Spring Break - Universal Studios Day 4

The next day we left Universal Studios and City Walk and headed to NASA! We rented a car and drove the 45 minutes to Kennedy Space Center. The weather was hot, but I preferred that to rain.

The first picture was with the iconic clock.

They have an area called the Rocket Garden. There are rockets (duh) and then capsules for people to climb in.

There is a reason astronauts can not be taller than 6 feet.

All the capsules had plaques to explain the missions. I loved it, but was more worried about getting pictures and keeping an eye on the kids. I would have loved more time.

This sums up the visit. Colin LOVED the KSC. He was so into everything, and asked questions and listened to each presentation. He was the most curious. Kevin was tired and hot, and didn't really enjoy the visit. Gwyn was a bit too young to really grasp it all.

All the kids in the shuttle capsule.

As we were on the bus tour, we finally saw an alligator! This is a picture from the bus window, using zoom. We weren't that close. The bus drive told stories of NASA employees finding gators under their cars in parking lots and in the hallways. We were on a bus because there are two different sites at the KSC. The bus ride between the sites was about 30 minutes, and went past launch sites and buildings. We saw the giant vehicle that transports the shuttle from the building to the launch site. It moves about 1 miles an hour, and takes two days to get to the location. Because it moves so slowly, and this is Florida, there are turtles every where. Which means that two people walk alongside the shuttle as it moves, and pick up turtles and move them out of the way. Colin and I both loved this detail. He still talks about it. I also liked that the river rocks that the transporter travels over are completely pulverized under the weight, and need to be replaced each time.

This is the building the rocket is assembled in, and those doors are the tallest doors in the US. They take about an hour to open all the way.

Giant transporter on the river rocks.

Gwyn was so tired and bored, she got one of her "last sucks" on her thumb. (That is what she always says when we tell her to stop sucking her thumb. She stopped at her 6th birthday, and this trip was two weeks before her birthday.)

This is in the second location, at a memorial for Apollo 1.

Gwyn is walking on the moon.

Colin walking. Kevin was too grumpy to get his picture taken.

Touching a piece of the moon.

Moon rover. I like the design of the wheels.

Apollo capsule

Gwyneth took this picture of us.

All the kids loved the water feature at the entrance. It has stars on a giant stone sphere, and can rotate and spin.

Super cool moment - Kevin actually traveled for work to help with this little black piece!

There was a computer simulation about docking at the space station. Of course Kevin (husband) did so great at it. He was proud.

Kevin actually did something!

Kevin had just finished a unit about Mars, so he got his picture with the rovers.

One last family photo... looking into the sun.

After spending the day at Kennedy Space Center, we drove to Melbourne to visit friends. Bryan and Jess moved a few months ago, and Universal is less than an hour away from their new house. Bryan now works at Boeing South, and they just moved into their new home. They cooked us tacos for dinner, and Jess made the best guacamole I have ever had. (I ate an embarrassing amount of it.) But we had to get back to the hotel and get some rest. It had been a long day.

On the way back to the hotel.