Space Shuttle Discovery's Last Flight

We planned part of our trip to Florida to allow us the opportunity to return back to Cape Canaveral to watch the third to the last ever manned space shuttle launch. On Feb. 24th, 2011 the Space Shuttle Discovery launched from Kennedy Space Center for the very last time. Nasa is retiring all the shuttles from the space program so this was one of the last chances to see a lift-off. This mission was originally supposed to launch in November 2010 but was postponed due to technical problems. We were still camping in Homestead and decided to leave the RV there, so we packed up our car, clothes, food and dog and made the 4 ½ hour drive north to the Astronaut Hall of Fame on Merritt Island. This was 7 miles away from the launch pad and supposedly the best place to vantage point to view the lift off. The weather was partly cloudy and warm and looked to perfect conditions for a successful launch.

When we arrived at the location we discovered that in order to view it from their grounds it was necessary to purchase tickets to enter the facility (which we had already previously toured and where Adam did his astronaut training). Luckily for us we ran into one of the facilitators of his training program who offered us VIP tickets to the viewing. Little did we know that allowed us free entry and the opportunity to watch lift-off from the roof of the building with a totally unobstructed view. We were in heaven! This facility was the perfect location to see the launch because they had various astronaut speakers throughout the day giving informational speeches and answering questions. There was a big-screen TV set up showing the Nasa-cam of the astronauts inside the shuttle, and the white room crew on the outside preparing the shuttle. We knew from the TV audio about questions that arose about a peeling speck of tile from when some tape was removed just after the hatch was sealed. And, I was following the Nasa details on their Facebook page from my phone. It was truly a technological-fest.

The atmosphere was nerve-filled and exciting all the way up to the actual launch. At any moment the mission could have been stopped. The timing went off without a hitch. Our viewpoint could not have been better, and the weather was perfect. The rocket boosters were lit. First, we saw a large plume of smoke near the ground, Then, as the shuttle lifted off, and we could see the red glow of the boosters pushing this multi-billion dollar plane into the sky. It only took about 8 seconds for them to go super-sonic and the red glow to fade out of our sites. I was able to see small dots in the sky as the rocket boosters separated from the aircraft and fell into the ocean. All the meanwhile, we could see on the jumbo TV the shuttle-cam showing what the astronauts were seeing from their window. As they went super-sonic we heard the low rumble of the sonic booms and started to feel it in our chests. We were prepared for the earth to shake and windows to rattle but were told due to the weather conditions this launch was not as loud or shaky as some in the past. That was a little anti-climactic. This once-in-a-lifetime experience was over so quickly I wanted to watch it again just to take it all in. After a long day of driving, sitting in the sun, months of waiting from the original launch date, and years of training for the astronauts, the mission launched successfully and we were there to see it. It is hard to explain how it felt to watch six people rocketed into outer space as I watched from the ground knowing I may never get to experience the same thing. The magnitude of this technological feat is mind-boggling, and the impact of space travel on humanity is unfathomable. I am very proud to have witnessed a successful launch and hope for a safe return from space for the six astronauts who have risked their lives to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. This may be the end of the shuttle program, but hopefully it is not the end of space travel for mankind. There is still so much out there for us to explore.

RV Dog Wash

Trying to find a suitable place to wash a dog when you don’t have your own bathtub can prove challenging. You might think it’s as easy as hooking up a hose to the outside connection at the campground and running the water, but here in south Florida they are so concerned with water conservation that I didn’t think they would be likely to accept a large puddle of water next to my RV resulting from a dog bath. I was probably being overly cautious, but I didn’t want to give anyone reason to complain. So, I did what I normally do and located a Petco store. I discovered that some of them have self dog-washing stations. Wouldn’t you know it, the Petco nearby our campground didn’t have one of those options, and their bathers were all booked up. If I had one of the small dogs like most RVers around us I could just put him in the sink to wash him, but that would not work for a 50 lb dog. So, I decided I would try to wash Sequoia in the RV shower.

When we purchased this RV believe it or not it did actually cross our minds that we might have to wash him at some point and our corner shower and it looked to be large enough. Sure enough, he fit in perfectly, though he was thoroughly unhappy about it. I closed off our both doors to our mid-coach bathroom so he could not run away when he got out and make the entire place sopping wet. The set-up worked out great. He just stood there looking pathetic and then shook off the excess water in the tiny bathroom. Next, I attempted to blow-dry him within this confined space. He couldn’t run which was ideal, but he still managed to sit in the exact spot where the blow-dryer could not reach him. He tried to eat the blow-dryer and paw at me to stop, but I was somewhat successful in drying him a little bit. In the end, he got washed, but not really clean since the water pressure was less than optimal and he had to air dry outside in the grass. Oh well, it sort of worked. It’s a great option for an emergency bath. I think I’ll continue to try to find a groomer. They do a much better job than I can.

