I had the best time in Florida. The shuttle launch was as awesome as I had hoped it would be, and it was one of the coolest things I've done in my entire life. This blog post will not do justice to the memories and experiences I had there. This was seriously one of the best vacations ever with two of my favorite people of all time, and you lucky ducks (all 3 of you) get to read a play-by-play of my travel tales.
Day one started out with a horrific red-eye flight from LAX to Orlando. It was a rocky beginning to our eminent adventures, but we survived it alright. Upon arrival (day 2), Carin's uncle showed us an adorable small-town diner where we ate breakfast. We took a nap for a couple of hours, and then headed out to a Spring Training baseball game between the Astros and the Braves. It was awesome. We had lawn seats, so we took blankets and just relaxed in the sun. I got two semi-awesome things from that game. The first was wicked tan-lines. Short-sleeve shirts and capris leave all sorts of interesting marks on one's body. The second was a foul ball! After the ball was hit, it bounced a few times, smacked a kid in the face, bounced off a lady's shoulder, and rolled into my lap. It was wonderful.
The next day we ventured out to Disney World. We figured that the only thing we couldn't do in California was Epcot, so that was the park we went to. It was so much fun. We walked around to different cultures, ate delicious food, took goofy pictures, went on a mission to mars ride, and had a very pleasant day.
Day four brought a low-key, sleep-filled morning, an awesome canoe ride, and Good Friday service with Carin's aunt. The canoe ride was one of my favorite things about Florida. We took out two canoes, and I sat in the front of ours with T in the back "steering." We stopped to get cold beverages at a random swamp bar, which was hilarious to us. We took a picture. The trip was really fun, even though I went through every bush and tree in the river. Turns out steering a canoe is tricky business...haha. There was even a manatee that swam under our canoe. It was rad!
Day five T and I went to Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure. Carin couldn't go because her back is still healing from surgery, but we had a good time even though our trio was down a player. It was an awesome day full of roller coasters, hilarious pictures, and a lot of great conversations. My favorite part of the day? Making T sit on the pink bird on the Dr. Seuss carousel. Awesome.
Day six was Sunday, and we drove out to see the Orlando Temple. Afterward we walked around some Botanical gardens and "listened" to conference. By listened, I mean sleep. Needless to say, I have some catching up to do.
Day seven really started at 11pm the night before, when we left for the Kennedy Space Center. We had to be in the parking lot at 12 midnight, so we got there and ended up hanging out in the car for a few hours before they let us board the buses for the causeway. Carin and T slept a little, but I was so excited I just laid there. After waiting in line, we boarded the buses, blew up our air mattresses, and hung out on the causeway for a few hours. They were broadcasting the communication between mission control and the Discovery shuttle, so we got to listen to that. It was so cool!!! There were a few moments that the launch had "no go" status, but they fixed everything and it launched at 6:21am. It was beautiful. I have never grinned so big in my entire life. The rest of the day we explored the Kennedy Space Center (including the Apollo 11 walkway!!!) and then went home for an early bedtime.
Day eight we took an air boat swamp ride. It was AWESOME! We saw so many alligators, and it was really slick cruising through the swamps of Kissimee. There was even a gator that did the death roll right next to my side of the boat. I was nervous about the swamp boat ride at first, but we were up high enough and had a really good guide that I was able to chill out and enjoy it. After that, T and I went back and explored the KSC and the astronaut hall of fame some more. We also went out to the manatee refuge, but didn't see any. It's all good, though. One swam under our boat!
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