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"Guess who`s back"...3 Return for 3 Weeks @ RPR. Parks, KSC with lots of good food and fun...A May 2023 TR

I'm back reading! I have been traveling then fighting a virus, so been off the boards a bit. Hoping to be regularly here for some time now! The uber driver story cracked me up -- like Kyle, I kind of thought, "this is something that would happen to me." I started reading from the last page, so will go have a look what I have missed!
 
I feel the exact same way about this ride. I don't understand why it's so much worse than a lot of others but I will not be going on it again ever lol.

That shrimp dish that Kyle had at Carrabas is my fave with the toasty bread...I could drink that sauce.

Sorry about the cough...ugh...

And the food at KSC...yeah...I guess with nothing else around they don't have to work too hard at it there...but...it could definitely be better!

I do hope they replace it with something else as rumoured, yes, I’ll never set foot in it again.

That shrimp dish was gorgeous!! We did get a taste and some bread, agree, the sauce was Beautiful, we were really impressed with Carrabbas.

They have no competition at all there, so yes they don‘t need to try too hard and they do have a lot of school visits who maybe aren’t as fussy, but as long as it filled a hole we were ok with anything.

The cough, yes…..ugh!
 
I'm back reading! I have been traveling then fighting a virus, so been off the boards a bit. Hoping to be regularly here for some time now! The uber driver story cracked me up -- like Kyle, I kind of thought, "this is something that would happen to me." I started reading from the last page, so will go have a look what I have missed!

Welcome back Alice!

Good to see you back, hope you’re all better now and yes, hope to see you more often on here, youse is missed!!

lol……we sometimes think we have a magnet for a certain type of person, but in reality, it’s not just us.

Hope you get all caught up…….:)
 
There is a little screening of the story around the conception and building of the Shuttle before you get through to another room with more screens and then you get the reveal of the Shuttle.....

Nothing beats when you see the Shuttle for that very first time, it is spine tinglingy special to see that reveal and it brought me to tears that first visit when it first appears, one of the most amazing sights to see ever.

However it is still stunning to see Atlantis up close, no denying it is impressive to say the least.






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This is perfect for Kyle, he has always had an interest in all things space which led to his love of astronomy, so this place is somewhere he adores, as we do, but he has an exceptional knowledge of everything to do with anything connected with space and astronomy, so if I have a question I always know who to ask. Tom and I do love it to as it`s part of our history.





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Kyle has had several telescopes over the years and the latest one he has we jokingly call The Hubble as it is huge and he gets some amazing images from it, he has mastered so much about space photography and I have shared them with @keishashadow as she and her family also share the same interest. Janet always says he should produce a book with them as they are exceptional.

So of course we had to get a picture with the replica of something that has brought us so many images over the years. Of course now it had been replaced with the even more impressive James Webb Telescope. The history of Hubble is very interesting with the initial setbacks when it was launched in 1990 it had and how it was saved by astronauts several times over the years, it is still in operation despite the more advanced replacements.






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There are many interactive attractions beyond looking at the Shuttle and it`s abilities and workings, you can have a go at trying to make a repair to the Shuttle through simulators, but it`s as if you are wearing the huge space gloves, which isn`t easy and astronaut training simulators. But, so much more, you can easily pass a couple of hours in this building alone.






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I have missed out a lot, but as KSC is not for everyone I won`t go through it all in any detail, but we cannot recommend this place enough.

Downstairs they have many exhibitions that are really interesting and you can even come down to the lower level on a slide which does look like a lot of fun!! We took the stairs!







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One of the most heartbreaking places to visit in the whole campus is Forever Remembered, a tribute to the 14 astronauts who perished in both Space Shuttle Challenger and Columbia disasters.





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Forever Remembered was opened in June 2015 details of the content was kept secret from most employees at the Visitor Centre until the morning of June 27th 2015 when it was officially opened by NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and KSC Director Bob Cabana, who both had strong connections to those who were lost. Also present were families of the crew members lost in these terrible disasters. I cannot envisage how emotional that morning must have been for all concerned.