In the midst of this dog bathing experience I contemplated the idea of purchasing doggy shears to shave him down myself and save on the entire grooming experience. However, if I could not figure out where to bath him I definitely did not have a spot to shave off his hair. This campground even had a rule listed that said “no haircuts” in your camp spot. Guess I’m not the first one to give this idea a try. I attempted to return back to Petco who normally does a mediocre job on his hair style, but they again were booked. I located a groomer nearby and decided to risk it. I figured they would do no worse I job than I could if I purchased shears myself. Just in case, I brought in grooming instructions on how to cut his head from a Labradoodle website since I did not expect that they would know how I like it cut. There were just a few problems. They only spoke Spanish and also sold puppies in the store which made me nervous that they were a puppy mill. I was taught only to take him to a groomer that required vaccination papers so he wouldn’t get sick from their shop. But, their puppies were in individual cages, looked clean and it was an established store front so I didn’t expect they would close up during the day and run off with my dog. The smell was pungent and overwhelming. I figured it must have been all the dog hair, food and grooming. I should have asked to see their grooming facility which was in the back, but the groomer seemed nice and good with the dog so I decided to trust her. You never really know how they are treated, but he was nice and calm when I got called to pick him back up so I think it went well. There was then one major problem; they hadn’t shaved his hair at all. He was as furry as when I dropped him off. With some prompting they agreed to clip him shorter while I waited (an hour). At least he is a bit cooler and a bit cleaner now than when I dropped him off. I was right not to expect them to do a better job than I could have, but I didn’t have the tools or the place and they got to do the clean-up. All in all it was a stressful experience for me, but Sequoia seems no worse for the wear other than having a slightly silly haircut.

Everglades

 

Moving up to Homestead allowed us to be close to the entrance to the Everglades National Park. I expected that to be mostly swamp like area with lots of alligators. This entrance however, is more desert-like than swamp. We took one day to stop in at the Visitors Center and get the lay of the land and investigate where the accessible trails were and the best photographing opportunities. So far, we have walked one area of trails called the Anigua trail which is considered where the wildlife roam.

We saw various birds, flying, drying their wings, fishing, hunting, and several alligators not doing very much. This being the dry season means that the alligators’ water supply is limited so they stay pretty centrally located around their water hole. It was truly fascinating to see them living in the wild and not in a zoo although it was too easy to forget we were actually viewing them in the wild with the multitudes of people crowding around them and the number of informational signs along the trail. I learned to tell the difference between alligators and crocodiles. During this walk we elected to leave Sequoia back in the RV because I didn’t want to risk enticing the alligators to eat him. As it turned out we walked on a boardwalk, but it was hot and sunny and turned out to be a good choice to leave him at home.

Gone Fishing

To combine Steph's need to get out on the water and Adam's desire to catch fish we decided to join a small fishing charter and try our hands at catching dinner. The boat we chose had 10 passengers, a skipper and a mate. Having never been on a fishing charter I did not know what to expect but found this was the fishing equivalent to a dive boat...meaning, you pay them to go on the trip and they do everything for you except cook you dinner. They gave us poles, bated my hooks, fixed snagged lines, pulled the fish off the hook, and finally filleted the fish once back on shore. It was great.

The seas were a little rough and the boat was small, but it was worth it in the end. There were two different styles of fishing, flat-lining (which is off the stern of the boat and fishing with the current) and drop down, reef fishing (off the side and you just drop the line with a weight all the way to the bottom and wait for the fish to bite. Steph tried flat-lining first with no success. The excitement came when one of the guys caught a 6' shark! He put up a good fight and we were happy to see him staying in the water and not coming aboard the ship. They cut him free. Then, we went on to catch Pork Fish or Porgies. Steph caught one giant and Adam came up with five total. The nice thing at the end of the trip the entire boat got to share everyone's catch. Only four of us wanted the fish in the end so we being two of the four went home with several meals.

We enjoyed this experience so much that we chose to go on a second trip, this time with a twice as many people and half the trip price. We caught Snapper and inedible Grunt fish. It was an unbelievable catch day. We dropped our lines, felt a nibble, reeled them in and generally hooked at least one or two fish. They weren't always the ones we wanted to keep, but it was enjoyable none the less. The difference on this trip was at the end you kept only what you caught, but between the two of us we had five Lane Snappers and one Porgie. We probably threw back at least twenty Grunts (they actually do grunt). That was plenty for the two of us. On the ride back to the dock we benefited from a "sunset cruise" watching the full moon come out and the sun go down. Gorgeous!




