I think I saw more of Florida yesterday than I have in the 4+ years we've lived here. Yesterday Sharon and I headed for the east coast to make our attempt in getting as close as possible to the Space Shuttle launch.

I'm a back roads type of person. Major highways freak me out so I plotted a trip that never once touched I-4 or any of the other big roads. Mapquest gave us good directions for our nearly 3 hour trip. We made several stops along the way. At the last minute and because there was so little traffic, we decided to go to Titusville. That was a good choice. Any further away and I'm not sure we would have seen much.

The ride over to the coast was pretty boring. We saw lots and lots and lots of cows but not much else. By the time we got to Rte. 1 the volume of people had picked up quite a bit. It was now just after 1 p.m.

We parked in a restaurant and they were charging $10 to use their lot. You could turn the ticket in they gave you after the launch to get $10 off a meal which was a good deal.

We walked across Rte 1 and on to a pier that stretched out in to the water quite a way. Off in the distance the hazy view of the space center poked above the horizon. I found out from one of the people we were standing with that the Space Center is about 7 miles away from where we were.

Both shuttles were on the launch pads but you could only see the one that was NOT going up yesterday and then only when the sun was hitting it just right.

We ended up talking to some people from England and another family that was from PA. Everyone was very excited to be part of history even in this small way.



The major concern was that they might cancel. Luckily, people had radios and were calling out updates. Then we all started to do the countdown.

I live 85 miles away so, while we do see the launches here, we don't see them fire up the engines. Sorry this is slightly blurred.



If you look closely, you can just make out the outline of the shuttle above the fire.







Unfortunately the clouds almost immediately became a problem. The actual viewing time was probably less than 30 seconds and it disappeared.





By now several minutes had gone by and then the sound wave hit us. It started off as a low rumble and got louder and louder. It wasn't loud like it would knock you over but it was still impressive. This was all that was left when the sound hit us.



They estimated there were around 150,000 people watching so we decided to use the credit we got when we parked and go eat. We weren't real hungry so I had some fried mushrooms and a drink and my daughter had a salad. The food was very good and all the TV's in the place were playing the launch over and over.

By the time we got out of there an hour or so had passed and we figured the traffic would be better. It wasn't. I think it took us about 40 minutes to travel 5 miles or so. Once we got by 95, things improved dramatically. We headed back toward Kissimmee and decided it was too early to go home and went to EPCOT instead.

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EPCOT was pretty empty but, man oh man, was it hot. I'm talking seriously hot. After only a few minutes walking, we were drenched in sweat. Bleech!


Sharon at the Boardwalk

Most of the pictures I took were to catch the really dark skies and bright sunlight illuminating the park like a spotlight.



The only ride we went on was...



When we came out there were actually a few drops of rain falling but the sun was still out.







We made it back to World Showcase and down to Morocco for some supper.





Then we left for home. It was a very long day!

While I enjoyed seeing the launch, I don't think I would do it again unless I could get really, really close. Except for the lift off, the view wasn't all that different than I get here at my house. Still, I am glad I did it once.

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I love your pics, very professional looking. I'm going to "The World" in Oct. for the first time.

Oh, a Disney virgin. If you have any questions, ask away. October is usually a great time to be there.

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