The Memorial Project was mainly lead by a man called Mike Ciannilli who I believe was NASA test director when this was being conceived and he had explained this was deliberately designed to be an incredibly emotional experience as emotion was timeless. He was so correct as it does fill you with heartfelt emotion and incredible pride too.

Mr Cabana also reiterated he didn`t want these stories hidden or pushed away and that we should never be allowed to forget their sacrifice and to quote his exact words here "They tell the story of our never-ending quest to explore, and our undying spirit to never give up.”

The area is filled with personal items, photographs and some of the life stories of these heroes and each one is incredible to read and see a little of what they enjoyed away from their life in the Space Programme.

The first time we came here I was reluctant to take pictures, planning only to absorb their history by purely reading and celebrating their life, but one of the employees who spoke to us that day postively encouraged us to take pictures of the astronauts with their stories and share them with as many people as possible as many people will never be lucky enough to visit this amazing place and see it for themselves.

So although I did feel we were intruding somehow, I can see what he meant. So through some tears we did take the images, I won`t post them all but enough to see the sentiment behind this display.






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The clearest memory for me was Challenger in 1986, this was the first Shuttle disaster I remember in such detail, while watching it on tv and were mesmerised by the excitement around the whole take off and especially as they were sending a civilian for the first time and then to see the tragic devastation that came next. I think this is where I got my first interest in learning so much more about the Space Programme.

Christa McAuliffe was a teacher and her class were all there watching this momentous occasion, I cannot imagine the horror they must have experienced seeing such an event, her name out of them all stuck with me for many years.

The families of those lost were incredibly kind and shared some very personal memories including photographs that take you to the person they are and not just the astronaut. Incredibly emotional and still fills us all with intense pride for the bravery and ultimate sacrifice.







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There are two remnants of both disasters and again, we were encouraged to take pictures of them and share. It is quite difficult to look at them and know that that`s all that`s left of two amazing feats of Engineering that did so much good for our futures.

First is the left hand body panel from Challenger in 1986 and the second picture shows the cockpit windows from Columbia in 2003.







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While we were there NASA were paying tribute to Samuel Thornton Durrance, an astronomer who flew on two NASA space shuttle missions as a payload specialist and was also a research scientist who made incredible contributions to the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope. He was also a member of many scientific societies and sadly passed away May 5th 2023.




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Forever Remembered is incredibly emotional and I make no apologies for silently tearing up as I went through it and read all about those amazing people. I hope they keep this memorial alive forever as this non American family are still filled with incredible pride in all the achievements behind us and have immense hope for the future with everything going forward.





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My two wanted to do the Shuttle Launch Experience again, I always give it a miss but they enjoy it, so I have a wander around and find somewhere quiet to sit for the 15 minutes or so they are gone.






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Back out into the sunshine and jeez it is blazing hot!!! It reminds me of our last visit to Epcot in 2007, my abiding memory of it is how intensely hot it was and very little shade.

We do enjoy seeing the Kugel Ball here which is 9 ton of a black granite sphere etched with 88 constellations and floats on a fountain of water which cleverly demonstrates the science of buoyancy and friction.







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The place was almost deserted, but we were headed to get the bus out see another amazing display, Saturn V.





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Last KSC post coming up......🚀
 


Christa MacAuliffe was a former Girl Scout and I’ve been to their tribute in New Hampshire. It’s called “Christa’s House,” and has a memorial library of her Girl Scout experiences. I was also deeply affected by the loss of the Challenger. We were all watching in school and no one quite knew what to do when it happened, teachers included 😥 I’m so glad they have these sections at KSC to remember the very brave men and women astronauts.

And what a wonderful day you had, with just a few bumps along the way. I’ve been before but need to go back and see all the new things! That Kullgren Ball is the coolest 🔭

When I was young we would get reruns of “I Dream of Jeannie,” and I thought Cocoa Beach was a magical place ☺️

Love this day, looking forward to the next segment!
 
