July 13, 2012 Melbourne FL to Cape Canaveral, to St. Augustine FL, to Jacksonville FL

Up early and ready to go visit The Kennedy Space Center. Patti spent her elementary school period wanting to be an astronaut, so this was a real highlight for her-actually for both of us.  We each have a memory of when they landed on the moon the summer of 1969, watching the landing on TV and then going outside and looking at the full moon knowing that there were people up there.  We wanted to see where that journey started.

We were the first people through the turnstile ready to soak in as much as we could.  We took advantage of a quick guided tour through the “Rocket Garden.”  These were real rockets, which were available because they had not been used. They were huge even larger than we had imagined.

The highlight of the morning was a special guided tour NASA Close-up: Today and Tomorrow.  This two-hour, behind the scenes tour took us throughout Cape Canaveral and The Kennedy Space Center (which we learned were two distinctly different areas).  We saw the launch pads that were used for all of the Apollo and shuttle launches and will be used for the next generation of rocket launches. This was very exciting. 

And we also got to go inside of the Vehicle Assembly Building,  a mammoth structure where the rockets that took men to the moon and space shuttles were stacked and assembled before launch.  This building had been off limits to the public for the last 30 years while the space shuttle was active, but now is part of the special tour.  It is a big building!!!

We even got to see the space shuttle, Atlantis, getting ready for its new home at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s’ Center next summer.  It looked magnificent, and as though it had been through a lot.

At the Vehicle Assembly Building, we had a guest speaker who was part of the crew that prepared the heat protection for the space shuttles.  An interesting fact was, much of the space shuttle protection had to be sewn, and sometimes even hand sewn. This woman was an experienced quilter before she got the job.  Who would have thought of this?  She was fascinating. She passed around some of the materials and fabric they used to protect the shuttles.  It was amazingly lightweight.  She also showed us how all of the crew who worked on a shuttle signed a banner of encouragement which the astronauts could see as they were getting ready to launch.

We also had the chance to walk under and around one of the huge rockets that launched the Apollo missions, a Saturn V.  You couldn't even really take the photo; they are as tall as a 36-story building.

And we got the touch a piece of rock that came from the moon!  Beautiful black stone.  Kind of magical, although Dick thought it felt just like an ordinary piece of slate, but it had come from the moon!

The museum parts of the displays were filled with lunar modules, actual space suits, real moon boots, and lots of other cool equipment and artifacts.

One of the fascinating things that we learned was that the entire land that NASA owns, which is huge, is also a National Wildlife Refuge and the animals are all protected including lots of American Bald Eagles, manatees, sea turtles, and 340 types of birds, as well as lots and lots of alligators.  What a good double use of the land.  We got to see a gigantic eagle’s nest, the top of which was as a large as a queen-sized bed, and several alligators swimming in the water beside our bus.

The only sad thing was to have to leave before we had the sense that we had seen everything.  This was truly something you could do for two full days, and we had only 4 hours.  That is the disadvantage of all we are fitting into this trip.  This is not the “in-depth look” at anything…. more like the survey course through 1200 years of history in a month.

Shifting gears, from space and traveling beyond the Earth to St. Augustine FL, the place of the earliest European landing and settlement in what would become American.  One might ask, who designed this combination of things to see and study?  It was Patti and Dick, and we have a greater than average range of interests, but some days it is a bit dizzying shifting between such different topics.

When we arrived in Augustine (just a couple hours up the road from Kennedy Space Center), we drove directly to Castillo de San Marcos National Monument.  This fort was built by the Spanish in 1672 and is the oldest masonry fort in the US.  

Over the centuries, it withstood 15 attacks and was never taken by force.  It had a small role in the Civil War (we are beginning to believe that EVERY place had a role in the Civil War).  It changed hands between the Union and the Confederate soldiers a couple of times, but without any battle.  Just as we arrived, there was a ranger talk going on about the history of the fort.  Then we were just in time for canyon firing, done by costumed volunteers (wool costumes!) in a traditional Spanish ritualized manner.  Highly impressive and very loud.

After the fort, we were on to see the world famous Fountain of Youth.  Ponce de Leon was seeking this fountain when he arrived here in 1513.  Here is a little history lesson:

"Seloy was the name of the Timucua Village, before the arrival of the Spanish in 1513, and with Ponce de Leon’s claim of possession for the Spanish King, La Florida was born. No Spanish attempts that came later to colonize were successful…until the arrival of Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles on September 8, 1565. It is within the boundaries of this property that the oldest continuously occupied European settlement within our continental United States was formed – St. Augustine."

The place was a crazy combination of very cheesy, tacky things and serious archeological information, including a dig sponsored by the Smithsonian.  AND we got there in time to see another canyon firing.  Two in one day.  Now that doesn’t happen everyday.

Then a seafood dinner in town, and time for another lighthouse.  This one was visible from the fort.  The St.Augustine Lighthouse is what is known as a “light station” which is a lighthouse and several other buildings, not just a keepers house.  We were so sad to hear that someone shot out the windows and lens at this historic place.  We ran into that at another lighthouse in Washington state last summer.  Who can understand some people’s desire to destroy beauty?  Anyway, this one has been repaired and the outer glass made bulletproof.

Then we were on to Jacksonville, our home or the night.  Patti was so tired she tucked into bed and went to sleep at 8:00.  Some days traveling just wear you out!  A good night’s sleep was called for.