Epcot and Kennedy Space Center

Tuesday, 12/22/15 - It was an easy travel day to Orlando (only 129 miles).  All we had to deal with was the traffic.  Turns out Christmas is a very busy time in Orlando.  We parked in one of our Thousand Trails parks.  This is the biggest one we have been in and very hard to find a parking place.  They have a lot of games here - pickle ball, horseshoes, pools, playgrounds, etc; and even wildlife -turtles, frogs, and even a few gators.  But no cable TV or internet.  We got excellent antennae reception and I have internet on my phone so we are good.

Wednesday, 12/23/15 -Here we are at Epcot Center.

Epcot front entrance

Prices have gone up since I was here 17 years ago. We bought a 2 day pass for Tom and I to only this park.  Our tickets were $408 plus $40 parking fees for two days.  We went through the rides on the right side - Nemo and his friends (45 min wait); Soaring (2 hour wait); and Journey into Imagination (25 min wait).  Each ride is accompanied with interactive hands on areas for the kids and of course a gift shop.  Then we headed to the countries surrounding the lake.

In Canada, we watched a circle-rama movie about the country narrated by Martin Short.  It was beautiful.  In England we admired the structures and the shopping.  In France we bought pastries at the patisserie.  In Morocco I saw beautiful dancing outfits for girls,  Here are pictures of the buildings.

Morocco courtyard

Morocco buildings

 In Japan, we were entertained by native girl drummers.  The Pagoda building was beautiful.

Japanese pagoda

In America, we watched a historical movie about our country. Much of what we saw we had already experienced in our travels. Of course, it made me cry.  We walked through Italy and Germany - only shopping here.  China was one of my favorites.  The buildings are beautiful.

In one of them we saw this...

Tomb Warriors

and horses and carts

The Tomb Warriors of the Qin Dynasty (221-210 B.C.).  These warriors were modeled after the actual warriors that guarded the tombs of the emperors.  When they were discovered in an archeological dig and uncovered, they were life size.  This is a model of what was dug up.


Beautiful jade carvings and other artifacts were also on display.

Jade artifact  

Night has fallen now, here is China at night.

China at night

In Norway, we were entertained by actors.

Norway singers

  In Mexico, Chichen Itza was lit up at night.

Chichen Itza in Mexico

As we were leaving, I shot these nighttime pictures of Christmas decorations.

Epcot Christmas decor

Epcot Ball and Christmas decor

 All of the countries around the lake were lit up, but my camera did not take good pictures at night.  This is an amazing park.  Every country had a Kid Fun Stop, and of course shopping of the native country.  We ran out of time and will come back tomorrow for finish up.


Thursday, 12/24/15 - Back to Epcot Center for about a half day tour.   This time we went to the left side from the entrance.  Test Track (85 min wait); Mission Space (45 min wait); and Ellen Degeneres' Energy Adventure (no wait); Space Ship Earth (the Big Ball in front) (20 min wait).  Tom especially enjoyed Test Track put on by G.M.  Here is a picture of a concept car of the future...

Chevy Concept Car--En-V

Concept car opened up

 It is run on sensors and needs no driver.  Actually Tom and I designed a concept car for our Test Track ride and came in 2nd.   My favorite ride was the Mission Space - the visuals and the feelings of actual launching into space were great.

After we had done all four rides, I went shopping at the Mouse Gear shop and Tom went back to Test Track to re-design a car to try and get 1st place.  Since he was a single, he got through the 'single' line very fast.  I bought Mom a birthday gift and sat outside in the warm, but humid, sun and waited for Tom.  He wasn't very long, and he came in 2nd again.   We were both tired, so decided to go back to the RV.   We spent the evening watching 3 sappy Christmas movies and I called my family back home.  Felt a little 'homesick' as our kids and grandkids were at Kathie's in southern California; Dad and Liz were in Texas at Liz's daughter's house; and Karen and Bob were at their kids house in northern California; and we are here in Florida.  Next year, we will have to double-celebrate.

Friday. 12/25/15 (Christmas Day) -  no travel or tours today.  We did laundry and cleaned the RV.  Merry Christmas!

Saturday, 12/26/15- A short travel day.  Today we traveled from Orlando to Cocoa Beach (only 65 miles), but slow as the roads around Orlando were jammed.  As soon as we got out of Orlando, things moved again (I think a lot of kids got a trip to Disney World for Christmas).  We are only here in Cocoa Beach for two nights, for the purpose of visiting the Kennedy Space Center.

