06-08JAN09 - Melbourne, FL (10, 9, 8, 7, 6.......)

Tuesday, 06JAN, we continued down beautiful A1A enroute Cape Canaveral. Our intentions were to stay at the military RV park on Patrick Air Force Base. But there was no room at the inn, so we decided to splurge and stay at a RV Resort. We have stayed at RV parks that have the word “resort” in their name, but often they leave a lot to be desired! But this time it was truly a resort with four heated pools, tennis courts, club houses and their own access to the beach. Turns out that even though we had complete access to all facilities, we didn’t use them because we were too busy sightseeing.

The forecast for the next day, Wednesday, was for several rain fronts to roll through after lunch time. So we decided to visit the Cape Canaveral National Seashore on Merritt Island before the rain got there, and then go to Patrick Air Force Base to do some shopping. The National Seashore basically surrounds Kennedy Space Center and is the largest undisturbed natural habitat of its type left in the USA. Being winter time it turns out this is the best time for bird watching, since hundreds of species are wintering over. We even were fortunate to view some Manatees feeding in one of the canals. However we were not successful in getting a clear picture of a Manatee. Their skin color is very close to the color of the greenish, dirty, water, and they only surface a small portion of their head every few minutes to get a breath.

http://www.nps.gov/cana/index.htm

On our last day we headed to the Kennedy Space Center. Although pricey ($42 per adult for two days), it is worth it if you have the least interest in space exploration. They have the complete history, including actual vehicles and mockups, of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs; as well as unmanned satellites and probes and finishing with the ongoing building of the present Space Station. In fact, one portion of the tour allows you to view the clean room where modules are prepared for the delivery by the shuttle to the space station. The day we were there, Japanese scientists and technicians were preparing their module/experiment for transport on the next shuttle mission. Also included in admission are several IMAX presentations, shuttle simulation take off and landing, and free admission to the Astronaut Hall of Fame located off the Center in Titusville. One thing that impressed us was the small size of the capsules carrying the astronauts; check out the picture of Dan trying to get into the mockup of the Mercury capsule. We didn’t see it all and could have used the second day, but were already committed to moving on and meeting friends in the Ft Walton, FL, area.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/home/index.html

Trivia - Why was there no Apollo missions numbered 2 thru 6