Monday, May 17, 2010
Shuttle Launch Photos
Okay, the last two posts have been all about seeing the shuttle launch last Friday. This post is all about the pictures. There are a few pics of the crowd waiting for the launch, one picture of the alligator in the spillway near our viewing location that caused a bit of a commotion and first, and then kept the kids in the area busy as they watched him; and a bunch of pix of the launch that Scott took. Enjoy!
The Good and the Bad
So in my last blog post, I talked about crossing "Watch a shuttle launch from close enough to see the vehicle" off my bucket list.
Over 300,000 people were in the area just to watch that launch of Friday. It was very crowded, and all the hotels and restaurants in the area were jam packed; and as is the case whenever large groups of humanity is crammed into a small area, it brings out the very best . . . and the very worst in human nature.
First off, let's talk about the good. I want to tell you about an older gentleman and his wife that had a profound impact on us. They were our hosts Friday for the shuttle launch. She is a cancer survivor, and he worked at Kennedy/Canaveral for over 48 years. They've got a house right on the waterfront and have a view of the launchpads. A few years ago, they got upset at all the businesses and private individuals who would charge tourists $10 or $20 to park their cars to watch the shuttle launch and then not even let those people use their bathrooms. Their solution? Let people park in their backyard and view the launches for free AND let them use the bathroom if they needed to. They just wanted to help people. To their dismay, people just would not let them offer free parking. They insisted on paying them something. So they decided that if people were going to pay, they'd give the money to charity, and picked a charity that meant something to them.
Technically, parking WAS free. They simply asked for a donation to the American Cancer Society for Breast Cancer research. Whatever we felt like giving. We asked what the usual donation was and they said $20. We gave them $80. (My mom is a breast cancer survivor and Scott lost his dad to Lung Cancer, we're big supporters of cancer research). On top of letting people park and view the shuttle launch, they also let people use their bathrooms, provided cookies, coffee, lemonade, iced tea (sweet and unsweet) and were the NICEST people. We looked at their yard and thought they could probably fit 20 cars in. We were reservation #55! All told, they crammed over 80 cars (including a few vans, big trucks, and one RV) onto their property. Toward the end people were parked all over their front yard and everything. They were loving it! I hope they raised a LOT of cash for the American Cancer Society (I know they did, they bragged that the last two years she's been the highest fund raiser in the county.) Thank goodness we went the night before and scouted for a place to watch, or we'd never have gotten a place with them, and I'd much rather have spent our money helping them raise funds than just give it to someone who was looking to profit off of the tourists. They really put an even more positive spin on what was already a wonderful experience. They're amazing, and I wish them nothing but the best.
Over 300,000 people were in the area just to watch that launch of Friday. It was very crowded, and all the hotels and restaurants in the area were jam packed; and as is the case whenever large groups of humanity is crammed into a small area, it brings out the very best . . . and the very worst in human nature.
First off, let's talk about the good. I want to tell you about an older gentleman and his wife that had a profound impact on us. They were our hosts Friday for the shuttle launch. She is a cancer survivor, and he worked at Kennedy/Canaveral for over 48 years. They've got a house right on the waterfront and have a view of the launchpads. A few years ago, they got upset at all the businesses and private individuals who would charge tourists $10 or $20 to park their cars to watch the shuttle launch and then not even let those people use their bathrooms. Their solution? Let people park in their backyard and view the launches for free AND let them use the bathroom if they needed to. They just wanted to help people. To their dismay, people just would not let them offer free parking. They insisted on paying them something. So they decided that if people were going to pay, they'd give the money to charity, and picked a charity that meant something to them.
Technically, parking WAS free. They simply asked for a donation to the American Cancer Society for Breast Cancer research. Whatever we felt like giving. We asked what the usual donation was and they said $20. We gave them $80. (My mom is a breast cancer survivor and Scott lost his dad to Lung Cancer, we're big supporters of cancer research). On top of letting people park and view the shuttle launch, they also let people use their bathrooms, provided cookies, coffee, lemonade, iced tea (sweet and unsweet) and were the NICEST people. We looked at their yard and thought they could probably fit 20 cars in. We were reservation #55! All told, they crammed over 80 cars (including a few vans, big trucks, and one RV) onto their property. Toward the end people were parked all over their front yard and everything. They were loving it! I hope they raised a LOT of cash for the American Cancer Society (I know they did, they bragged that the last two years she's been the highest fund raiser in the county.) Thank goodness we went the night before and scouted for a place to watch, or we'd never have gotten a place with them, and I'd much rather have spent our money helping them raise funds than just give it to someone who was looking to profit off of the tourists. They really put an even more positive spin on what was already a wonderful experience. They're amazing, and I wish them nothing but the best.
