we waited for it to cool down some before taking the kids to play miniature golf. They had so much fun! It was Hayden's first time and he loved it! I still suck. David and Nich both beat me. I barely beat Hayden....he's 4!
May 1st
Woke up to the news that the shuttle would not launch on Monday after all and since Nich couldn't afford to miss anymore school we had to head home. Second attempt at seeing the launch...failure! There's always a silver lining though. I got to see Sherman and his family! On our way back home we stopped in Pensacola to have dinner with them at Logan's. So happy to see them even though it was only for a couple of hours! Miss them like crazy!!
Maybe we just weren't meant to see the launch live. Thank goodness for NASA tv! We'll enjoy the launch from home now and, although it's not the same, at least we can say we tried....twice!
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