Space Log...061018

Taking in her mothers footsteps, Rese blogs her Space Camp journey. 


Not a very productive first day at space camp, but definitely fun!

Started the day by waking up at 6 am (for no reason what so ever) and not being able to go back to sleep. Hours past and I finally got my stuff packed and ready to go for the week! 

Mom, dad, Luke and I all went to the Huntsville space and rocket center and took a quick tour, taking advantage of the free day pass for space camp families. About an hour later, we headed to the space camp entrance to get checked In.

After standing in the blazing heat for a good 20 minuets waiting for them to let us in, we finally got into 
the building to get checked in. For being a very popular (and expensive) camp, you would think the organization in the check in area would be decent....it was not. We spent a good half hour waiting in a line to get checked in (and mom and dad were definitely not havin it). I finally got checked in and got to go see my room. Small but cute. I only hit my head once on the low bunk on top of me, but other than that, it’s nice. Then mom and I went to lunch and we said our goodbyes (because I won’t see her for he rest of the month!!)

Onto orientation- very uneventful and boring, I met my group leader and group members (all the girl members are the same people I am sharing a room with) and we became very good friends very quickly! One girl is from Germany and everyone else from various states.

First thing on the on the itinerary was to ride every ride and simulator in the visitor center (which included a zero gravity ride, drop ride, a flight simulator and more) . Ate lunch then went on to a different building where we did team ice breakers (several games of mafia). While that was fun and all, we got stuck in that building for a good hour because there was lightning with in 30 miles of us! (Mind you- not a drop of rain near us but we still had to stay put “for our safety”)

Finally left the building and went to get some dinner, pretty good food so I will not complain. Off to a movie and then a quick lesson in scuba diving and an “intro to flight” For the days ahead.

Ended the day with some fire demonstrations, demonstrating the different types of fuel used in different rockets, and the differences between them and why they are used in certain situations 


Highest temp- 95 (felt like 200)

Captains log.... tripdate 060918

On the road to Huntsville today. 

Turns out, Texas IS NOT “on the way” to Huntsville. Hmmm

The ride was uneventful and there isn’t really much to see in terms of scenery.

We arrived in Huntsville and did our first college visit for kiddo #2. University of Alabama - Huntsville. I can’t believe it’s already time to start this process all over again! Then a quick drive around the space center to get our wits about us in prep for tomorrow.

For dinner we found a cute place called the Toy Box, which, as you can imagine, is filled with toys and other nerdy effects. My nerdy family fit right in. The people were friendly and the food was good. The menu was a fun read. Everything from a C3PO sandwich to waffle mac n cheese.

Tomorrow- Space Camp

Total Miles: 419
High Temp: 93

Captains log.... tripdate 060818

NOLA today. Didn’t really care for it. 

Went to the French Quarter, Bourbon street smelled like shit- literally so I wanted no part of eating there. Spent $25 to park and ate in a mini mall food court. Best part of the afternoon was watching the Natchez Steamboat prepare to leave the dock. There was an organist at the top playing music so we sat at the plaza and listened to him for quite a while. As they prepared to leave the Captain and Luke interacted with each other.

Now- the redeemer for the day. We had a 5:30 appointment for a Airboat ride in Des Allemands. OMG. Such a blast! We took out the 6 person boat so it was just us and our guide Craig. We saw at least a dozen gators, but were up close and personal with 3 of them!!! We went fast, did donuts in the water, and even jumped a levee. It was so cool to ride among the cypress trees, lotus flowers and duck ponds. We saw great blue heron, a giant alligator gar (google that one!) and a 1,000 pound bald eagles nest that even withstood hurricane Katrina. Rese was more terrified of the dragonflies then the Gators, but everyone else loved it! Especially Luke.

Total Miles: 169
High Temp: 100

Captains log.... tripdate 060718

Short one today as we spent most the day in the car driving. Waved good bye to Houston and headed to NOLA.

We went via Galveston at the recommendation of the Sayre’s. Free ferry ! We like free and we like boats!!

Short ferry ride , about 20-30 min. But it was fun to get out of the van and walk around the boat. We even saw some dolphins.

The drive along the coast was pretty and much more scenic than the highway. We travelled over an 11 mile bridge and saw beautiful lakes and waterways.

Arrived at hotel, and lo and behold, we are next door to another Cheddar’s. Dinner it is!!

