NASA - Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral, FL

To our surprise, Bill and Terri Roedel made it to Lynn and Angela's Cocoa Beach wedding the previous Saturday. The Roedel's came down from Myrtle Beach, NC to see the space shuttle and rocket launch shoot off Monday. We returned from our Carnival 4-day cruise on Thursday and met up with the Roedel's to tour NASA along with Sandra, who also said she wanted to visit here after the cruise.
Rick likes to make Bill sqrim by giving him a brother-in-lawly peck on the cheek. He tried to do this when he first saw him on Cocoa Beach and Rick said it was funny to watch Bill run away from him. When I came out of the bridal dressing room after helping Angela with her dress I saw this woman hugging on Rick and thought, who is that strange woman hugging on my husbands, until I heard the words emit from her mouth--euchre! I knew immediately it was Terri! OMG, Bill and Terri made it, they did a Rick and Mary thing...surprise us all!


We visited a replica of the space shuttle, where they showed the loading bay, the astronauts flight deck, where they potty, and all those interesting details.


The picture is the actual instrument panels of the 1960s used by the space program. For more pictures visit my facebook page.


This picture does no justice. After the video presentation we enter the huge room of the space shuttle exhausts. It is hard to show by this picture the mammoth size of these exhaust tunnels shown here. Each section of the space shuttle is laid out describing it's use and purpose. Below is the astronauts spacesuit as Rick notes carefully. Their are many different locations, but this one was my favorite which also featured the moon vehicle, an overglorified dune buggy, diner, gift shop and much more.


Fly me to the moon photoshoot. Unfortunately, the pic of Rick and I had to be deleted = ( but the whole experience and knowledge was well worth it.

Miami and Everglades

After leaving the rest of the family from the cruise ship we went to Miami at South Beach and stayed at Westgate for $60.00 a night provided we go through one of their time-share presentations. When the young lady found out that we were not interested and WG called us. She went again and cancelled the meeting. Top photo is a classic art deco designed hotel. This is the first time we were at South Beach at night and were able to see the neon lights.

We took Sandra on the infamous Duck Tours The tour lasts about 90 minutes traveling the streets of Miami where I spotted D-A-S-H, owned by the Kardashians sisters from California who are featured on TV. The Duck (amphibious vehicle) plunged into the Biscayne Bay to see multi-million dollar homes, the cruise ships, downtown Miami, and sailboats galore. The following day we went downtown near the cruise ship port and ate at Bubba Gumps restaurant, Rick got a back massage, Sandra and I went shopping and she found a bunch of wigs including a bright blue one, and I found 5 colorful wraps for Danielle and all of our granddaughters to wear at Anna's Greek Restaurant for kid's night dancing.

After that we were shuttled to Gator Park where we were able to spot alligators other wildlife while riding on the airboat. Rick and Sandra held an alligator (for a price, $3 photo opt). When we got out of the gator show the male peacock was in full plume, strutting around and showing off to one of the females.

That evening we ate dinner at The Place restaurant the the three of us shared a Seafood platter meal for two with 20% off costing $80.00. We thought that was expensive until we got to Key West. Read about our $115.00 breakfast = ]]

Before we left for Key West Sandra and I went to the beach. We always visited the strip of shops and restaurants. This the first time I actually went to the beach. Maybe next time I will swim in the ocean.

Rick, Sandra (friend from Belgium) and I drove to Key West for a few days. We were able to stay at the Front Street Hyatt Resort and Spa using the Rewards from our credit card. This was very luxurious. Outside of the lobby is a turtle pond who have a bridge and sandbox to play in. Sandra is posing by the pond. Saw a couple of weddings while we were there. The second wedding they were capturing sunset poses. this is where I caught a sailboat at sunset (photo at bottom of page).

I visited the home of Ernest Hemingway while Sandra visited the lighthouse right across the street. This is a cat haven. I never seen so many cats in one place. There were two cats on Ernie's bed and a cat cemetary in the backyard. The foliage on the grounds were beautiful. See the pink water lilies!

Downtown has many shops with great deals. There are several that sell everything for $5.00 each. Awesome deals! Sandra and I took a picture with the "Spongeman" - creepy! We took the trolley tour because last trip there Rick, Danielle, and I took the Train Tour. It was the same price, but the train only covered the immediate downtown area. The trolley covered the whole island so that we were able to see the Southernmost Point of Florida, which is just 70 miles from Cuba. There are other keys beyond this point, but one has to take a boat to get to them. Most of these keys are uninhabited.

And note the Highway 1, Mile Marker Zero above: This is the absolute beginning of Highway 1 which runs all the way to the northernmost point of Maine or at least close to it anyway.

Our breakfast at the Hyatt was a whopping $115.00, but they gave us $75.00 credit because our room was not ready when we arrived. And they upgraded our room from a city view to top floor ocean view. Blessed!!!