Christa MacAuliffe was a former Girl Scout and I’ve been to their tribute in New Hampshire. It’s called “Christa’s House,” and has a memorial library of her Girl Scout experiences. I was also deeply affected by the loss of the Challenger. We were all watching in school and no one quite knew what to do when it happened, teachers included 😥 I’m so glad they have these sections at KSC to remember the very brave men and women astronauts.

And what a wonderful day you had, with just a few bumps along the way. I’ve been before but need to go back and see all the new things! That Kullgren Ball is the coolest 🔭

When I was young we would get reruns of “I Dream of Jeannie,” and I thought Cocoa Beach was a magical place ☺️

Love this day, looking forward to the next segment!

Tom enjoyed I dream of Jeannie, I don’t remember it apart from JR being in it and her doing the cross arms eye blink thing! I didn’t know it was set there.

That tribute would be amazing to see, it sounds lovely and very tasteful as befitting such a woman.

It was an amazing day all in, hot and a lot of walking but so much fun!

Next post should be up soon…….:)
 
We head towards the bus for the short journey to the Saturn V exhibition which is all included in price of entry and absolutely not to be missed. The buses tend to be, certainly in our experience, usually very busy and every seat has been filled, the driver`s are always full of information about the whole place and very knowledgeable on wildlife around the park and frequently point out where huge birds nests are to pointing out the odd lazy alligator just enjoying the sunshine.

You pass the impressive Vehicle Assembly Building which is simply huge......massive!!! The stats are all on their website about how big the flag is and so on, but you can just see it is a behemoth of a building and you can see it from miles away.







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On a previous trip we saw the doors open and at the time they were working on one of the rockets, I forget which one, but it is amazing to see whether open or closed.






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The journey to Saturn V has changed, a few years ago we used to cross the huge paths the crawlers take to get the rockets to the launch pads, and we passed right beside the huge SpaceX building right beside launch tower 39A.

To see the distance the crawlers had to travel and considering how slow they travelled, it was an amazing feat of engineering to get them anywhere!! But, it`s a shame they don`t take you that way anymore and although it`s still nice, it`s just not as interesting.

This picture is from 2018.






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You exit the bus and wait to enter the building where you are again shown some more screens and a short movie full of info that is surprisingly interesting for everyone, we never saw anyone look bored, then you go through to the Firing room and here you can get a seat as you watch the story of Apollo 8 and their part in the space race as the first crewed Saturn V mission was released and they were blasted up into space. It`s so hard to imagine what that would have been like in any rocket/shuttle.






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Then you find yourself staring up at the largest rocket ever flown.....Saturn V. Although this one on show never took off, it`s an exact replica though.

It is again, simply massive and very impressive.







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It was quite amazing to realise that every single person who stepped on the moon, did so from KSC and all under the power of a Saturn V rocket.

And you can see the famous Fisher Space Pen that had been turned into a display. This is absolutely iconic in the industry as this astronaut space pen has flown on each and every crewed mission to space since Apollo 7 as it can write in extreme temperatures, under water and upside down.





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Our traditional picture of Kyle under the flag.






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This looks a short visit, but we explored so much and there are so many displays to see and enjoy as well as the rocket itself, but it would take forever to run through everything in this building, so I won`t. But, you can easily spend 2-3 hours out here on this part of the complex. We spent some time before heading out to the bleachers to have a look over at the launch pads that are so much part of our history. To stand here and watch one of those launches must be incredible.






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The Moon Tree Garden sums up the whole amazing place with one statue......Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin...The Eagle has Landed.






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The first year we visited we didn`t go to the back of the statue, so we missed the whole point of where it was positioned and why. Although today the moon wasn`t visible and it won`t happen every day, but on a lot of occasions you can see these men pointing and observing the place they miraculously landed on all those years ago....The Moon.

