Trip Preparations

Hard to believe our trip to Spain is right around the corner!  But it is and we have a few things to get in order before we leave.
You know, important things like getting haircuts, pre-paying bills, and shopping for those last minute things that may not be available in Spain.

There won't be any exciting things to post before we leave.  So this will be it until we have updates from our travels.

But to tide you over, here is our itinerary (sans specific dates for obvious reasons).

The key event of this trip is the FSU Cruise (from Barcelona to Lisbon) and since we wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to visit these countries, we've planned a few days and adventures in each of the major cities.

You may have seen Spain mentioned in the news in the past few days.  They are experiencing some of the same economic and unemployment challenges we are.  Protests have been set up in the big cities of Madrid and Barcelona as their election approaches.  Hopefully it will all be resolved by the time we arrive. 

We fly into Madrid and will spend four days there.  We have several tours scheduled and are really hoping we will be able to see a bullfight.  Interestingly, our hotel isn't too far from where the (what appear to be relatively peaceful) protesters are camped out. 

From Madrid we'll take the train to Barcelona and spend four days there.  More tours have been scheduled as well as a cooking class (which includes a trip to the local market). 

We hop on the ship in Barcelona.  Our first FSU cruise was five years ago and we met some great people who we (Frank) had many "small world" experiences with.  Sadly, they aren't going on this trip.  Would have been a great reunion!  But we do know several other couples who will be there and we look forward to meeting new people as well.  Like the first FSU trip, there is at least one thing everyone has in common - the support of FSU.

But I digress.  Our ports of call include:

Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Malaga, Spain
Gilbraltar, UK
Cadiz, Spain
Portimao, Portugal
Lisbon, Portugal

We were able to request a specific stateroom and remembered from our past experience, to pick one on the starboard side of the ship.  (Since we will be traveling south, all the sights will be right out our veranda!)

We've got several things lined up during our four days in Lisbon before we head back to the good ol' U.S. of A.

We'll try to update the blog as time and technology permits.  We've had good luck in the past finding internet cafes where we can (relatively inexpensively) spend some time on the computer. 

Hasta Luego!

All systems go!

You may recall from a post a few weeks ago, we were close, but "no cigar" when it came to the final launch of Space Shuttle Endeavor.

Well, today was the day the launch had been rescheduled!  We were pretty excited about the launch itself, but not so much the start time (8:56:28AM).

Once the new day and time were announced, we were able to secure a hotel room in Viera (just south of Cape Canaveral) for Sunday night.  "But why would you need a hotel?", you ask.  Because our instructions that went along with our Congressional Invitation stated we needed to be in Merritt Island by 5:00AM.  (Which meant we wanted to be there by 4:30AM.)  And because we didn't want to run any risk of being late due to traffic or weather, we thought it would be prudent to be 20 minutes away from the meeting spot.  And working backwards, that meant we needed to be up by 3:00ish.  It was early bed-time, for sure!

Of course the hotel wouldn't have breakfast that early but Frank did some preliminary research and found a Dunkin Donuts that was open 24 hours, right down the road from meeting spot.  Perfect!

We hit the road and headed north.  Traffic was great and we found the DD sign with ease.  Turns out it was part of a gas station/convenience store and when we went to the door it was locked and no one in sight!  Not to worry, Frank remembered there was a Steak n Shake across from the mall so we headed there.  They were open, but weren't serving breakfast until 6:00.  Ugh!! Really, all we wanted was a cup of coffee and a bagel! 

We back-tracked a few blocks to find Burger King was open.  Ahhhhh!  Coffee and a breakfast sandwich and we were in business.

Because of the ungodly hour people had to be at the meeting spot, we didn't think there would be too many people.  Thankfully we got there early and secured a place not too far from the front of the line.  We were on Bus 1 this time!

It was still pretty dark for the ride to Kennedy Space Center.  But by the time we arrived, there were already many buses and many people already set up on the Causeway.

The white structure beyond the island is the Space Shuttle.

We had over 2 hours before the launch.  So we did a little people watching, reading and watching the sunrise.

 We had "front row seats" (albeit the island blocking shuttle), without any people in our way.  We set up our chairs and settled in for the wait.

Vehicle Assembly Building

All along the causeway, there were plenty of tents with food, port-a-potties and space for the half-a-million people to hang out.  In addition, there were loud speakers every hundred yards over which we hear the "Voice" from Mission Control, the astronauts in the shuttle and the NASA folks in Houston going through all their checks, the various count-downs and holds. 

Finally, the moment (literally) we had been waiting for........

Five, four, three, two, one!  "We have lift off of the Space Shuttle Endeavour!"

