Another one is at Space Center Houston, which I got to visit a few years ago. There I learned that there were only three left in the world. Since this was the second Saturn V I’d seen, I thought to myself “Well, now I have to see all of them.”
The third, and final Saturn V I got to see is in the Saturn V Hall at the US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL. Outside the Davidson Center where the Saturn V is located is an equally impressive but slightly smaller mockup of the Saturn V. Makes the building easy to find if you’re exploring the Space and Rocket Center.
After going inside the building and up the stairs, you’re greeted with the massive business end of the Saturn V rocket once you turn the corner to enter the exhibit hall.
The flamy end of the Saturn V rocket
In addition to the Saturn V overhead, there are lots of displays and exhibits telling the history of rocket development and the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs.
Pointy end of the Saturn V rocket
The Saturn V never ceases to amaze me. I don’t think I’d ever get tired of seeing one.
Mercury training module and Mercury capsule with the Saturn V first stage in the backgroundBetween the first and second stages of the Saturn VBetween the second and third stages of the Saturn VApollo capsule
The US Space and Rocket Center is a great place to visit. There’s lots to see and do there. The Rocket Park (like Kennedy’s Rocket Garden) was having a lot of work being done, but it’s still a fun area to wander around. Check out the Saturn IB and a mockup of part of Skylab (made from pieces that were used for training in the Neutral Bouyancy Simulator) on display in the Rocket Park. Walk around the Shuttle Park where you’ll find a mockup of a Space Shuttle with the external tank and boosters when we were there. Highly recommend going to the US Space and Rocket Center if you’re in the area (or even if you aren’t).
Saturn IB in the Rocket ParkSkylab on display in the Rocket ParkShuttle Park
Oh, and bring a banana to leave for Miss Baker and Big George.
Next quest: See all the Space Shuttles. on display I’ve already seen the Shuttle Atlantis at KSC. Three more to go.
Got to spend two and a half days wandering around parts of Disney World over the weekend.
Drove down to the Orlando area Saturday, stopping at IKEA in Jacksonville on the way to check out cabinets that we’re planning on putting in the laundry room at some point. Of all the IKEAs we’ve been to, the one in Jacksonville is a bit of an oddball, since it’s only a single level.
Stopped at Skycraft Parts & Surplus in Orlando to browse. Really wish there was a store like that here in Charleston. I’d probably end up spending a lot of time there.
After checking in to the hotel and getting unpacked, we headed off to Disney Springs to pick up my Epcot ticket and trade in Connie’s old 4-day Park Hopper pass with one day left from back when they didn’t expire for a new ticket. Spent most of the evening wandering around Disney Springs and had a good time.
The next day (Sunday) we went to Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort. We had tickets for the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue later in the afternoon so they let us in to park early. We spent our time before the show resort hopping to check out and wander around some of the nearby resorts. Took a boat to the Wilderness Lodge, and then to the Contemporary Resort. From there we hopped on the monorail to the Polynesian Resort where we had lunch, and then the Grand Floridian Resort (very fancy place). Finally, we got back on the monorail to go to the Magic Kingdom where we walked around the entrance a bit (didn’t go in) and then caught the boat back to Fort Wilderness to meet up with friends.
The Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue show is an entertaining hour and a half or so of music, song, and dance accompanied by an all-you-can-eat dinner of fried chicken buckets, pails of ribs, bowls of baked beans, corn, and mashed potatoes, and topped off with strawberry shortcake.
Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue at Disney’s Fort Wilderness ResortHoop-Dee-Doo Musical RevueHoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue menuBucket of fried chickenPail o’ ribsCowboy beans and corn
We all quite enjoyed the show and the food.
The next day, Monday, was Epcot Day! Epcot is our favourite Disney park.
Spaceship Earth at Epcot
Epcot Day started off bright and early with us arriving at the parking lot gate at 7:30 AM, right when the parking lot opens. The parking lot Cast Member asked us how we were doing, and Connie responded with an enthusiastic “We’re awesome! We’re at Epcot!” I guess Connie’s enthusiasm was contagious, because she waved us on by and we didn’t have to pay the $25 for parking.
After parking close enough that we could walk to the entrance, we waited for the security lines to open, then hopped on the monorail to the Transportation and Ticket Center and back. The ride offers a nice view of parts of Disney World and on the way back makes a loop through Epcot’s Future World.
About 10 or 15 minutes before the rope drops, the gathered crowd is entertained by the JAMMitors, a percussion trio playing on trash can lids and pails. Then, at 9AM the rope drops and the crowd rushes into the park.
Any way you do things, spending the day at Epcot is tiring. We took it easy, weren’t rushing anywhere, took breaks, enjoyed rides, and were still exhausted by the end of the day.
Roasted Irish Sausage with Colcannon Potatoes and Onion GravyShort Rib Tostada: Corn Tortilla topped with Short Ribs, Black Beans, Salsa Verde and Spring OnionCoconut Rice Pudding served with Mango CoulisÂ
Pro tip: If you’re buying stuff at Epcot, you can have them delivered to Package Pickup (located at The Gift Stop by the park entrance) and pick up your goods on the way out. That way you don’t need to lug things around while you’re exploring the park. The cut-off time for getting purchases sent to Package Pickup is 6PM but if you’re going to do it, have your last purchase sent to Package Pickup well before that. If you’re staying at one of the Disney resorts, you can have your purchases sent to your resort which makes things even easier.