Then, of course, there was the bad. Thankfully, as the viewing area got full, the crowd was for the most part very friendly. As one of three obviously gay couples there, Scott and I did feel like some of the people around us were (very loudly) voicing their opinions on political issues that had nothing to do with the shuttle launch strictly for our benefit. At one point, I was afraid a "Tea Party" rally was going to break out beside us. Honestly, just because I'm a gay democrat with liberal views, why can I not also be a patriot? Since when did "patriotism" come to equal "conservative republican" or even "redneck asshole"? Scott and I decided to be the bigger men. and ignored them. If they wanted a confrontation, I wasn't in the mood to give them what they wanted. Or to let them spoil something I'd waited so long to do. Overall, the crowd was great, there was just that small group that had to be assholes about it. I hope they enjoyed the launch as much as I did. I joined them in chanting U.S.A. afterward. I guess regardless of what our political views, it's hard not to be proud of our country when we see one it's greatest technological acheivements soaring into space.
Sadly, that wasn't the worst we encountered during the weekend. While at dinner the night before, we were seated near the bar of the restaurant where we were dining. There were three guys at the bar who were very loud (why is it that the most idiotic among us are the ones who feel the need to broadcast their ignorant opinions the loudest?) and after talking about being in town to view the shuttle launch, they went on to decry the number of "yankees" who were also there, and one of them went on very pointed talking about how "we'd all be better off if the yankees had lost the war" because "we'd still have slaves" and there wouldn't be a "use your imagination for the vile word he used to describe our president" in the White House. Really? In 2010? I looked at Scott to make sure I was hearing what I was hearing. I shook my head and began to chuckle to myself. He kept talking but I tuned him out. He had no concept of history, let alone the reality we live in. For one thing, if the "yankees had lost the war" there would be TWO countries instead of the one he kept talking about, and Southerners would have no care about who was in the White House. Secondly, I don't think he realized that not everybody owned slaves. Sadly, slaves were a financial asset, and given his obvious lack of mental capability, I doubt he could ever have managed to hold onto finanical assets long enough to actually aquire any. Like I said, No concept of either history or reality. The sad thing is that he probably votes.
So, we had quite the interesting time on our overnight trip to the space coast. Overall, the better part of human nature out weighed the bad. Or at least I was able to ignore the bad enough to enjoy the once in a lifetime event we were there to see.
Next up, some shuttle launch photos.
Sadly, that wasn't the worst we encountered during the weekend. While at dinner the night before, we were seated near the bar of the restaurant where we were dining. There were three guys at the bar who were very loud (why is it that the most idiotic among us are the ones who feel the need to broadcast their ignorant opinions the loudest?) and after talking about being in town to view the shuttle launch, they went on to decry the number of "yankees" who were also there, and one of them went on very pointed talking about how "we'd all be better off if the yankees had lost the war" because "we'd still have slaves" and there wouldn't be a "use your imagination for the vile word he used to describe our president" in the White House. Really? In 2010? I looked at Scott to make sure I was hearing what I was hearing. I shook my head and began to chuckle to myself. He kept talking but I tuned him out. He had no concept of history, let alone the reality we live in. For one thing, if the "yankees had lost the war" there would be TWO countries instead of the one he kept talking about, and Southerners would have no care about who was in the White House. Secondly, I don't think he realized that not everybody owned slaves. Sadly, slaves were a financial asset, and given his obvious lack of mental capability, I doubt he could ever have managed to hold onto finanical assets long enough to actually aquire any. Like I said, No concept of either history or reality. The sad thing is that he probably votes.
So, we had quite the interesting time on our overnight trip to the space coast. Overall, the better part of human nature out weighed the bad. Or at least I was able to ignore the bad enough to enjoy the once in a lifetime event we were there to see.