During the initial seconds, we could hear the sounds of the Endeavour taking off.  But then, we could feel the thunderous rumble of the massive engines/rockets pushing the shuttle into the sky and ultimately into space.

Unfortunately, the cloud cover was right over launch pad and we weren't able to see the shuttle once it entered the sky. 

We each had our hands full with trying to capture the moment; Frank with Flip and his phone, me with camera and my phone.  But between all our electronics were able to get a pretty good video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCv2OXzmet0 

(Be sure to turn your speakers on.)

What an amazing event to witness!  It boggles the mind that people travel to/from, live and work in outerspace! 

The countdown is on!

In less than 30 days, we will be in Spain!  We've been planning this trip for a while, but now it's time to get the details organized, tours reconfirmed and figuring out what to pack.

But in the meantime, there's quite a bit going on!

This weekend is the Annual Stuart Sailfish Club Ladies Fishing Tournament and my third time participating.  And I'm hoping to better my finish from two years ago. 

Then we'll make the trip to Winter Haven to celebrate Mother's Day with Frank's mom on Sunday.

We are still on "hold" for the Shuttle Launch.  It could be as soon as Tuesday or as late June.  But we are hopeful whenever it is rescheduled, we will be able to attend.  So in the meantime we continue to check the status. 

Off to ready the boat for the tourney!

All the planning in the world.....

A month or so ago, our good friend, Ron V. was able to hook us up with passes to see the Shuttle Launch, scheduled for April 19. 

We were so excited because it was right after the Spring Game in Tallahassee!  Our plan was to leave from there and spend a few days in the TeePee in an area not too far from the Kennedy Space Center.

Well, those plans got blown out of the water when they announced the Shuttle Launch was being rescheduled for the afternoon of April 29th.  Ok, no big deal.  We took the TeePee back to Jupiter and made arrangements to stay at hotel in Melbourne the night before the launch.  (We've heard horror stories about the traffic getting into the Cape Canaveral area and we didn't want there to be any issue or problem that would keep us from getting to the meeting point in plenty of time.)

We were to be at the Merritt Square Mall 4.5 hours before the launch.  No worries.  We left the hotel in time to be there 6 hours before the launch.  And we were prepared - chairs, hats, umbrellas, ponchos and books.

It wasn't too long before we arrived in the parking lot when several big buses and shuttles started arriving.  And there were a lot of people waiting.

Two of the many buses.

Sadly, we were not on the KSC buses.  They were for people who had been invited by the Center Director. 

Thankfully, it was overcast and a bit breezy while
we stood in line to see what bus we would be riding.

Finally!  We were getting closer to the check-in table.

Woohoo! 

We had nearly a half an hour bus ride but the reward was going to be prime viewing area!

Getting closer....

Our guide:  Steve Depalo. 

 Steve has some pretty amazing credentials:
A Senior Systems Engineer with 25 years aerospace engineering experience, assigned to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) Mission Systems Engineering Branch (Code 599) responsible for implementing end-to-end systems engineering for Space and Earth science missions. Currently, he is the Lead Systems Engineer for developing Unpressurized Cargo (UPC) for NASA’s Crew Exploration Vehicle, Orion, within the Exploration System Projects Office (Code 455). Previous assignments included Mission Systems Manger for the GOES (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite) Project and the Hubble Space Telescope’s EVA Systems Engineer and the Project Safety Manager. Prior to coming to Goddard in 1989, he served on active duty in the US Air Force as the Systems Safety Program Manager for the A-10, F-15, and YF-22 aircraft and Maverick missile weapon systems, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH..


During our journey to the Space Center, we were given information about the mission and the astronauts. 

We reached the gate and........

Well, that's when Steve broke the news.  The guard told him the launch had been scrubbed.  We went through the gate and made a U-turn.  Back to the mall we went.  During the ride, Steve got a call indicating the launch might be rescheduled for Sunday. 

No need to stay the night in Melbourne if it was going to be rescheduled two days later.  We were only 2 hours away, we'd just drive up.  Besides, we knew the meeting location, what bus we wouldn't be on, the whole drill. 

Since we had to have the TeePee in Tampa on Monday, we thought we'd take it up for the launch and then head to Tampa afterward.  On the drive back to Stuart, we got word it was going to be scheduled for Monday but there was going to be a press conference Sunday morning.  So Sunday morning, we were going to either go north or west. 

Fortunately we didn't have to wait until the press conference to find out it was delayed again, with no new date set.  We did find a pretty cool site for keeping track of the status:  SpaceFlightNow.

And so, we headed west.  But we considered this experience practice for when it's rescheduled.  Hopefully we'll be able to attend!