December 23 - 25, 2022
Our stay in Orlando, FL was divided into Part 1 and Part 2. Part 1 was short and sweet! Our first day there was spent on all kinds of complicated logistics! First, we needed to drive from Jacksonville to Orlando, which turned into a four-hour drive, as traffic was dense with all of the holiday travelers on the road. Once we arrived, we needed to park the camper in Winter Garden RV Resort’s long term camper storage area. This sounds simple, but it involved filling out a ton of paperwork, emptying out the refrigerator and freezer, packing everything we need for the next three weeks and then squeezing the camper into the most difficult parking spot you can imagine! We even had to unload the bikes from the back end of the camper to fit into the spot.
Successfully completing that mission, we moved on to meeting Frankie’s doggy-sitter. We used Rover (an app much like VRBO, but instead of homes to rent, you find boarding opportunities for pets) and feel incredibly fortunate to have found Helene! Frankie fell in love with Helene as soon as we were through the front door. Frankie’s first meeting with her fellow boarders left her a little nervous, but she was quick to make friends and, by all reports, is having her own wonderful Christmas vacation!
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| Frankie is top right in the photo - the one with the nervous tail! |
Our next task was to drive to our hotel, TownePlace Suites (conveniently located four miles from the Orlando airport) and get checked in. Not too bad of a task! Now, to kick back and relax a bit! We weren’t quite sure what do with all of the space this hotel room offered but, much like Frankie, we quickly adapted to the extra elbow room!
Saturday took us to the Kennedy Space Center for a little bit of a different type of mission! No trip to the moon would ever be planned for this woman, but we did enjoy learning the logistics that enabled 27 brave individuals to make it there! We had been to the Kennedy Space Center in 1983 and we couldn’t believe how much it has changed!
Highlights of our day there included taking the bus tour to the Apollo/Saturn V Center. There, we saw the rocket that would have flown as Apollo 18 had the mission not been canceled due to budget cuts. Instead of sitting on the bottom of the ocean, it is nicely on display for everyone to enjoy!
On our way there, we went past the Vehicle Assembly Building. The FLAG on the side of this building is 21 stories tall! The stripes are wide enough that a bus would be able to drive within any one of them! This building is HUGE!! We also saw the crawler that carries the rocket to the launchpad. Although it is only 4 miles to the launchpad, it takes the crawler several hours to get there. I guess they named this device appropriately!
Inside the Apollo/Saturn V Center, we were able to relive the Apollo 8 launch in the Firing Room Theater. By way of an impressive video presentation, we experienced the countdown for Apollo 8 while facing the actual consoles used during all of the Apollo launches!
Another huge highlight for us was visiting the Lunar Theater. There, we became aware of all of the complications Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin ran into while descending to the lunar surface! Computer failures forced them to manually land the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) with only seconds of fuel remaining. Not only that, they had lost communication with Houston during these critical moments. In the end, Neil pulled it off!
A really nice presentation at the Space Shuttle Atlantis displays educated us on the initial concepts, research and design of the space shuttles. At the end of the presentation, a giant screen was lifted, revealing the actual Space Shuttle Atlantis on display in the adjoining room. During Atlantis’ 33 missions, 156 individuals flew on it!
Our final experience of the day was a bit like a trip to Disney World! We climbed inside a simulator and felt what an actual space shuttle launch would be like. It was five minutes of noise, jowl-shaking vibrations and being glued to the back of the seat before reaching orbit and having a sense of weightlessness. Pretty cool! We only saw half of what is offered at the Kennedy Space Center. It would be very easy to spend a couple of days there!
Christmas Day, we took a very different shuttle! This one took us to the airport, where we are heading to Italy! Josh’s (our oldest grandchild) choir is singing in Milan, Florence, Assisi and St. Peter’s Basilica! It is an opportunity we couldn’t resist tagging along on! We are heading there a few days ahead of the choir and Brandon’s family, wanting to take in a couple of other locations as well!
Next up: Parma and Bologna!
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