So…. I caught the crud again. Blah. I seem to be getting better though in a timely fashion so that is good news. It seems to be circulating work like the plague!
So other than catching up on Sex in the City reruns, I don’t have any exciting weekend news. So I thought I’d finish those promised Orlando recaps.
Bubba Gump & Universal City Walk
We had such a great time in Orlando earlier this month! My brother was in town for part of the same time so it was so nice to have everyone together.
We started with a trip to Universal City Walk to visit one of my favorite places!
Bubba Gump Seafood with the boys. Aren't they cute?
The restaurant has all sorts of cute touches that remind you of the movie.
The waitress even had Forest Gump trivia for everyone. Orlando is all about themed restaurants!
We all ordered big steam pots of seafood! When in Florida? Right?
Yummy! My hubby is like a big kid around a meal like this.
I’ll spare you the messy pictures, but we had such a great time hanging out.
Afterwards we walked around and took in some of the sights at Universal City Walk. This part of Universal did not really exist when I was younger, so it is always fun to see.
Kennedy Space Center
In the morning we decided to do something different. My Dad and my hubby had never been to Kennedy Space Center and my brother and I had only gone on field trips in elementary school, so we made the hour drive to the coast.
Immediately we were impressed by the size and amount of things to do at the visitors complex.
We started by looking at some of the historical parts of the space program.
Do I look out of place?
This is Neil Armstrong's space suit!!
We explored the rocket garden.
Can you imagine flying into space in something this small?
We ate lunch with a “rocket” view in the Rocket Garden café. The food was decent for a theme park but my Dad says… “Don’t order the pulled pork!” The rest of us had a great Mahi Mahi sandwich though.
We probably had a bit TOO much fun in the kid playground area themed around Angry Birds.
The two big highlights though were the bus ride around the center to the Apollo exhibit and the brand new Atlantis exhibit.
On the bus we saw the building where they assembled the space shuttle.
And we also saw the launch pads. One of them has already been converted to be able to work with all the private companies that are now testing space craft.
The bus dropped us off at the Apollo Saturn V Center.
The center houses the actual Apollo Saturn V which was never launched.
It’s huge!
This is what actually explored the moon. It looks like thin tin foil. Crazy huh?
And this is what the astronauts came home with…
After looking at the Apollo exhibit we took the bus back to new Atlantis Center.
We were all fascinated to see an actual Space Shuttle that close.
Growing up in Orlando, my brother and I recall seeing most of the space launches from our house. We would watch the start of the launch on TV and then run to our front yard. After about 10 seconds we could see the space shuttle climb over the trees. We even remember seeing the booster fall off of the main shuttle. It was always so exciting and for years I wanted to be an astronaut.
Sadly, I also remember seeing the challenger explode from outside my elementary school.
Those memories made seeing the shuttle up close even more personal.
We all found these tiles around the shuttle to be very interesting. The shuttle is actually made of this fabric like material. It almost looks soft in person.
There were so many interactive, interesting and educational exhibits in this area. We were all blown away and wished we had more time to spend there.
We finished the trip by watching a 3D Imax film about the Hubble space craft. It was narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio and was very well put together.
I HIGHLY recommend making the trip to Kennedy Space Center if you are in the area. We had a great time and learned so much!
Before we drove back to Orlando, my brother recommended we drive to Port Canaveral and eat on the water. We found Rusty’s Seafood and Oyster Bar near where the cruise ships launch.
It was a little chilly by Florida standards, but we had a great meal with a really nice atmosphere!
What a great couple of days! My brother had to fly back to Charlotte the next morning, but I am so glad we ALL had some quality time together.
More later my friends… including My Dad’s all time FAVORITE local place to eat in Orlando, a reunion with my college roommate and HOW we did 3 Disney Theme parks in a day!
Stacie @ SimplySouthernStacie says
I can't believe I've been to Orlando SO many times in my life, but have never ventured over to the Kennedy Space Center. I need to put that on my to-do list for next time!
I loved seeing your pictures from CityWalk. Isn't that place so cool?
Robert B. Palin says
Having recently moved to Asheville from Tampa, I loved your excellent blog. But it reminded me how I moved to NC a couple months too early. On the plus side, I get to watch you on TV and read your interesting blog. Silver lining!