Pelican Sunset at Robbie's Pier

  Having our fill of fish for the week, we taste tested three different preparations. We liked the pan fried, lightly floured and citrus spiced fish the best. Go figure the third try was the best one. We also tried butter and fresh garlic fish which was just ok. RV cooking tends to be a scaled down version of regular kitchen cooking, and the number of ingredients seem to be proportional to the amount of counter space available of which we have very little. In the end, I learned some cooking skills from my husband who is my personal cooking school on wheels. He also gives good tips in stable kitchens, but those recipes tend to be much more elaborate. I always like recipes with five or fewer ingredients and this is just my speed.

Next we are heading west, but we are not sure if there is any good fishing left on the Gulf side due to the recent and tragic oil spill. So, I may have had my fishing experience for the near future.

Dolphin Encounter

We set out to experience the Dolphin Research Center near Marathon, FL which is considered the middle of the keys. Florida loves to promote dolphin encounters and swimming with dolphins. From what we read this was a non-profit establishment which supports dolphin research and rescues, and really offered a comprehensive experience. It did not disappoint. This was better than any zoo or Sea World I have ever been to. We got to be up close and personal with the dolphins and trainers ,d every half hour there was a different presentation going on. We just wished we had arrived earlier in the day so we didn't miss the other lectures.

Sequoia even enjoyed his first dolphin meet-and-greet. They allow people to bring in their dogs to this facility, but we were the only ones that day. They actually tried to get our attention as we walked past their habitats by slapping the water and squeaking at him. They say the dolphins love dogs and they sure wanted his attention. He didn't quite know what to make of them. It was a riot. We think they were really saying,"Do you have fish? Look at me! I can clap and talk for a fish. Do you have fish?"

During the day the dolphins did jumps and other various tricks that the center said they would do naturally and to which they just put hand signals and rewarded them after every behavior. It was not dissimilar to training a dog. The center rescued one of their dolphins when he was a baby because he was attacked by a shark. He has half a tail and a mangled dorsal fin. But, he sure doesn't act or swim like he's disabled. Two of their other dolphins and largest of the bunch are the grandchildren of the infamous duo from the movie Flipper.

All in all it was an amazing day full of beautiful creatures. I highly recommend this stop if you ever come to the Keys.

The Keys



Key Biscayne, FL

 After a wonderful visit with our friends and family in the Ft. Lauderdale vicinity last week we have moved further south to the Keys. There is too much traffic up there. It's like northeast traffic in the south (which is like southern New York anyway).

Steph's Uncle Alan

Steph's Aunt Marjorie

We had this idea in our heads that we would like to drive to Key West, but that idea went out the window as soon as I found out they wanted upwards of $100 a night just for camping. That was way out of our budget. We figured the rest of the keys weren't all that different for what we wanted to see and the further north we stayed the cheaper it turned out to be. By far the Florida state and county parks have proved to be the most economical way to camp and are even less expensive if you are a Florida resident. The best part is they are beautiful! We enjoyed a lakeside view from our spot in Pembroke Pines and are now in the shade of the tree hammocks in Key Largo and not too far from the beach either. Probably true in many Floridian RV camp spots at this time of year, they are filled with snowbirds (and I'm not talking about the kind that fly). I have encountered a few types of people who need to stop being busybodies and mind their own business! Most of the sites we have stayed people generally say hello to each other and give you information if you ask, but since we have been down here the people want to chat, know your story, tell you how to park, where your dog can pee, etc. I'm used to a little more space than I'm experiencing here and am starting to feel like I'm living in a retirement building. It was the note on my car with a section highlighted because I wasn't parked fully in my campsite space that really pissed me off. Things could be worse, I know.



Cousins Steve and Hope Levin (dog Kirby is hiding from the big furry black thing)





As it would happen we discovered once we hit the hot and sticky weather that our back air conditioner was broken. Here I thought we had passed the fix-it stage thinking we had survived an entire month with nothing broken! Now that we are seasoned rver's we looked online, found a service center and took it right in to be fixed. Of course it had to be replaced. The main factor indicating that we are now seasoned was the fact that it did not derail our whole day. We just dropped the coach off, took the car and went about our sightseeing. I give us a pat on the back for that one. Six months ago this would have been a major catastrophe and would require a lot of time and energy to be corrected. There's some comfort in experience.