Sunday, 12/27/15 - Tom and I left for Cape Canaveral to see the Space Center.  Low and behold, the Kennedy Space Center is not at Cape Canaveral, it is on Merritt Island, about 9 miles north of Cape Canaveral.  We arrived  around noon to find a large crowd here too.  We bought our admission tickets ($50 each), but could not get on any guided tours as they were all sold out by ten o'clock a.m.  Just past the entrance gate, you are greeted by the rocket garden.  

The Rocket Garden

I looked at the schedules and thought we would be better to get into the  IMAX movie first.  We went there first, but had to wait about 45 minutes for our turn to get into the theater, and then a 40 minute film.   It was all about exploration of space with lots of pictures from the Hubble telescope--Great. Next we went into the Exploration of Mars building.  This was a walk-through display, and very interesting.  In the center of the buildings, I spied this used Apollo capsule.

Used Apollo capsule

I must stop here and explain some of what we learned here at the NASA Kennedy Space Center. First a little history of the space race--The first flight into space was the Russian satellite Sputnik in 1957. That flight seemed to scare the Americans into getting into the space race.  At first, everything that Americans tried ended in failure.  Then Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space in April, 1961. Again, the Russians were way ahead.  Then, finally, America put Alan Shepard into space in May, 1961 aboard a Mercury spacecraft Freedom 7.  Shepard was one of the original 7 Mercury astronauts, many of whom have become famous.  Shepard also flew later on Apollo 14 as commander.  Through the Mercury program, the Gemini program, and finally the Apollo program, Americans most definitely took the lead in the Space Race. Finally in July of 1969, Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.  Between 1969 and 1972, the U.S made 6 manned landings on the moon (and numerous unmanned landings),  To date, the U.S. is the only country to have successfully conducted manned missions to the moon.

The Apollo program ceased in 1972 and NASA focused on the next phase--a reusable manned spacecraft.  The first space shuttle, Columbia, was launched in April of 1981, almost exactly 20 years after the first American, Alan Shepard, was launched into space.  The main focus of the manned shuttle flights was to build the International Space Station (ISS).  Over the next 30 years (1981 to 2011) the space shuttles made 135 flights, 133 of which were successful.  Two failures were Challenger-launch failure (7 fatalities); and Columbia-re-entry failure (7 fatalities).  Over this long period of time, the ISS was built and added-on-to many times, and research done on the ISS has improved our quality of life immensely.  Now that the Shuttle program is closed, NASA is focusing again of something new--manned exploration of deep space.  They are now undertaking the Orion program, and planning to put a manned spacecraft on the surface of Mars and return the men safely.  It will be a 2 year voyage, and is targeted to be launched in the 2030's.  How exciting is that!

Full Orion Rockets and spacecraft model
The rockets are smaller but 3 times more powerful than the Saturn V that launched Apollo

Orion capsule
Larger than Apollo capsules

Back to my log...Tom and I waited in line about an hour for a bus tour of the Space Center.  We were taken on a drive-by the Vehicle Assembly  Building (VAB). My picture isn't very good as I was in a moving bus.  You can see a good one on http://www.nasa.gov/content/vehicle-assembly-building-at-kennedy-space-center.

Vehicle Assembly Building

Then we were taken to the Saturn V building where a full (all stages) rocket is on display laying on the floor horizontally.  The three-stages of the rockets total over 281' in length; plus the service module and the command module.  That is why NASA needs a 526' tall VAB  to stand up the completed spacecraft and launch platform (the tallest one story building in the world).   Here are some pictures of the Saturn V rocket.

The Saturn V rocket exhausts

Saturn V stages

Apollo Command module and capsule

 
By the time we finished the tours at the launch pad and were bussed back to the Visitor Center, it was 6:30 p.m.  We left and headed back home.  It has been a long day, and we still have to stop for dinner and at the grocery store.   So here I am--writing this blog.  Tomorrow is another travel day.  Can't wait to see waits for us next.

St. Augustine, FL

Friday, 12/18/15 - A long travel day to St. Augustine, FL (about 279 miles).  About 1/2 hour out, we blew a left rear tire on the Jeep on the freeway.  We pulled into the beginning of an offramp with extra room, and Tom changed the tire on the freeway.  It looked like we must have hit something, as it blew a 2" round hole in the sidewall of the tire.  Then we had to find a tire shop and buy a new tire.  That little incident cost us 1 1/2 hours, and put us into our next campground at dark, around 6:13 (just 12 minutes before closing).

Saturday, 12/19/15 - Tom and I headed into St. Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied city in the U.S.

