Jetty Park Campground 2/23-24

It was a short drive from Orange City to Cape Canaveral and the Jetty Park Campground.  Only about 90 miles.  A lot of road construction to go through.  We registered and were set up by 1:00.  Really nice park right on the ocean.  We have to walk a short path to the beach and ocean.  It is beautiful.  There is also a pier here.
Once set up we went into the small town of Cape Canaveral for lunch and groceries.  We ate at a place called Kelsey's Pizzeria.  We hit the jack pot the food here was so good and plentiful.  Joe had their homemade lasagna and I had a huge sausage calazone.  I could only eat half of it.  Lunch done and groceries bought we head back to the park and finish setting up.  It is so nice here, a nice breeze and warm sunshine.  Joe went exploring and I sat in my outside easy chair to enjoy the sun and read.
We are very close to the cruise terminals and can see the cruise ships go by and hear the horns blare from the ships.  Everything from a Casino Cruise to the Disney Cruise ship come by.

We took a walk down
to the pier before dinner.  We heard that a submarine would be coming into port.  Lots of people waiting to see the sub come in.  We took a nice walk down the beach since it didn't look like the sub would be coming any time soon.  There are tons of Pelicans, one of my favorite birds to watch.

It wasn't long before we saw the sub pop up out of the water by the tug boats that were waiting to take it into port.  There were also National Guard boats with big guns on them in front of and behind the sub.  It was kind of spooky to be standing there with this big gun pointed at you.

That was pretty cool to see a big sub come into port.  We missed watching it go back out in the morning.  We got to the pier and it had just left about 5 minutes before we got here.  Today we are just going to enjoy the sunshine and hang out a the beach.

It is such a nice warm day but it is suppose to rain later this afternoon so we will enjoy it well we can.
I walked into the water to my ankles, it was to cold for me.  Others didn't think so as there were many playing in the water.
I sat in my beach chair and Joe walked down the beach.  It felt so good to be out in the sun and just relaxing.  We both have colds and the cold weather hasn't helped any so the sun is most welcome!

Tomorrow we are planing on visiting the Kennedy Space Center as it is suppose to be cloudy and chilly all day.  We are told it takes all day to get to see everything.

Kennedy Space Center 02/25

Lazed around this morning, it is rather bleak looking outside.  It doesn't make you want to hurry to do anything.  Once ready we head to the Kennedy Space Center.  We have been to the Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville Al, so we want to see how this compares.  Joe's dad worked for one of the companies that did testing for the space program.  This is a really big place.  It is quite expensive to get in, $50 for an adult and $46 for seniors.  The ticket line was really long so we decided to try the do it yourself machines.  It worked fast but would not let you take the senior discount, that was a bummer on top of the $10 to park.
Once inside we went through the early exploration center.  It was cool to see the different stages the rockets went through up to the shuttles.

This is the actual control room used in the early days of the space program.  Notice the ash trays and
telephones to date this room!  No
computers or calculators, every
thing was calculated on slide rules (will date yourself if you remember those gadgets).

We went into the IMAX theater to watch the show on the Hubble Telescope.  Well worth seeing.  We then went to see the Atlantis space shuttle.  This is the actual shuttle used in the many launches that were made.

Very informative exhibit.  From here we went to the Nature and Technology building which was an exhibit of the history of this area.  It was interesting  to go through.

Back home we have a nice steak dinner and settle in for the night.  Tomorrow rain is predicted. :0(

Daytona 500 02/22

We wake up excited this morning to be heading to the Daytona 500.  Joe has been to see this race a couple of times but this is my first time.   This has always been the big race of the year.  It takes us 2.5 hours to reach the parking lot 7where you park, then you get on a school bus and they drive you the last 3 miles to the track.  We left home at 9:30 this morning and it is 1:00 pm by the time we finally reach our seats.  The traffic was a mess, bumper to bumper for about 20 miles.  We have really good seats and can see most of the track.  The Grandstands are packed.

The race was one of the best of all the 500's maybe in the last 10 years.  Lots of racing and not so much single file.  A couple of yellows but nothing serious.  The crowd was so into it when Dale Jr took the lead.  All of turn 4 were on their feet cheering him on.  I was so hopeful that he would win. But I would of been happy to see Jeff Gordon win also since this is to be his last Daytona 500. Jimmy Johnson managed to lead a few laps when Jr made a mistake on the restart and went back to 12th position.  A mistake he wasn't able to recover from.  The same fate met Jeff Gordon.  The last laps were so exciting as Dale Jr, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano were racing for the lead.  Neither one could out run Logano.  Dale Jr ended up third.
It is now about 5 pm and 150,000 people need to make their way out of the stands and parking lots.  I went into the track store for some souvenirs.
We managed to get in line for the bus about 6:30 and we finally got on a bus at 7:30.  They had several lines and about 25 busses transporting everyone back to lot 7.  Lot 7 where we had to park was very swampy and Joe had to use 4 wheel drive when he parked to keep from getting stuck.  We are hoping getting out will be easier.  Luckily it was, we managed to get out and on the road quickly.  Joe found a back way into DeLand from the lot and we were eating barbecue at Sonny's Real Pit BBQ by 8:30 pm.   We're back in the park a little after 9 and I was so glad it didn't take 2.5 hours to get back home.
Tomorrow we head to Cape Canaveral and the Jetty Park Campground right on the ocean.