Up The Farway Tree

Florida Part 2: Rockets, Gators and shop shop shopping!

So we settled into the villa last Saturday night and the next part of the holiday began.   It was rather different waking up in Florida for Easter Sunday having never been on holiday at Easter before.  Mum, dad and me went to Mass on Sunday morning and then we had a relaxing day at the pool and jacuzzi.  It's a  hard life.  We used the games room at night playing a few games of pool and air hockey.  Mum has discovered a new found enthusiasm for air hockey which involves much squealing, hysterical laughter and jumping around - she gets a little competitive ;-)  It isn't really much surprise she now has a sore back!  We also bought a little BBQ and had some steaks for our Easter dinner...yum.  We had bets going on who would be the first person to walk into the glass patio doors - dad was favourite - but sadly I managed to beat him....twice!  I have a massive bruise on my knee and a small Jac nose print on the glass as evidence of my stupidity.  I can't guarantee it wont happen again before the holiday is over!

Mum, me and dad on Easter Sunday

Andrew feeling rather stressed...

On Monday the Discovery shuttle mission launch was scheduled at 6.20am from Cape Canaveral - it was supposed to be launched last month but delayed due to weather conditions.  Viewing stations were all sold out but we decided to get up early and watch from the villa, which is about 60 miles away.  We watched the countdown on the NASA website then saw the brilliant orange glow soaring into the sky before it gradually faded to a twinkling light leaving a smoke trail in its wake.  The fact we could see that from 60 miles is amazing  - you can only imagine what that would be like close up!  The launch was a success and the astronauts apparently docked at the international space station on Wednesday.  

Shuttle Launch  (video to follow when I can upload it)

Being up and about so early we decided just to head out and went for an air boat ride on Lake Tohopekaliga, which was great fun!  They make no guarantee of seeing alligators, although there are estimated 3000 in the lake - fortunately we did manage to spot a small one hiding in the reeds.  The highlight however was seeing an Osprey hovering directly overhead, and of course the ride itself was quite invigorating!  We then visited a town called Celebration for lunch.  This was purpose built by Disney to reflect American living in the 1920's with clapboard houses and an old fashioned cinema - but it is a real town with people living and working there.  It was a lovely town, with some quaint interesting shops and a lovely lake front pier - it has a atmosphere of having stepped back in time into a more sedate era - actually it reminded me a bit of Wisteria Lane from Desperate Housewives and there was a street with this name.  We had another relaxing evening and another BBQ :-)

Wrestling an alligator at the air boat ride park ;-)

I found a wee fuzzy friend in Celebration town

Mum, Anne, John, me and Andrew in Celebration

Tuesday was the mall - much to John's disgust, although he did manage to buy more than Anne- something not right with that picture!  Of course, I had the most purchases but even better was the fact I didn't pay for anything!  It's my birthday this Sunday so I had dollars to spend from Anne and John and mum and dad - and they got a lot further on clothes here than at home.  I got two wee dresses for the two weddings we have this year, a really unusual bag from Ross' birthday money and mum got me a Fossil watch which I love!  It was a tiring day but rather successful :-)

Wednesday was a day of recovery at the pool, although I find it near impossible to sit still for more than 2 hours so myself and Andrew went for a wee walk around the immediate area - it is mostly just villas but there is a lake with a small jetty, so we wandered down there.  There was a man with his son fishing off the jetty and as we approached he called us over to see an alligator which has been attracted over by the fishing bait!  It was much bigger than the one we saw on the airboat - about 7-8ft long - and we had a great view as it swam around the jetty right beneath us.  It was great seeing it close up in it's natural environment.  No one believed us when we went back to the villa but we had the pictures to prove it!   John would like to go down and feed it some muffins -  Anne suggested he should probably just wade right in....

Yesterday was another busy day with a trip to Kennedy Space Centre.  It was a very early start with a stop for an all day American breakfast - pancakes and syrup - very nice but could never eat that every day.  At the space centre we took the bus tour which took us to a viewing platform, where we could see the various launch sites, then a centre about the Apollo missions and the Saturn V rockets - they has a massive replica of the rocket which was very impressive.   We also saw what it would look like inside the shuttles - I spent a long time looking at the toilet area and still can't quite work that one out....!

I think that astronaut in the background looks rather sinister....

They also had a launch simulator where you get strapped into a shuttle and they simulate what take off would be like - it was really good and you got the feeling of being pushed right back by G forces.  I was sitting thinking that I could never have gone on something like that pre transplant as my lungs would not have coped and I would have probably felt really breathless - where as I could do everything without a second thought!

Full size replica of the Explorer space shuttle

Astronaut John and his crew..

We were shattered last night after a long day so today is going to just be a chill out day.  The two Disney days have still to come - we were waiting on crowds do reduce a little as this week is American Easter holidays.  Disney here we come!