Entering St Augustine over the Lions Bridge

 It was founded in 1564, 43 years before Jamestown, and 56 years before the pilgrims sailed on the Mayflower and landed in Plymouth.  Of course, "In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue", but the fact is he never landed in what is now the U.S.--he landed in San Salvador in the Bahamas.  The residents of St. Augustine are very protective of their "oldest city" title.

We headed to Ripley's Believe or Not where we boarded the Little Red Train for a tour of the city.  First stop were the city gates.  Here they are.

Gate opened in 1739

City Gate Pillars

The pillars that remain were the supports for the drawbridge that was the single entrance to the city.  Beside the pillars, a wall of logs standing end to end surrounded the town and strectched to the fort.  Outside the pillars ran a moat that stretched from the Castillo (fort) westward to the San Sebastian River.  Each night the guards closed the gates which were not opened again until the following morning.

Gate with log wall to Fort in background

Wood wall extended to the Fort

It turns out that this city was on the route from South America, up through the Caribbean Islands and the Florida Coast, then across the Atlantic to the Old World.  When gold and silver and precious gems and spices were discovered in South America, the route to and from the Old World became a hotbed of pirates.  Also, the British wanted St. Augustine and the surrounding lands for themselves, so they continuously attacked St. Augustine in efforts to take it away from the Spanish.  The Brits burned the city and the forts down twice over a period of 150  years until the founding settlers and the Spanish military decided to put up a stone fort to protect the city.  The walls are built of coquina (shells compacted over time  by the earth and compressed into hard ground (similar to granite).

Coquina blocks for a wall

coquina in the wall

The coquina came from the quarries at Anastasia island  (where our campground is located), just outside St Augustine.  It worked.  Over many battles both by the English and the French, this territory remained Spanish and the walls were never breached.  A cannon ball could only dent it, and during the night the defenders would patch it and repaint it white so that the invaders would see that there was no damage.  Spain finally gave up the Florida territory to the independent American colonies on July 10, 1821  by treaty.





We crossed the street and walked through the fort--Castillo De San Marcos (the castle of San Marcos).

The fort is the most imposing structure in St. Augustine.

panorama shot of the Fort - Notice the cannons on the wall

 Here is the inside drawbridge.

inside drawbridge

 Inside we saw the guard quarters and a Spanish medical man showing the tools of the trade.

Guard quarters

Spanish Medic and his tools

Across the bay we watched a pirate ship coming in.

pirate ship

After the fort, we re-boarded the red train for more of the town.  Pretty soon, we came across the most beautiful church - the Presbyterian Church built by Henry Flagler in honor of his deceased daughter.

Flagler church

Another side of the Flagler Presbyterian Church

Inside the Flagler Church

Flagler came to St. Augustine in the early 1800's and fell in love with the city.  He brought his great wealth to Florida (he made it in the oil boom times--Standard Oil).   He built churches, hotels, and a railroad that eventually ran all the way to Key West (now replaced by Highways).    Here is his first hotel, the Ponce De Leon Hotel - now a college; and his second hotel, the Alcazar Hotel - now City Hall and a museum.

Ponce De Leon Hotel-
now a college

Alcazar Hotel-
now City Hall and museum

Back on the train to see more.  We almost ran out of time, as the train stops running at 3:00.  We had to get off and take a shuttle back to our car.  We will come back tomorrow to see more.  I really love this quaint city.


Sunday, 12/20/15 -Tom and I are back to St. Augustine, this time for shopping and good food.  We parked the car and walked about 3 blocks to the City Gates and through to St. George street, a walking street with lots of shops of good, and restaurants and taverns.  Bought a couple of items and had a great hamburger.  We walked for quite a long time, and I ran out of gas.  My back was done, so we had to head back to the car. Drove to the Old Jail , and the Fountain of Youth (the purpose of the voyage of Ponce De Leon in 1513), but both were tourist traps, and nothing but junk stores.  I caught a picture of an old cannon outside that I liked.

old cannon

That is all for St. Augustine.  Back to the RV.

Monday, 12/21/15 - A catch up day.  I needed a day to gather documents for the purpose of buying the new house.  I also needed to catch up this blog.  Tom and Mom went to the lab and had Mom's lab work done.  Mom is doing very well, and her labs are coming in very well.  Then Tom ran errands to the hardware store.  Tonight, of course, we will watch "Miracle on 34th Street".

Myrtle Beach and Hilton Head, SC

Friday, 12/11/15 - Traveled to Myrtle Beach, SC - Lakefront Campground.  Wow - the largest campground we have ever been in - over 1700 sites - it is a city on the beach.  They had every possible amenity possible, and the paperwork to check in took the trophy for the most paperwork.