Total Miles: 378
High Temp: 91

Captains log.... tripdate 060618

Get you popcorn and sit down- because this will be a long one.

Up and early excited to see Mission Control today. We signed the big girls up for the Level 9 tour. Pricy, but worth it if you are a huge space geek such as us. Unfortunately for us- you have to be 14 to go, so Mom and Dad stayed back with the littles. More on their trip in a few....

Our day got off to a rough start. Megan had 3 different melt downs, that involved NASA personnel’s assistance. She however scored candy and stickers 😢 while I calmed her- Dad and Luke checked out a talk with a Moon Walk trainer.

Space Center Houston offers 2 tram tours as part of admission, by the time we loaded the first Megan was back to normal and we were able to enjoy the rest of the day. The first tour we did took us to MOCR (Mission Operations Control Room). Here we were able to sit in the observation room outside the Apollo/Gemini mission control room. History happened in this room. They controlled the moon landing of Apollo 11 and the near tragedy of Apollo 13 and the tragedy of Apollo 1. We were excited to hear they are restoring the room (due to decades of smoke damage) in preparation for the July 2019 50th anniversary of the Moon Walk.

You will have seen this if you watched the movie Apollo 13, or basically any documentary of any Apollo mission. Orange seats, ash trays. Ahh the late 60’s and early 70’s.

The next tram tour took us to the Space Vehicle Mock-up Facility, where we were able to view actual work being done on robotics such as Valkyrie (a 6’2” robot), a prototype of Orion (the capsule that will take man to Mars) and the next generation of rovers with built in space suits. The cool part about this building is we watched a robotics movie at COSI a while back and they highlighted all of this in the movie. It was so cool to see this all in real life even if it was from an observation room.

We then when to the Saturn V building, still the most powerful rocket to date- one of 3 of the 20 left. Of course we saw the one at Kennedy and we get to see #3 on Sunday in Huntsville!

After the tours, we continued to play and learn in the space center exhibits. We closed out the day with a show/talk on living in the International Space Station. Of course they needed a volunteer and I had a very eager 10 year old they couldn’t pass up. Luke got to climb into a space bed, do a space workout and see a space kitchen/bathroom. He was rewarded with his very own bottle of recycled urine.

So now to tie in the girls experience. Remember that first tram tour to Mission Control? Yeah- they got to go IN the room. Also, they were able to observe the ISS Mission Control Room and the standard Mission Control. All of which are manned 24/7.

Remember my observations of the robotics center? Yeah- they got to go ON to the floor and walk amongst the robotics. They went IN the prototype of Orion. They got up close to the rovers, Valkyrie, etc.

More so, they toured the Space Mission Simulation Facility, which houses the Shuttle Mission Simulators. They were able to sit in the simulator. In seats that EVERY astronaut who few a shuttle mission sat in...
because if their excitement over Atlantis- the tour guide took them personally up to a little private viewing of a piece of Atlantis they have- the “United States” fabric.

Lunch in the NASA cafeteria and oh yeah- they ran into Glynn Lunney, Flight Director for the Gemini and Apollo programs. A NASA legend. Google him.

We ended the day with meeting our old friends Jason, MerriLynn and Devon Sayre for dinner at TBone Toms where we had the biggest mozzarella sticks know to man.
After which a fun night on the Kemah Boardwalk. The girls came together to dance on the Boardwalk, and since the ride operator didn’t tear their tickets the girls got to ride several adrenaline pumping rides! Megan showed us all her ghetto side and how to give the bird....

Total Miles: 23
High Temp: 93

Captains log.... tripdate 060518

After yesterday’s exciting adventures, we were due for a down day. We slept in a little, packed up headed for Houston.

Upon arriving in Houston, we decided to head over to the Space Center and take in a couple hours. We knew there wasn’t a space shuttle there, but we were excitedly anticipating mission control. Because it was late afternoon, we got front row parking. We were greeted by a very unexpected surprise! The 747 customized to carry the shuttles was on display and we could walk through it! It had a mock up shuttle called the “Independence” loaded atop, which you could also walk through. We were so excited, we practically ran up the 4 flight of stairs to get to it.

We toured both vehicles at length. If you never saw this happen in real life google some footage, or better yet- watch the documentary for Discovery, it may still be on Netflix. It really was an awesome process and sight!

