So anyone who knows me knows I am not one to do things that require driving to Port Canaveral at 3 a.m. to secure a good viewing spot to see the last shuttle lunch from Kennedy Space Center. That in it of itself is historic for me. So believe it or not that is exactly what we did. Yes along with the other 750,000 or so crazy I mean awesome people who were present to witness history in the making.
We left our house at approximately 3 a.m. That was after waiting to hear whether or not the shuttle was going to be fueled at 2 a.m. in preparation for it's departure. The weather prediction was 70% chance of rain. The shuttle would not take off in rain. There were no other issues that they had to work out on the shuttle itself so the only concern was the rain. After hearing that they would fuel at 2:08 am we decided that it was time to hit the road.
The drive to Jetty Park in Port Canaveral was not bad. It took us approximately one hour to get there. That was even after our GPS got us lost for a little bit. Much to our amazement none of the children slept on the way. To much excitement. They were all well behaved. When we arrived we parked right next to our dear friends the Wozniac's and a few minutes later our friends the Hill's also pulled up next to us. It couldn't have worked out any better if he had planned it.
We arrived a few minutes after four a.m. Now what? Mia went to the play ground with some of her friends while Mae and I tried to get a nap in the back of the car. I think we finally fell asleep around 5:30. I was awaken around 6:15 just as the sun was coming up to a cruise ship going by right in front of where we had parked. It was so quite. It was like camping out except I hadn't slept all night.
We had actually planned out what to do while we waited. At around 6:30 we headed to the beach. Jetty park is a camp ground but there is also a beach. We thought it would be a good place to wait for the lunch. The kids had a good time in spite of the fact that none of them had really slept the night before especially Mae. Mae hadn't really slept before we left for Port Canaveral. I put her to bed at her normal bed time but she woke up every hour on the after after that. Mae continued to sleep until about 7 a.m. at which time Vilma brought her over to the beach to join in the fun. Besides Mae I think Joseluis was the only one who actually slept in the car for quit a while.
Our viewing spot. After hours of waiting and no rain the shuttle lifted off right on scheduled. Unfortunately my camera is not the greatest so I couldn't really take a picture of the shuttle at lift off. It was definitely an experience I shall never forget and never intend to repeat. The ride back home took us four hours. I mainly blame that on having listen to my GPS and going against my common sense. I truly believe that if we had not taken the GPS detour we would have been home much earlier. The traffic was awful and I hope never to have to endure that again. As for the kids. They slept for the first hour and then Mae started crying and when I says crying I really mean screaming blooding murder which got Mia going. I think Joseluis and Vilma have been forever traumatized. After that initial meltdown things seemed to go okay. Except for the last part I think it was a good experience for the parents as well as the children.
Where was H.B. when all of this was happening. Unfortunately or rather fortunately for him he was working. He said the launch looked great from where he was sitting.
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