I've also turned into the rv repair girl myself. I successfully installed a new water filter without flooding the coach, replaced light bulbs and diagnosed a faulty light socket. I can flush and winterize the water system, hook up the outside connections, deal with the sewer system (though not my favorite thing), hook up the car to be towed, reset tripped gfi circuit breakers, clean air filters, and most importantly drive this monstrosity. We are also now king and queen of removable velcro strips installing hooks and remote controls all over the place that are convenient for us but may not be the best for the next owners. It's kind of like not putting holes in the walls of a rental home. I should buy stock in 3M. I think we are already supporting the company.





As for what we are actually doing here, we are a bit frustrated that we can not scuba dive because of Adam's illness. That's what is good here and we really want to be underwater exploring the reef, but instead we have to satisfy ourselves with land activities. We visited a natural history museum in Marathon (middle point of the keys) which explained the history of indigenous people and the evolution of life on the keys. Did you know that they are actually formed out of an ancient coral reef? Also we stopped to see the Tarpons feeding and investigated a deep sea fishing trip. We ate fish sandwiches at a locals joint where I tried a crab stuffed grouper sandwich. It was amazing! This cold, rainy morning Sequoia and I stumbled onto the nature trail with descriptions of the native trees in the hammock. I read one of the signs for the Poisonwood tree which said do not stand under it in the rain as you might develop an itchy skin rash from the sap. Now they tell me! Luckily it was a short sign and I could quickly move on and away from being under that tree. This park also has a boardwalk trail through the Mangroves which is also cool. But instead we hope to rent kayaks one day to cruise through those waterways.





John Pennekamp State Park in Key Largo, FL

 



Today I played good housewife and made homemade cornbread and chili for dinner. The kitchen was a mess and I think I used every dish we have with us, but the dinner came out yummy. We should be able to eat off of that for a few days. I've packed the fridge with fresh foods trying to get into the mindset of bathing suit season (as it always is here in Florida). Hopefully dining on that and fresh fish will get us prepared for shedding the winter clothes. It may be cool here now, but I'm still glad we are not in any other part of the country with the record cold spells and snowfall. I'm missing the space of the west, my friends' new babies, and watching my nieces and nephews grow, but we are still enjoying fun in the Florida sun and making our way around this unbelievable country. There is still so much more to come!

Keeping in touch with my brother via Skype

Space coast

Since one of Adam's dreams is to explore space, we made our next stop Cape Canaveral so we could spend some time at Kennedy Space Center. We heard that Jetty Marine Park was the place to stay to get good views of the space shuttle launches and to watch the big cruise ships come in and out of port. Being that the shuttle isn't launching until the end of February we figured we had a chance of getting a spot in this park and indeed we did. The first night offered us an exciting atmospheric display of wild weather filled with tornados. The park was conscientious enough to walk around to each campsite and let us know to go to the bath houses if a tornado comes through. Luckily it formed just north of us near Kennedy so we had no damage though it was a bit nerve racking.

We visited Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge and the Cape Canaveral National Seashore. It's a great place if you like bird watching. I didn't think it would be all that exciting, but once we found some interesting looking birds I started to get into it.

Adam signed up for astronaut training which hopefully fulfilled his desire to become an astronaut (since that is an extremely unlikely career now given the circumstances). He was like a kid in the candy store absorbing every bit of information he could about astronauts and the space program. I visited the astronaut hall of fame museum, but then I had enough so I let him do the training on his own. They told me to come back for the "graduation" and I did but ended up getting to observe their "mission" instead. Adam was a mission specialist in charge of operating the arm outside the craft. He was very good! The rest of the controls operating the shuttle was surprisingly like Star Trek where they just punched buttons to make things work. The other highlight for him in his training experience was the one on one talk with a veteran astronaut.

We spent another full day at the Kennedy space center where we sat through 3D movies touring the international space station and another one showing how the Hubble telescope was built. We perused the rocket garden showing the evolution of the space rockets and experienced the shuttle launch simulator. It was truly a fascinating day. I called it Space Disneyland. Since they are unsure of the future of Nasa and the space program they are really ramping up their pitch to youngsters articulating the need for future space explorers.

The rest of our time in Cape Canaveral consisted of long walks/runs on the beach, shell hunting and rest. Other than all the dead pelicans along the beach there were multiple flocks of different types of sea birds. It was a generally peaceful, fine sandy beach. A tranquil place to spend a week. If the shuttle launch remains on schedule for the end of February we will definitely be back.