Arrived here in Orlando last night to spend 3 days with R's cousin and wife. They live in Celebration, a city within Disney's 40 square mile park. Epcot, Disneyworld, Magic Kingdom and MGM are all a few minutes away. They moved here from Flint, Michigan after retirement. The house is fabulous and built in true Carolina style, complete with swimming pool and all, and looks like something out of "Gone with the Wind" with large pillars, a wrap around porch and wide wood shutters.
Unfortuntaley hurricane Alberto is lurking around....the bad news is that they have forecast thundershowers the next 3 days, the good news is Alberto has cooled things down considerably, bringing relief to 100 plus degree temps!!! So we will stick to indoor activities....today we plan to do Epcot Center, tomorrow Kennedy Space Center where the Challenger shuttle is open to viewing, and then on Wednesday, MGM studios.
I am looking forward to a gator sighting. Apparently they are seen very often because of the preponderance of lakes here and it is against state law to mess with them.....no feeding or anything of the kind. See attached picture...
Well, since Alberto had spared us and the weather was looking good, but iffy for the next day, we decided to do Kennedy Space Center today. It was an hours drive away from home. What an amazing place. Admission fee is shockingly expensive, but worth every penny. We started out by seeing a 3D IMAX film about the Space Shuttle.....the 3D glasses they give you makes you feel like you're up there with these guys in space. We saw a couple of people in the audience reach out to touch things as they came flying out towards us. I never cease to wonder at this IMAX technology.....HOW DO THEY DO IT????? I mean, where is the camera? Especially if they are filming in outer space and you see all the shuttle crew members floating about in space, where the heck is the camera located? After the movie we took a bus that took us on a tour of the various facilities around....the spacecraft assembly factory, the launch pads, the landing fields etc. We got to see the Discovery shuttle waiting on a launch pad for scheduled take off on July 1st. The whole place is so utterly fascinating even for a complete novice like me, so you can imagine how thrilled Raga was.
By then it was close to 4pm and we had not had lunch, so we had a quick bite of pizza...! Then we saw the rest of the exhibits including a 3D movie about the lunar module's landing on the moon complete with props and all, you feel like its happening on stage! Again.....HOW???? Amazing!
Oh...we DID get to see a gator today on our bus tour. Because of heavy rains the past few days all the little streams and culverts are full, so as the bus was rounding a corner, there it was.....laying in a culvert, eyes and parts of its body above the water. Creepy but cool. Then again on our way back we saw another one....
After we got home, Mani, R and I decided to take a walk by the lake in downtown Celebration. There is a beautiful boardwalk all around the lake and we were hoping to see some gators, which is apparently very common. But no such luck....
Pics of downtown Celebration
Kennedy Space Center pics
No comments:
Post a Comment