Day 36: Cocoa Beach - St. Augustine

---

Today we had a bit of a sleep in, woohoo!!! 8.45am Bags to coach to head to Kennedy Space Center. The space center was so cool. They have a place called "Rocket Garden" where they display some of the different rockets they used during the space race. We also watched an Imax 3D movie about the space shuttle program. It was really interesting but there was no need for it to be 3D. It just made my eyes water more than anything. After that, Nikki, Robyn, Erin and I went on the bus tour to Lauch Pad 39 and the Saturn V building. Launch Pad 39 is where the Apollo 11 mission lauched. We didnt go right there, but we saw it from an observation deck. It was really cool to see where such famous history took place. The Saturn V building was really cool too. They showed us a video about the launch of Apollo 1 and Apollo 8, then once we got into the hangar, there was a full sized Saturn V rocket above us. It was HUGE!!! in this building we also got to touch a moon rock, although I think it was smoother than it should be, probably because so many people had rubbed it. Interstingly, in this building they had banners of all the emplems of the Apollo missions. the only mission badges that didnt have names on the badge were Apollo 11 and Apollo 13, probably the two most famous missions.

Once we got back from the bus tour we decided to go on the NASA launch simulation. It was pretty tame compared to the simulator rides at Universal, but the narrator was really funny so it was worth it. We only had about 20 mins before we had to be back on the bus so we spent it in the gift shop. I bought an Icecream Saucer, which is the space equivalent of an Eskimo Pie, except it is all freeze dried. I was so weird, it tasted like cookies and cream icecream, but it had a similar texture to chalk.

We arrived in St. Augistine around 5pm and had a couple of hours to kill before dinner, so a few of us just chilled by the pool. Dinner was an all you can eat pizza place, which was OK. After dinner we had a "Ghost Tour" of St. Augustine. I can only describe it as crap. We took more joy in laughing at the guide than what she had to say. Only Dan believed anything she said, the rest of us just had our own conversations and jokes going for the tour. Apparently any orbs that appear in photos are ghosts, but I put it down to the humidity in the air. It's funny how all the haunted places in America are also humid places. Anyway, after the tour we all headed back to the hotel to have some drinks in peoples rooms.

Tomorrow should be a short drive as we head to Savannah, home of the Forrset Gump bench.

---