We stopped for dinner at a place called Cheddar’s. The best way to describe it was Bob Evans style food and price with an Olive Garden quality and atmosphere. The food was amazing! We all had something different and we all ate from everyone’s dish. We made sure to let the manager know how impressed we were (we saw there is one in Mansfield, OH - I don’t think that’s too far of a drive!)

Back to the hotel for some swim time and what the heck- back to Cheddar’s for some dessert! Did I mention it’s next door to the hotel? Yikes- Trouble!

Called it an early night- tomorrow is a full day at the space center!

Total Miles: 228
High Temp: 93

Captains log.... tripdate 060418

Wow- I don’t even know where to start on our day in San Antonio.

Ok let’s start here- started our morning with a storm in Dallas. It was actually pretty cool, since our hotel was on a lake and we watched the storm from our room. We even lost power- even the storms are bigger in Texas!

After the storm we head off to San Antonio and since we were heading right through Waco- why not pay a visit to our friends Chip and Joanna. So let me begin with Waco is WACKO! That place is chaos and everyone is drinking the kool-aid. We only stayed long enough for a quick pix and then we ran.

Back on the road, we attempted to pre-checkin using the Marriott App. Only to find my reservation is not there.... tried to call Marriott, hotel # goes to someone’s personal cell phone. Call the customer service line hold for 20 Minutes before hanging up. Tried the hotel again and finally get someone.
I learned that they were “overbooked” so they cancelled our reservation. WHAT!!!!!

I proceed to go, what my kids call “all mom” on the hotel clerk and yes- I used Megan to my advantage- don’t judge me. Needless to say, we got our room. Crisis averted.

We arrived at the hotel, which is in downtown San Antonio, very close to the Alamo. We were hungry, so we ventured out and stopped at our first ever Whataburger. And WHAT a burger it was! They were so friendly and the food so good! Hands down best fast food I’ve had. Thank goodness they don’t have this in Ohio!

Since we were near the Riverwalk, we started there. It’s SO beautiful. Amazing walkways and waterfalls. The scenery was just breathtaking. We hopped on a River Boat and took a 30 minute cruise around the river, getting some history of San Antonio and the river. Our captain warned us to try not to fall in, but if we did - we should flail our arms and create a dramatic scene, when done- we could stand up and walk out since it was only 3-5 feet deep.

We saw ducks galore! Big ducks, baby ducks friendly ducks. Ducks that walked around the restaurants. We sort of love ducks (in case you couldn’t tell).

Off to the Alamo, for our next history lesson. Rese was saddened to find out that it is not a restaurant. I am amazed that this piece of history is in the middle of the town, it was just so cool.

Back to the hotel for some swimming and relaxing before heading back to the Riverwalk for dinner. We opted to eat at one of the restaurants that was active with duck activity, Casa Rio. Amazing Mexican food, super friendly service and of course ducks! We had our very own serenade from the Mariachi Band. Since our table was right on the river, the ducks also enjoyed some Mexican food. The whole day and night was an amazing experience. I love this city! The walkways go through hotel lobbies and just everywhere you walked it was just beautiful. Best day of the trip so far!

Total Miles: 294
High Temp: 93

Captains log.... tripdate 060318

Time change still has us up early, but that’s ok- because it put us at Graceland early too.

As cheesy as it sounds- I’ve always wanted to go to Graceland. My grandmother loved Elvis and it was like she was with me as I walked through the immensely gaudy presentation.

Don’t expect discount tickets or any cuts. Graceland likes their money and they charge for everything. That was told to us by our hotel concierge. 💯% truth. We did the house and plane tour. To see the cars you would have had to buy the VIP package.
The house is on one side of the street, then there is a massive plaza of museums, cars, planes, etc on the other. Each section having its own entrance fee.

The house was grand. Bought by Elvis when he was only 22 for about 105k in 1957, fulfilling a promise to buy his parents a nicer home. The house itself is not large. But very ornately decorated and sits on 13 acres with other recreational buildings. My highlights were the Jungle Room, with the carpeted ceilings and learning that I have the same wedding china as Elvis and Pricilla!

Admittedly the girls were not thrilled with the thought of going to Graceland, but I think they ended up really enjoying it.
Luke, however was ecstatic and his favorite part was learning how Elvis loved and supported the police department. He had dashboard lights in his cars and was know to pull people over and give them lectures on safety before signing an autograph.

