McSweeney Memories: Florida Vacation

Florida Vacation - Day 6 (part 1)

Kennedy Space Center

Our sixth full day in Florida began about 4 hours before we wanted to even be awake!! At approximate 3 AM, the fire alarms in our hotel started to go off. It took a few minutes to wake up and figure out what was going on. The kids were so good about quickly getting up and finding some flip flops and heading out the door. Fire safety 101 had to be reviewed at 3AM...don't touch the doorknob without checking the door for heat first. Door felt fine so I quickly peeked outside and the hallway was clear and we quickly cleared the hotel. It was obvious pretty quickly that there was not a major fire and in time learned there was no fire at all. We still had to wait for the fire department to arrive to check and clear the entire hotel before we could go back inside. I was a bit concerned that the excitement would keep the kids awake...thankfully every went back to sleep pretty easily. We all slept a little later than normal and we got a later start than we had planned.

Matt was really looking forward to going to Kennedy Space Center. At first the kids weren't so sure but the more we looked into and talked about it the more excited they became, especially Maxwell. Our hotel was about an hour drive from the coast. It was a beautifully HOT and HUMID day which made for a great drive to the Kennedy Space Center visitor complex. We arrived, took a few pictures, and got on the tour bus to head over the Apollo/Saturn V center. During the bus ride we were taken all over the Space Center grounds and saw many launch pads, some of the largest buildings in the world where they build and assemble the various space craft, a few alligators, and learned a lot about the history and future of the space program. It was fascinating and it is not even possible to explain how massively huge everything is!

We could see the tops of 3 alligators in this pond.

Vultures outside the Apollo/Saturn V visitor center...GROSS!

After the Apollo/Saturn V Center we headed back to the visitors complex and explored the Rocket Gardens. The self-guided tour was not as self-guided as we had thought and it made some parts a bit frustrating but overall we had a great time. We all learned a lot and were very glad that we spent a few hours learning more about the space program!!!