I'm so ready for spring, but I think the entire country is feeling that way. It was a long hard winter and it started far too early.
Hubby and I went to my conference last November in Florida. We flew down early once I found there was a night launch of Endeavor scheduled for November 14th. I got us a hotel on Cocoa Beach (88 degrees) and that night we simply walked out the back door to a restaurant on the pier where we had dinner and then pulled up a chaise on the beach and waited for launch time (7:55pm). It was an amazing thing to see (see pic above). First you see it, then you hear it and then you feel it. The shuttle lights up the spacecoast beach like it's the middle of the day and you can see that all eyes and cameras and cell phones are trained on that speck rising in the night sky.
Hubby and I went to my conference last November in Florida. We flew down early once I found there was a night launch of Endeavor scheduled for November 14th. I got us a hotel on Cocoa Beach (88 degrees) and that night we simply walked out the back door to a restaurant on the pier where we had dinner and then pulled up a chaise on the beach and waited for launch time (7:55pm). It was an amazing thing to see (see pic above). First you see it, then you hear it and then you feel it. The shuttle lights up the spacecoast beach like it's the middle of the day and you can see that all eyes and cameras and cell phones are trained on that speck rising in the night sky.
Otherwise we just relaxed and enjoyed seeing Cocoa Beach again as we haven't been there since 1972. The waves crashing sounded so good, the sand under your feet felt so good, the warm sea breeze never gets old and the seafood is to die for. It's a large port for cruise ships and I have to say I could have easily gotten on one. The day after the launch we visited Kennedy Space Center's Visitor Complex and I was very impressed. A little worried about what the shuttle experience ride was going to be like, but it wasn't as bad as I thought.
Back in the day (Summer of 1968) on a vacation to Florida with my family when I was a teenager we visited Kennedy space center and I remember my father driving us around the complex, right by the launch pads, not a person in sight, but no more.
Nowdays, as you enter the Visitor Complex you have to decide up front if you want to do a bus tour to see buildings, launch pads, etc. We had a great tour bus guide who showed us around the launch pad from the pervious nights launch, (garbage and chairs still intact) and some of the other sites on the island, such as the NASA Causeway, the Vehicle Assembly building, and the Shuttle landing strip as well as the site where the astronauts come out suited up to board the bus that takes them to the shuttle site. Once the tour ended we saw a movie about the history of space and walked under a restored Saturn V launch vehicle. Back at the Visitor Complex we saw an IMAX movie about doing a spacewalk outside the space station and NO THANKS, that's definately not for me.
In Orlando we stayed across the lagoon from Epcot at the Swan and Dolphin Resort (see pic above). I had one day to play, so we went to Epcot. DisneyWorld opened in Oct 1971, we were married that May and visited DisneyWorld the next summer (1972) for our honeymoon so a lot of things were new to us. We had a beautiful day doing the circle around Epcot and taking in all the shows they offer and took lots of pictures. We enjoyed the spaceship ride inside the large Epcot globe and afterwards sent the picture they took of us to family back home from computers they have as you exit the ride. Canada had a fantastic show in the round of sights and events in Canada, much like the one I remember at DisneyWorld in 1972 put on my Monsanto that made you feel as if you were a bird flying across the United States over the western mountains into the east coast fishing harbors. My favorite thing was after dark, listening to the Celtic group "Off Kilter" (bagpipes and all) on stage in Canada and singing along with the "British Invasion" doing Beatles songs at the UK pavilion. We stayed for the fireworks, but it was desperately cold that night and once finished we rushed to board the first water taxi back to the hotel. Our room had a balcony with Epcot view which was amazing every night at 9pm, but the entire time it was far too cold to just go out there and sit.
In Orlando we stayed across the lagoon from Epcot at the Swan and Dolphin Resort (see pic above). I had one day to play, so we went to Epcot. DisneyWorld opened in Oct 1971, we were married that May and visited DisneyWorld the next summer (1972) for our honeymoon so a lot of things were new to us. We had a beautiful day doing the circle around Epcot and taking in all the shows they offer and took lots of pictures. We enjoyed the spaceship ride inside the large Epcot globe and afterwards sent the picture they took of us to family back home from computers they have as you exit the ride. Canada had a fantastic show in the round of sights and events in Canada, much like the one I remember at DisneyWorld in 1972 put on my Monsanto that made you feel as if you were a bird flying across the United States over the western mountains into the east coast fishing harbors. My favorite thing was after dark, listening to the Celtic group "Off Kilter" (bagpipes and all) on stage in Canada and singing along with the "British Invasion" doing Beatles songs at the UK pavilion. We stayed for the fireworks, but it was desperately cold that night and once finished we rushed to board the first water taxi back to the hotel. Our room had a balcony with Epcot view which was amazing every night at 9pm, but the entire time it was far too cold to just go out there and sit.
The conference was good, but the hotels are so large that things were spread far and wide and finding your way around was another story. By the time you left one session to get to another in perhaps the other hotel, it had already started. This conference has grown very large in the 15 years I have attended with more than 3500 people attending and I expect it will only get worse.
