I'm a Space Princess

When I left work on Tuesday afternoon, heading to vacation, it reminded me of the last days of school before the summer. The air seemed stale and full of promise of the months to come. I was so ready to be on vacation. I promised myself to not check email – though secretly I might just peek. I hopped in the Stang, blasted the music – as much as these old ears could handle, and off I went. I got about 15 miles away – almost home – and I realized I left my wallet at work. Typical. Turn around and head back.

I had done most my packing the day before so I really didn’t have anything to do except clean the apartment slightly since the parental units would be staying there over the weekend. If Pookie wasn’t going to be traumatized enough by me being gone, he was going to have two standard poodles as housemates for the weekend.

Up at the butt crack of before dawn and off to the airport. The airport was absolutely packed. I couldn’t believe how many people were there. I knew it might be busy, but not packed. I had no worries though had plenty of time to get through security (and for the record, why are people so stupid? I mean really. You’re standing in line. The recording is looping telling you to take you freakin shoes off – but noooo there’s always a couple of people who seemed surprised that they have to take their shoes off. ) Through security and off to Bucky’s for coffee.

The flight to Houston was uneventful. I slept. Steppin Out 2 was the movie and I figured I could miss that. But the flight from Houston to Orlando was quite eventful. I got to sit in first class. This young Indian family wanted to sit together so the husband asked if I wanted his seat instead. I was feeling oddly generous so I said sure. Then he said it was in first class…Um HELL Yah I’ll switch with ya. I got water in a GLASS with ice, a free bloody mary, warm towelette, and a wide seat for my derriere. Too bad it was the short leg of the trip, but I’m not complaining.

I got down to baggage claim and for all of you who made fun of my pink with white polka dots suitcase, let me just say, I recognized it from three carousels down! Waiting for SLSIL and then we’re off. Orlando will never be the same.

That was yesterday. Today is , well today. Thursday. It's sunny and 91 outside as I sit poolside and write this blog. Beer in hand (well not in hand because I can't type then - but not far from the hand...ooo hold please...gotta take a sip)

Anyhow, SLSIL and I got up this morning, not too early I might add, and headed east to the Kennedy Space Center. Oh. My. God is that the coolest place on earth. We took the Nasa Up Close tour, which took us all over. We got to see both shuttle - or sorry they call them orbiters - launching pads, the big ass building they put the rockets and shuttles together in, and of course, critters. Not that Nasa is special for critters, but the space center sits on a wildlife refuge. Very cool. On our way out we saw two gators - much to SLSIL's concern. She's not a fan of the gators. Then we saw a turtle, two or three eagles, and a couple of mating ugly ass bugs. Bug P*rn oh goody. And before you ask, yes I did add to my pink collection by purchasing the pink Space Princess Travel mug. I've been thinking about buying a travel mug anyhow to do my part with saving the environment - I just needed to find the right one...and so I have.

The tour through the center was especially cool because there's a shuttle launch for this Saturday. Sadly no tickets in my price range are available and as far as I can tell I'm not a VIP. Bummer. We couldn't see the actual shuttle on the pad because it's being prepped, but you can see the big ass gas tank.

This is the big ass building (BAB) below [BTW NASA is FULL of acronyms. I thought Geeksoft was bad. I now know where they learned it from]. Just to put it in perspective, each star on the flag is 6 feet wide. And I'm not sure it'll come out in the blog, but in the middle section near the NASA logo you can see a straight line - if you look real close you might be able to see two fools up there painting.

Tomorrow we're "shopping" and having lunch with some old family friends of ours. I can't wait to see them, it's been years. Well, the Tiki Bar is calling me back to drink more beer, so I'm going to sign out for now.