Karen: I saved the 'book' on this one as you will not believe it (most campgrounds give you a fold up one page of stuff, this one gave us a book).

Saturday, 12/12/15 - Called my cousin, Darryl, and made arrangements for us to meet Patti and him for breakfast.  We ate, talked, ate some more, and talked some more.  It was so good to see them.  I have not seen either of them since they left California more than 24 years ago.  After breakfast, we got a tour of the surrounding area by Darryl.  He and Patti are so happy here.  They especially like Surfside Beach, which is next to Myrtle Beach.  We stopped on the boardwalk of the next beach up, and had drinks.  More touring, then dinner at their favorite dinner house.  Then we went back to the RV.  What a great day!

Sunday, 12/13/15 - Had an eventful morning.  Tom was unloading root beer from the dinette seat and hit the hinge on the seat.  You got it - root beer everywhere - inside the seat compartment and running all over the floor and under the slide.  My sister, Karen, can certainly relate to this.  Both Tom and I on the floor cleaning up the mess.  Our plans were to get a load or two of laundry done this morning, but the root beer took precedent.  We did not get over to Darryl and Patti's until noon.  By then, Darryl was cooking his pasta fazoul (sp?) - it is a soup, and it smelled wonderful.  We had lunch with them at their house, and then spent the rest of the day with them - lots to talk about.  Their house is really nice and everything they need.  Darryl also cooked dinner - he fixed shrimp scampi of a sort.  It was delicious.

Two great days with them, and so good to get caught up with their lives, and our family in general. They promised to look us up next time they are in California.

Monday, 12/14/15 - Travel day to Hilton Head, SC.  It seemed like a very long drive, although it was only 200 miles, but many of them were through small towns with 35 mi speed limit.  Didn't get in until 5:00, just in time to check in (actually we had 8 minutes to spare).  This campground is the most beautiful we have ever had.  Beautiful landscaping, stamped concrete pads, metal furniture, umbrellas, etc. Everything you might like to have.

This is our site

Pool across from us

Tuesday, 12/15/15 - Catch up day.  Tom and I drove into town for a car wash (boy, did the Jeep need it after 4 months on the road), banking, haircut, and groceries.  Back to the RV and do all of the laundry.  While the laundry was running, we sat and talked to the residents who live here.  They were having a 'cookie trade 'in the clubhouse for Christmas.  We met some really nice people from all over the U.S.  Many of them sold their homes and moved permanently into this park by buying the space and putting their motorhome on it.  They were very happy with it all.

Wednesday, 12/16/15 - Tom and I drove into Savannah to see the sites.  Tom was born here, but left as a baby.  The city seemed very old to me.

Central Savannah walkway

Many of the historical sites were not restored.  All of the trees are covered with Spanish Moss.  We stopped at the Visitor Center and got directions to one of the best old homes and a plantation.  First we went to the Owens-Thomas house and took a tour.  Here are some pictures.

Front of Owens-Thomas house

Back of Owens-Thomas house and slave quarters in back

If this is the best house to see (per the Visitor Center), then I don't need to see anymore.  Tom felt the same.  We headed to the plantation.  We arrived at the Wormsloe Plantation, which was about 13 miles out of town.

road within the plantation

Entrance to Wormsloe Plantation

This was a National Historical Site and the ranger told us what we could see - mostly trees, and restored out buildings, such as slave quarters, and smithy.  I asked about the plantation house and he told me that it was sold to a private party and was not open for touring.  What a big disappointment!  And, why didn't the lady at the visitor center tell us that? We went home.

After we got home, we checked the schedule as saw that the next stop was the wrong direction.  It was north, and we are headed south.  I guess I goofed when I put the schedule together and mixed up these two stops.  Maybe that is why the drive to Hilton Head seemed so long.  We decided to cancel the next stop, which is Fort Sumpter and Charleston.  Fort Sumpter was the first shot of the Civil War, fired by the Confederates.  I guess we have seen enough cannons for this trip.  So we extended our time here at Hilton Head Island for one day, and will leave for Jacksonville, FL on Friday.

Thursday, 12/17/15 - I really needed this quiet day.  I got documents signed off to escrow for the purchase of the house.  I got on the phone and made reservations through Florida, and for New Orleans.  I didn't expect to run into such a problem getting campgrounds in Florida in December and January - it is high season.  All of the campgrounds on my schedule were full, and I had to spend a lot of time calling other campgrounds.  Luckily, I was able to get it all done, and my email and Blog caught up.  It only took 5 hours on the computer and the phone.  UGH!