It gives you chills when you do see the point of the positioning of this lovely monument.







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Kyle takes such great pride in being here and experiencing all they have to show and teach us today.






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There are some wonderful plaques to enjoy around the garden and the trees are quite remarkably second generation trees from seeds that were actually taken to the moon and given as a gift by the daughter of one of the Apollo 14 astronauts, Stuart Roosa.

The 12 trees are represent the 12 crewed Apollo missions.

Another quite sad area of the complex is the Ad Astra Per Aspera display and this covers the tragic loss of three astronauts, Roger Chaffee, Gus Grissom and Ed White of Apollo 1 who perished on a training session for the flight. This tribute is dedicated to them and is also quite emotional to see. It`s quite horrific to read about if you don`t know how they died on January 27th 1967.





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This is the stuff of nightmares!!! To be so confined is terrifying enough, but to know you are going to be blasted into space while enclosed in such a tiny capsule and although you have the whole of NASA looking out for you, you are on your own up there.





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This was new from our last visit.....and they do say the simple things amuse simple folks......

As you walked you left a moon print on the floor, we loved this!!!







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The Apollo Treasures Gallery is just that, a treasure. It holds a plethora of personal items and displays of space suits including Alan Shepards moon dust covered suit, artifacts of the Apollo moon missions that have been authenticated and the amazingly small Apollo 14 crew capsule which is so small it has to be seen to be believed.






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The artifacts were impressive and this was again where the astronauts personal items brought home that these brave folks had died for our future.





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The piece of moon rock you can actually touch used to have three spaces to put your hand through and touch it, they had changed it so there were only two holes, so this picture is again from 2018 where we all put our hand through and touched it at the same time.






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It was getting near time to go home, I think we were on the last bus to leave today, but we did manage some pictures and some last minute shopping before we left.





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There are so many things to see and do in this exhibition I haven`t covered. There is a Lunar Theatre which shows the journey till we heard the words " The Eagle has landed". There is an experience that are interactive you can see the wonder of the Apollo Moon landings through various interactive exhibits and artifacts. Below is the life size display of a real Lunar Module 9 and a scene depicting Apollo 11 Moon landing.




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Again, so many other things to explore and see in this vast area, but as it was almost time to leave we headed into the gift shop as Kyle wanted to make a purchase.

He had previously purchased a coins that came in beautiful boxes and are stunning, but this time he wanted something a little different. After looking around he opted to buy an actual piece of moon rock. The young lady brought out several for him to choose from, they weren`t so different, but he picked one that stood out a little more than the others and it is small, but it is quite impressive. I was surprised at the cost of this tiny little piece of moon rock, but he liked it and it something you`ll keep forever.







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After he had paid, we headed out to get on the bus and we were delayed slightly waiting for a family who had decided to dilly dally instead of getting on the bus, eventually a security guard reminded them politely it was time to leave, so they reluctantly got on the bus.

Again our driver pointed out landmarks and things of interest along the way including a birds nest that I can`t rememebr what it was...maybe some kind of Eagle?? We also didn`t see any alligators this time, and before we knew it we were back at the visitors centre.








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We stopped in at the main gift store but we didn`t see anything else we wanted to buy and we did look. So we headed out to the exit and stopped off at the bathrooms before leaving and we stopped for one last image of the rocket garden, clock and the flag that were all at Half-Staff in honour of the victims of the tragedy in Allen, Texas.







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This had been an amazing day, a busy one, but we had enjoyed it so much from start to finish. There is something very special about this place and as British citizens we do feel that same pride in everything the USA has achieved in Space travel and what is being done for the future.

This is a place for every member of the family, maybe very young kids will be bored, but for most age groups, it will stun, enthrall and excite you in so many ways as you are immersed in the whole experience.

I`m not sure which part is all of our favourites overall....I`m going to guess it`s the Space Shuttle by a small margin as there are so many parts to this day and all of them are spectacular in their own ways.