Next up, some shuttle launch photos.
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Today was a Bucket List Day . . .
Okay, I know I've been neglecting this blog horribly for the last six months, and I'm very sorry. I'll do my best to change that in the near future.
That said, I've got to tell you about my day today. You see, today was a Bucket List Day.
Not that I have a Bucket List per se, but there are definitely things I've got in the back of my mind that I want to do "someday". Happily that list isn't as long as it used to be. Things like "fall in love" and "live happily ever after" were crossed off the list when I met Scott; and together we've accomplished a few other items such as "attend High School reunion with same-sex partner and watch the reactions" (to the credit of my classmates, the reactions were overwhelmingly positive), "visit Paris", and "stand on a Broadway Stage" (sadly as a guest not as a performer, but you take what you can get).
For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by space flight. I remember being a kid in the early 70's and watching the big rockets on television as astronauts were going to the moon. When the shuttle had to be diverted to White Sands Missle Range in New Mexico and I was in grade school, I begged my parents to let us skip school and drive the mere seven hours across New Mexico to see the shuttle because it would likely never be that close to us again; and in High School I actually did stay home from school to watch the Challenger lift off, sadly it never made it into orbit and became the "where were you when . . . " moment of my generation.
So one of my "someday" things has been to see a space shuttle launch. Since we moved to Florida six years ago, we've seen several launches from our house. But that's just the bright rocket glare at night, or the smoke trail during the day. I wanted to actually SEE the shuttle itself at the top of that flame and smoke as it blasted itself free from the Earth's gravity and took astronauts to the stars (well, if not the stars, at least the space station). The scheduling was always off for us to head east and watch the launches, though.
Until today, that is. Wait. Let me backtrack a few weeks. We knew that this was our best option to see a shuttle launch due to it's mid-month timing a while back, so we planned to buy tickets to see it from the NASA viewing area. A couple of weeks ago, Scott got up early and logged into the site's "virtual waiting room" and waited to be randomly allowed to buy tickets. The prime launch location tickets were sold out in under two minutes! And the secondary viewing area was sold out in 20 minutes. We were out of luck. Several of the tickets showed up on eBay within the hour priced as high as $1000 per person, (marked up from the $58 that NASA sold them for. Let me just say now that I hate the people who bought tickets, not because they wanted them, but because they decided they could milk the people who DID want them for insane amounts of cash. There is a special level of hell reserved just for them.) we decided that purchasing tickets from scalpers on eBay was not in our price range, so we started looking for contingency options. We booked an overpriced hotel room in Titusville, FL (the town across the waterway from Kennedy Space Center) and began researching locations. There are several locations in Titusville where the shuttle launch is clearly visible, and we decided to try for one of those.
So last night, Scott picked me up from work and we drove out to Titusville and checked into our hotel. Then we drove along the waterfront part of town checking things out. We found a house with a bunch of signs offering reserved parking spaces for shuttle launch viewing with the proceeds going to charity (More description of this set-up will follow in a blog entry tomorrow or Sunday). It sounded like a great deal to us, so we forked over some cash and reserved a spot for the morning, and went off to dinner.
This morning we got up WAY too early, had breakfast and headed back to our reserved spot. We got there right at 8:00 am (for the 2:20pm launch time) and grabbed the last spot right on the water. Looking across at the space center, we could see the launch pad! All we had to do was wait.
It was hot, it got crowded, and I got midly sunburnt. But at 2:20pm today, I crossed an item off my bucket list.
Atlantis lifted on on her final mission and it was a beautiful thing to see! Pictures just don't do it justice. I was giddily laughing and crying at the same time. The shuttle arced to the left as it began to track toward it's orbit to meet the international space station and then the sound hit us. And the rumble. We could FEEL it! It was amazing. The crowd began to clap and cheer, and I was transfixed. It was SO FUCKING COOL!
Eventually the shuttle was no longer visible, and the crowd slowly dispersed (we were finally able to leave our parking space two hours later) and the normally hour long drive home took nearly three hours.
We're sunburt, we're exhausted, we're punchy, and we're in agreement that it was TOTALLY WORTH IT!