Appomattox, VA

Tuesday, 12/8/15 - a travel day.  We left Williamsburg and headed to Appomattox.  The campground wasn't much, but the biggest problem was no internet, no cell service - and we were there for 2 nights.  Oh well, tomorrow we go to Appomattox.

Wednesday, 12/9/15 - Tom and I went to Appomattox National Park.  It turned out to be a very good and interesting day.  We went to the Appomattox Court House (visitor center) and met the park ranger and walked through the upstairs museum.  We also saw a 24 minute film which was just made this year, as a celebration of the 150 years since the signing of the surrender of Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.

In the museum, they had many artifacts from the men who fought in the war; swords, guns, sashes, and flags, among other things.  What touched me the most were the individual stories of some of the men.  One of them was 19 yr old Lt. Charles Minnigerode. On the morning of April 9th, 1865 (the afternoon of Lee's surrender), Minnigerode was struck by a bullet which passed through his body, knocking him from his horse.  The General in charge, ordered the company surgeon to attend to young Minnigerode.  The surgeon pronounced that his wound was mortal, and left him sitting up against a tree, and left.  While sitting there, the young man wrote out a last note to his family on a small scrap of paper: "My darling Mother--I am dying but I have fallen where I expected to fall.  I suffer agonies, would to God I could die calmly, but--In all things I must see His will be done.  My greatest regret in leaving this world is to leave you and the rest of the dear ones.  The younger children will be more comforting to you than I have been, but none of them will"...love you more."

The note remained in the family for over 140 years, and then was donated to the museum.  The title of the presentation read, "It is a terrible thing to die on the last day of the war".  Actually, he did survive his wound and went home. 

Another presentation was of three brothers, the Brown brothers.  All of them served throughout the entire war from 1861-1865, and in fact, fought in the last battle at Appomattox.  All three survived the war, and lived out their lives into their eighties.  The odds must be astronomical of three brothers all surviving, when 2-3% of the total population of the U.S. (about 700,000 men)died.  

We met the Ranger outside on the stage road, who explained how the battle happened.  The road behind him went east to Lynchburg and that is were the Union troops were camped.  Directly in front of him, the road heads west to Richmond, where Robert E. Lee and his army was camped.  The road was a regular stage route at the time.  Then he took us to the McLean house (to his right) to let us tour the famous parlor where Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant sat down to settle the terms of surrender and sign.

Ranger on the stage road

Appomattox did not see a lot of fighting during the war, but had the last 2 day battle around the hills surrounding Appomattox Court House.   When General Lee was surrounded by the Union Army, headed by Ulysses S. Grant, he retreated to the west.  As he moved his army, Grant followed and cut off his escape routes as they moved.  At Appomattox, Lee saw an opening to the west, but when he went to take it, he was cut off by General Custer (yes, the same Custer of Little Big Horn).  Since he was completely surrounded by Union troops, he had no choice but to offer up his surrender.  President Lincoln had given Grant orders to give "Malice to None" and ordered Grant  to let the men go home, as long as they agreed to give up their armaments and agree never to raise their arms against the U.S. again.  

Grant sent word to Lee to select a meeting place to sign the agreements.  Lee selected the McLean house in Appomattox, mainly because it had a parlor (not many farmers had such a splendid home).  Lee met Grant at the McLean house, they shook hands, and Lee asked Grant to write out the terms of the surrender.

The famous handshake

Grant sat down at a small table, and wrote out the terms in pencil.  Then scribes (men with very good handwriting skills) re-wrote the agreement and both Generals signed.  It was over at about 3:00 in the afternoon of April 9th.  It took 3 days to disarm the Confederate Army and give all the men (30,000 in the Confederate Army) pardons, so they could go home without risking further battles.  You see, without the internet or television, it would take a long time for everybody to get the news.  

Then  we were able to go through the McLean house.  It was completely restored in 1948, and is maintained by the National Park Service.  

McLean house (well out front)

General Lee table

General Grant table

We also went in the back of the house, where there were two outbuildings, the summer kitchen and the slave quarters (housed 2 families).

The pardons (all 30,000 of them) were printed up at the tavern in town.  They brought in 3 printing presses to get the job done in 3 days.  

2 of the presses 

After the tours, we went back to the Courthouse to talk to the ranger some more.  He was very interested in our trip, and even suggested other places of interest for us.  He was also interested in the history we had already seen.  It was a very good day.

Thursday, 12/10/15 -  A travel day.  Off to Four Oaks, NC.  It is just a one night stay (no tours), and back on the road tomorrow to Myrtle Beach, SC to meet up with some of my family.