We got in the car which showed 106F......bloomin hot!!! We followed a car that was doing, I kid you not.....5mph.....its really not hard to find your way out, so at the first opportunity Tom went out and whizzed by him, we did not want to get stuck behind him on the way out.

It`s not a bad journey home, as we passed the water where we could still see the VAB we saw loads of dolphins jumping around, we tried to capture them with the camera and Kyle got his phone out too, but they didn`t show up.

We got back home and although we were a little whooped, we splashed some water on our faces and mum decided........






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🍹
 


Well I’m more than a wee bit late to the party but I’m here and finally all caught up. It took me 3 days as you were on page 28 when I found your report. I don’t know why I didn’t know about it, maybe like so many my notifications weren’t working but no matter, I’m here now.
Brilliantly written and fantastic photos as always. I found your KSC post fascinating and would love to visit there someday. Glad Kyle is feeling better ( well done on the run) and hoping you don’t get too ill. Being sick on holiday is not fun!
picture....





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I really think you need to frame this photo. You all look so wonderfully happy and delighted to be in each others company 😍
 
Wow, the space center has added a ton of stuff since I last visited. That was about 20 years ago though. I need to go back sometime.

:welcome: along Charade......

I think you`d love KSC now. Even in the few years since we have been going it has grown and they have plans for more, it`s an amazing place and you could easily spend two full days there.

Good to see you here :)
 
Well I’m more than a wee bit late to the party but I’m here and finally all caught up. It took me 3 days as you were on page 28 when I found your report. I don’t know why I didn’t know about it, maybe like so many my notifications weren’t working but no matter, I’m here now.
Brilliantly written and fantastic photos as always. I found your KSC post fascinating and would love to visit there someday. Glad Kyle is feeling better ( well done on the run) and hoping you don’t get too ill. Being sick on holiday is not fun!

I really think you need to frame this photo. You all look so wonderfully happy and delighted to be in each others company 😍

:welcome: back luvpoohandcompany.....I wondered where you were!!!

The notifications are all over the place for some reason, I haven`t been getting notifications for many posts including some TR`s. But, glad you`ve made it over, always good to see you!

I was thinking about you as my friends did make it over to NI and they loved it!!! So much so they`re going back in August for another week, we did think about going with them but it`s at the same time we`re going to see Matt and Rob who were in the last TR. So maybe next time.

Thank you, and you did well getting through it all in a few days!!! Yes, KSC is wonderful, and absolutely worth a visit or two.

Yep, it sucks being sick on vacation, we weren`t over it quite yet at this point......lol......but we were so proud of him doing the run, given all that was going on with him.

And thank you, yes, we loved that picture too. I have that one and one of the three of us at the race on a "thingy" to take to one of the photo places to have them framed. I loved that picture as soon as I saw it. The lovely Maggie took that one outside on the balcony and yes, it is a good picture.

Good to see you, hope you`re doing ok and things are good with you. Hope you have some lovely weather too, although mum told me last night their ferry wasn`t running due to high winds on the West Coast!!! We are being baked here today.....quite unusual for us!!! :wave2:
 
All good here though our lovely June heatwave has given way to wind, rain and the occasional thunderstorm to rival Florida’s afternoon storms. Unfortunately that’s as close as we are getting to Orlando this year. Prices are crazy for flights this year and so we are going to wait a year or possibly two as my daughter and her husband and two kids want to do a big trip all together which everyone is excited about but it will take them time to save as they have crèche fees for their youngest which are almost £900 a month!
I have said I want an extra week at the end after they all go home to chill and do some more adult evenings. Love them all dearly but I also love taking things at my own pace so I think this way we will all be happy.
So glad your friends enjoyed their visit here. There is so much to do here now and this year we are going to play at being tourists in our own city and visit those places we advise others to go to but haven’t been ourselves in years.
 
