Blogs from Cape Canaveral, Florida, United States, North America

Mercredi neuf Août, après nos deux jours de folie dans les parcs Universal, nous avons besoin d'un peu de calme. Aujourd'hui, on va aller sur la Space Coast, visiter le Kennedy Space Center, ou autrement dit Cape Canaveral, l'emblématique centre de lancement des fusées spatiales de la NASA. Il nous faut rejoindre la côte est de la Floride, soit environ une heure de trajet. Pour cela on emprunte la "Spessard L Holland East West Express", une autoroute à péage avec le sun pass, le système de paiement automatique des autoroutes de Floride. Quand on ne dispose pas de ce système, il faut payer en cash, et pour cela prendre une petite bifurcation, comme une sortie. Bien sûr, je rate la première sortie et je passe dans la voie "sun pass", j'aurai donc le droit de régulariser, ... read more

Canaveral National Seashore, New Smyrna/Titusville, Florida We are creatures of strong habits. Well, especially me. I very much enjoy the comfort that a routine gives me, programming behaviors so I don't have to think about them and can contemplate something else. One of those routines is my morning ritual - almost always up at six, dogs, coffee, journaling, meditating. Sometimes with Joan, sometimes without (she isn't quite as enslaved by routine as I am.) So it takes a lot to get me to do something different. But we certainly did that Monday morning, and the payback was spectacular. We had always planned to go to Canaveral National Seashore anyway because, well, it's on my bucket list. But we had read that sunrise on the beach could be pretty spectacular, depending on weather, of course. So we ... read more

Last night was worse than the night before. There were even more trains and we both feel like we got little to no sleep. But, hey we are on a cruise for the next 20 days, so are quite happy and upbeat. This will be our second cruise on the beautiful Norwegian Epic. It is our favourite ship. It is one of the largest ships around and has some controversial setups which some people do not like. We love the set-up; hence we are spending the next three weeks aboard. It is like Marmite, you either like it or you do not. Norwegian had a promotion going when we booked this cruise in early 2016. As well as a really good price, they gave us the Ultimate Beverage Package. This would have cost us about £450.00 ... read more

2/16/16- FYI - My travel blog delivery site had a bug in their system so my last 2 blogs did not get sent out to my subscribers. Doing it again and hoping it works this time. Note dates on my blogs to see where I left off. Thanks for your patience - Sandy Time to get up! I know it's early but everyone wants breakfast before we start leaving the ship. Once, twice, three times, we check the room to make sure nothing is left behind. Lulu hooks herself onto my purse. She's not staying! No way! Our instructions are vague and confusing for disembarking. We need to stay together. If one gets lost, we will all get lost. Breakfast is slowly ingested, savoring every morsel..... and we are on our way. Need to find our ... read more

The Space Shuttle Program, of which Atlantis is the most traveled vehicle, owes its existence to the International Space Station (ISS). Covering about the same area as an American football field, the ISS has two Orbital Sections: American (the USOS) and Russian (the ROS). It orbits 240 miles above the Earth, has been continuously occupied by humans since 2000, and has traveled over 1.5 billion miles in orbit. For a wealth of details go to: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/more/onthestation/facts_and_figures.html. ). The idea of a manned Earth satellite and a reusable transport system to carry equipment and people to and fro had been tentatively explored during the Cold War: it became NASA’s main preoccupation after the final Apollo flight. Russia agreed to make it a joint vent... read more