So that's where I'm at. One less thing on the bucket list. Not sure what I'll tackle next . . .
In the meantime, what have you got on your bucket list?
That said, I've got to tell you about my day today. You see, today was a Bucket List Day.
Not that I have a Bucket List per se, but there are definitely things I've got in the back of my mind that I want to do "someday". Happily that list isn't as long as it used to be. Things like "fall in love" and "live happily ever after" were crossed off the list when I met Scott; and together we've accomplished a few other items such as "attend High School reunion with same-sex partner and watch the reactions" (to the credit of my classmates, the reactions were overwhelmingly positive), "visit Paris", and "stand on a Broadway Stage" (sadly as a guest not as a performer, but you take what you can get).
For as long as I can remember, I've been fascinated by space flight. I remember being a kid in the early 70's and watching the big rockets on television as astronauts were going to the moon. When the shuttle had to be diverted to White Sands Missle Range in New Mexico and I was in grade school, I begged my parents to let us skip school and drive the mere seven hours across New Mexico to see the shuttle because it would likely never be that close to us again; and in High School I actually did stay home from school to watch the Challenger lift off, sadly it never made it into orbit and became the "where were you when . . . " moment of my generation.
So one of my "someday" things has been to see a space shuttle launch. Since we moved to Florida six years ago, we've seen several launches from our house. But that's just the bright rocket glare at night, or the smoke trail during the day. I wanted to actually SEE the shuttle itself at the top of that flame and smoke as it blasted itself free from the Earth's gravity and took astronauts to the stars (well, if not the stars, at least the space station). The scheduling was always off for us to head east and watch the launches, though.
Until today, that is. Wait. Let me backtrack a few weeks. We knew that this was our best option to see a shuttle launch due to it's mid-month timing a while back, so we planned to buy tickets to see it from the NASA viewing area. A couple of weeks ago, Scott got up early and logged into the site's "virtual waiting room" and waited to be randomly allowed to buy tickets. The prime launch location tickets were sold out in under two minutes! And the secondary viewing area was sold out in 20 minutes. We were out of luck. Several of the tickets showed up on eBay within the hour priced as high as $1000 per person, (marked up from the $58 that NASA sold them for. Let me just say now that I hate the people who bought tickets, not because they wanted them, but because they decided they could milk the people who DID want them for insane amounts of cash. There is a special level of hell reserved just for them.) we decided that purchasing tickets from scalpers on eBay was not in our price range, so we started looking for contingency options. We booked an overpriced hotel room in Titusville, FL (the town across the waterway from Kennedy Space Center) and began researching locations. There are several locations in Titusville where the shuttle launch is clearly visible, and we decided to try for one of those.
So last night, Scott picked me up from work and we drove out to Titusville and checked into our hotel. Then we drove along the waterfront part of town checking things out. We found a house with a bunch of signs offering reserved parking spaces for shuttle launch viewing with the proceeds going to charity (More description of this set-up will follow in a blog entry tomorrow or Sunday). It sounded like a great deal to us, so we forked over some cash and reserved a spot for the morning, and went off to dinner.
This morning we got up WAY too early, had breakfast and headed back to our reserved spot. We got there right at 8:00 am (for the 2:20pm launch time) and grabbed the last spot right on the water. Looking across at the space center, we could see the launch pad! All we had to do was wait.
It was hot, it got crowded, and I got midly sunburnt. But at 2:20pm today, I crossed an item off my bucket list.
Atlantis lifted on on her final mission and it was a beautiful thing to see! Pictures just don't do it justice. I was giddily laughing and crying at the same time. The shuttle arced to the left as it began to track toward it's orbit to meet the international space station and then the sound hit us. And the rumble. We could FEEL it! It was amazing. The crowd began to clap and cheer, and I was transfixed. It was SO FUCKING COOL!
Eventually the shuttle was no longer visible, and the crowd slowly dispersed (we were finally able to leave our parking space two hours later) and the normally hour long drive home took nearly three hours.
We're sunburt, we're exhausted, we're punchy, and we're in agreement that it was TOTALLY WORTH IT!
So that's where I'm at. One less thing on the bucket list. Not sure what I'll tackle next . . .
In the meantime, what have you got on your bucket list?
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