Thank you, Carole,, for that informative TR of the Space Center. It is absolutely amazing!. I imagine you could spend 4 or 5 days there to take it all in. I thought I saw a lot at the Smithsonian space center, but it doesn't even compare to the KSC! The amount of detail you gave us was just perfect, not too much, but perfect:) Also, as always, the photos were great. I can understand Kyles fascination with all things space related, because I have an interest in that too. But my telescope is a "beginner" one, but is still fun to look at the planets and stars through it!
 
All good here though our lovely June heatwave has given way to wind, rain and the occasional thunderstorm to rival Florida’s afternoon storms. Unfortunately that’s as close as we are getting to Orlando this year. Prices are crazy for flights this year and so we are going to wait a year or possibly two as my daughter and her husband and two kids want to do a big trip all together which everyone is excited about but it will take them time to save as they have crèche fees for their youngest which are almost £900 a month!
I have said I want an extra week at the end after they all go home to chill and do some more adult evenings. Love them all dearly but I also love taking things at my own pace so I think this way we will all be happy.
So glad your friends enjoyed their visit here. There is so much to do here now and this year we are going to play at being tourists in our own city and visit those places we advise others to go to but haven’t been ourselves in years.

We`re supposed to get thunder and lightning today, I doubt it though, much breezier than yesterday so far, but I already have my washing out this Saturday morning, it`ll dry in no time. We were boiled yesterday with the heat, but think it`ll be slightly cooler today and next week before the promised "heatwave" comes back.

Childcare costs are certainly shocking, one of my friends runs a creche and the costs are eye wateringly high! I think waiting for a time to have a big family trip is a good idea and yes, love the idea of having an extra week after they`ve gone home....best of both worlds!!

It`s so true, tourists can see more of where we are from than locals do. When we go home to see my family we do try to do something "touristy" as we have some gorgeous places around us, but it`s easy to not do them. When my cousin came over from Long Island last year we went up for a few days and took her to Culzean Castle which is half an hour away from where we lived, but we hadn`t been for years. We did laugh as we said there were more Americans there than anyone else, we felt very much at home....lol......

But, yes our friends had never been to NI but loved it, they went to see Kinbane Castle/Dunseverick Castle (they love ruins) although the steps down scared them a little, and walked over that bridge that terrifies me just looking at it, I forget the name of it. They stayed in little B&B`s the whole time which was different for them as they are very much nicer hotel people normally, but honestly, they fell in love with the place and the people they met too.

I`m rambling now......☺️

Have a lovely weekend :)
 
Thank you, Carole,, for that informative TR of the Space Center. It is absolutely amazing!. I imagine you could spend 4 or 5 days there to take it all in. I thought I saw a lot at the Smithsonian space center, but it doesn't even compare to the KSC! The amount of detail you gave us was just perfect, not too much, but perfect:) Also, as always, the photos were great. I can understand Kyles fascination with all things space related, because I have an interest in that too. But my telescope is a "beginner" one, but is still fun to look at the planets and stars through it!

Glad you enjoyed reading again about KSC, yes you could spend a few days there for sure, we didn`t do some of the attractions and they have stopped the extra tour we wanted to do so we didn`t go back a second day, but could have easily. Tom and Kyle`s pictures are amazing, I`ll pass that one one!!

I`m sure your telescope is marvellous. Yes, I still enjoyed looking at planets and so on from his, although last few years he has concentrated on imaging, I haven`t forgotten I said I`d send you some of his pictures....I need to get a wiggle on with that! It`s a fascinating subject for sure.
 
We popped down to the Club Lounge for an hour before we went over to Strong Water Bar around 7.30, I had sent Fernando a txt so he knew we were coming over in case we needed to book a table, but it was fine, we had missed the crowds.

IBM had taken them all offsite tonight or into Citywalk, so the bar was fairly quiet, Fernando said we had just missed them as a load had come in for a drink before heading out, timing is everything. To be fair they were a very good crowd compared to some conventions.