Wrapping up the evening was the IllumiNations: Reflections of Earth show. Last month there was an announcement that the IllumiNations show was going to be retired in 2019 and replaced with something else. It was important enough to Connie that we see the show together that we cancelled the cruise we had planned for May 2019 to make the trip to Epcot instead. The show was a fantastic spectacle of music, fireworks, lasers, video, water, and fire. Really big fire. It’s a pretty awesome show and definitely worth waiting around for.
When you’re road-tripping, it’s usually worth taking those little side trips and stops rather than just powering on through to your destination. They’re often the things that memories are made from.
Breakfast stop
After our stay in Portland, OR, we road tripped through Oregon and Washington, and stopped in Post Falls, ID so that we could add another state to our list of Visited States. With Montana so close, we drove through the mountains along I-90 and stopped at a neat little spot 16 miles past the ID/MT border. Lincoln’s 50,000 Silver Dollar Bar and Gift Shop is a neat little family owned stopping place with a good sized gift shop, restaurant, inn, gas, and camping ground. Pretty much everything you need when looking for a road-trip stop.
Lincoln’s 50000 Silver Dollar Bar and Gift Shop
We got there early in the morning, browsed around and picked up a couple of state Christmas ornaments for our collection, gazed at the massive number of silver dollars mounted on display in the bar, and had breakfast in the restaurant. It was a very nice and enjoyable stop.
Stop in, browse the gift shop for some souvenirs, check out the 50000+ (and growing) collection of silver dollars on display in the bar area, and grab a bite to eat at the restaurant. Get something with bacon in it. Make sure to pick up the sheet of paper that tells you the story behind the place.
Scenic views
Somewhere along I-90 in the middle of Washington State is a very nice place to stop where you can get some scenic views of the Columbia River. We stopped for a while to enjoy the scenery on our road trip back to Seattle.
Stop a bit, go for a bit of a walk and stretch your legs, and enjoy the scenery.
Like Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Space Center Houston (SCH) is a pretty fun place to visit. It’s not quite as large as KSC, but it’s got some pretty sweet exhibits including Independence Plaza that features the Boeing 747 that ferried the space shuttles across the country.
Independence Plaza at Space Center Houston
I highly recommend the 90 minute tram tour that will take you into NASA JSC. If you go early and catch the first or second tour (SCH opens at 9 or 10 AM. See the calendar for hours), you’ll avoid the long line. The tram tour takes you into JSC where you’ll get to go into the Christopher C Craft Mission Control building, the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, and Rocket Park.
At Rocket Park, you’ll see some of the rocket engines that powered the Saturn V, rockets used for the Mercury and early Apollo programs, and the king of rockets, the Saturn V.
The Saturn V at SCH is one of three remaining Saturn V rockets and was restored fairly recently.
From the SCH website:
There are only three Saturn V rockets on display in the world. The rocket at NASA Johnson Space Center is the only one comprised of all flight-certified hardware. The other two rockets are made of flight hardware, mock-ups and test components. The three segments, called stages, contain the powerful engines needed to lift off, entering orbit to reach the moon. In total, 13 Saturn V rockets launched into space.
When you’re back from the tour, head over to Independence Plaza where you can wander through the NASA 905 SCA (Shuttle Carrier Aircraft) and the Shuttle Independence, a replica space shuttle. This is another one you probably want to get to early in the day so that it’s not too crowded. We went first thing in the morning on our second day visiting SCH, and had the shuttle and 747 pretty much all to ourselves.
Make sure to stop in the food court where you can have lunch sitting next to the Galileoshuttlecraft (NCC-1701/7) used in the Star Trek episode Galileo Seven. This is the actual set prop that was used in the episode and fully restored. You can read about the Galileo’s history and the restoration at startrek.com.
Before leaving SCH (or before the doors open if you got there too early), make sure to walk the scale model of Solar System. It starts over on the left side of the parking lot near the SCH building and goes around the perimeter of the parking lot toward the main entrance.
Of course, the rest of the exhibits at SCH are pretty cool too. Lots of great shows, interactive displays and an impressive collection of space and space program artifacts. It’s a great place to spend a couple of days exploring while you’re in Houston.
One of the stops we made on our trip last week was a stop in Gainesville, FL to meet up with one of our friends who just started a post-doc at the University of Florida. After having lunch together, we all headed off to the Florida Museum of Natural History on the University of Florida campus.
Mammoth!
It’s a pretty nifty museum with a lot of neat interactive displays. Great place to take the kids.
One of these is not like the others
Part of the museum is the Butterfly Rainforest, a really cool place to get up close with hundreds of butterflies. Watch them fluttering all around you, landing on flowers, and even you if you stand still long enough.
Then we went for a walk to the Lake Alice Conservation Area where we were treated to some very nice views of the lake, turtles and an alligator.
UF is a pretty big campus, and seems like a pretty nice place to walk around.
