Thursday, July 04, 2013
Day 19 - Kennedy Space Center, July 4
Today
was our last full day. We got up early
and were on the road before 7. We drove
to Kennedy Space Center where we read we should expect to spend 5 hours
minimum. They were right. We got there just after 11. We started with the bus tour, first to an
observation deck, which wasn’t worth the stop, then to the Saturn V exhibit,
which was very impressive. We also ate
lunch at this location.
Next we
returned to the main visitor area. They
have just brought the shuttle Atlantis to a permanent display here. It was awesome to see and walk around the
shuttle. I’ll put up some photos when I
get home.
Then we
went to the shuttle launch simulator which gives you some of the sensations of
riding a shuttle during launch. We’d
heard it was very impressive, but it didn’t do so much for me. I enjoyed the description of the launch from
astronauts that rode on the shuttle more.
We
hurried to catch the Imax move we’d been hoping to catch at 4:00, but missed
it, so we finally left.
We
drove to downtown Cocoa, FL, where we planned to take in their 4th
celebration. We parked at city hall (in
5 spaces including the mayors). I
eventually checked with the police and several city councilmen and everyone
said it was okay. We made dinner, then
went down to the park and sat in our chairs and listened to their symphony
orchestra and then watched fireworks. It
was a nice 4th celebration.
Finally
we drove to our RV park in Cocoa.
Tomorrow we return the motorhome (which all the girls really like) and
then spend the rest of the day in airports and planes.