Jim liked the meditation garden, where the graves of Elvis, his parents and grandmother are.

Rese was appalled by the decor everywhere. Especially the billiards room which had a crazy cloth ceiling.

Sami refuses to stop watching Criminal Minds to answer my question, but I’d wager to say her favorite part was the Smokehouse, his shooting range.

We ended the tour with lunch at Glady’s Diner- oddly not overpriced food. (Not cheap- but not overpriced). Realized as we left that it was a good thing we arrived when we did, because we did not wait in any lines, but there were lots of lines as we left.

On the road to San Antonio, with an overnight stop in Dallas. Arrived early in Dallas and took in Dealey Plaza, where JFK was assassinated. Fortunately we have a historian that travels with us- so Jim gave us the lowdown on timeline and conspiracy theories.
We walked around downtown a little to look at some of the sculptures and other artifacts on display before turning in for the night.

Total Miles: 508
High Temp: 93

Captains log.... tripdate 060218

Time change means we were up extra early- we as in Jim, Luke and I. Time change means nothing to the lazy teenagers in my family. 

We started with breakfast where we met a lovely lady who was telling us how her daughter was getting married today. She went on to tell us that she was walking her daughter down the aisle and how she really wanted to wear the shoes she had on.
They were brown crocs. Well- we were in Bowling Green, Ky. 😂

Off to finish the drive to Memphis.

Holy Hades Batman!! Whose idea was it to head south for vacation??? Next year - Alaska.

First stop today was the Civil Rights Museum. A beautiful tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis. I was pleased at the reverence shown by all the guests.

Next stop the Peabody hotel to see the famous Peabody Fountain Ducks. We arrived early and met some great people from NJ in the hotel lobby. We shared some broadway and travel stories and got a great recommendation for dinner.

The ducks were beautiful and the Duck Master was hilarious. I loved how they really geared the show toward the kids and invited them to sit along the red carpet and get up close to the ducks.

Of course the Duck Master had HIS Greatest Showman jacket on, so Megan was so happy to meet him afterwards. He gave the kids all Duck pins and showed us how to get up to the rooftop to see the Duck penthouse.

Off to the rooftop we went. These ducks live in a $200K penthouse and all they have to do is swim in a fountain for a couple hours a day. Sign me up- I want that job. Since we basically had the whole rooftop to ourselves- of course we had a dance party.

All that dancing left us hungry, so we headed down the alley to what really is just a basement called the Rendezvous for some ribs. yum yum YUM! When the waiter brought us kid menus he gave one to Sami and Megan, which of course offended the emerging adult- but the rest of the table found utterly entertaining. She pouted by coloring her 3 little pigs coloring page and eating her Teddy Grahams.

After dinner, we headed over to Beale St. Where we came across all kinds of people. There were bikers from all over, which meant there were hundreds of amazing Harley’s. The big fat kind. Musicians played in the street and beer was sold at walk up windows. It was great. Dad promised to bring Sami back when she’s 21. 🤦🏽‍♀️
Rese got hit on by a drunk 50 year old. Not really her type- but she’s keeping her options open.

Back to the hotel, jamming out to the iCarly soundtrack (throwback to 2011) some pool time and early bedtime. Graceland tomorrow! 🕺

Total Miles: 306
High Temp: 92

Captains log.... tripdate 060118

Just a half day of driving today to jump start the trip. My crew members are spoiled and are reminiscent of the days of yore when we had an RV to travel in. They recall the freedoms the RV had. Sorry losers- it’s all van driving this time! That said- there was considerably more space in Ole Sienna this trip. No coffee pots under my feet or sitting like a pretzel on top of a guitar. Ahhh- space.

Since it was just driving-no real events. We did get caught in the worst hail storm I’ve ever been in. Pelting the van as we pressed on. Fortunately, though, no damage to the ride.

Not many sights in Kentucky, we did see the self proclaimed “Most awesome flea market in the world. “ Apparently “Most Awesome” isn’t high enough on the self proclaimed charts, as we just rolled on by it. We only stop for “Worlds Best”.

Stop for the night in Bowling Green, KY. Which is confusing since last week we were in Bowling Green, OH. 😊 this is near the Birthplace of Lincoln and Mammoth Cave, so I see a repeat if this drive in our immediate summer future.....tomorrow Memphis! 🎤

Total Miles: 342