Tonight we thought Maggie was off so we didn`t ask for her, but we had Casey looking after us who is lovely, they all are to be honest but after we had placed our drinks order we saw her and she was pretend offended we weren`t in her section, lovely, lovely lady.

Tom asked for something different tonight, so I have no name for this drink but it was lovely and very strong, I ordered my favourite drink of course and Kyle got another kind of strawberry drink.






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Fernando came over to join us for a time and brought over a rum for us to try.....and the guy who doesn`t drink certainly enjoyed another taste of a very different rum!!!






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And gone.......he does have a very good palate with rums it seems.





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Chef Carlos came over to join us for a time too, he is the most interesting character and has the best sense of humour, but his passion for food is incredible. We did thank them again for creating that beautiful Anniversary menu for us last September, that was one we`ll never forget, Fernando assured us Carlos loves creating dishes like that, but they knew how appreciative we were.

He was also telling us how excited he was for the new menu and it was coming out in the next few days and his descriptions sounded wonderful, we couldn`t wait to try these new dishes.

For tonight we ordered the Florida Ceviche, the jerk chicken as I had seen D order it the last time we were in with them and it looked so good, Kyle ordered the sliders and they brought fries for him too, we also tried one of the dishes that was coming off the menu Lamb Rellena. This was a first but it wasn`t a favourite, I did tell Chef Carlos I had finally tried a dish I didn`t love, he did laugh and said yes, that`s why it`s coming off, it wasn`t overly popular.

The ceviche was beautiful, so fresh and we do enjoy sharing a little bit of each others dishes.....well, except Kyle.....he is very much like Joey and doesn`t tend to share food.....unless.......he doesn`t like it!!!





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::yes::




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Kyle really enjoyed those sliders, although he did offer us the pickles as he doesn`t like them.....but the burgers are very tasty apparently!






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That jerk chicken with the coconut rice and mango chutney is beautiful! It`s not as spicy as I`d hoped, but it was delicious, chicken was so tender and coconut rice is the only type of rice I really like outside of it being from a Chinese restaurant.





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The lamb dish was not to our taste, it was ok and although we do love lamb, just not like this, the lamb was mixed with some other ingredients into a ball and deep fried, the sauce was nice though, but I wouldn`t miss this dish being on the menu.






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Fernando came back over to sit with us and I know I`ve already mentioned it but it was tonight Fernando told us my cocktail was their second best seller and it was incredibly popular!!! We were very glad to hear that everyone loves it and Anthony should be so proud of his drink.

Fernando is someone we adore and could sit and chat to him all night, he is the nicest man and so very kind.






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After a while we did decide we wanted dessert, Kyle ordered his usual chocolate cake and we decided to share their amazing Tres Leche cake which is simply beautiful, and one between two is plenty as it is very filling.






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After such a long day, this was so lovely sitting and chilling out with a few cocktails and chatting with the lovely staff.

Everyone gets welcomed here whether you are are a first timer or long term guest, there is something about this place and it`s all down to the wonderful staff, excellent food and a wonderful atmosphere that is so unique, I can never recommend Strong Water Bar enough times to folks.

Around 11ish we all felt ready for bed, so we did what Kyle calls our goodbye tour.....yes, we do say goodbye to almost everyone. We waited for Fernando who had brought us some honey for my throat as he had heard me cough and I told him I hadn`t got a chance to get some meds for it yet, I absolutely hate honey unless it`s in a honey mustard dressing or sauce, but if it helped I`d try it.

By the time we got home we were all shattered, but it had been an absolutely wonderful day. I think it will be a long time before we go back to KSC but it is an amazing place.

We all hoped I would sleep better because if I slept better, I wouldn`t be coughing!!

Fingers crossed!
 
I thoroughly enjoyed your KSC day! How wonderful to spend an amazing family day checking out all the fabulous exhibits. If only you had felt well, it would have been perfect. ☺️

Ending your day with a meal at Strong Water really was the cherry on that Sundae. I’m eager to hear about the new menu when you visit again — or later in this trip 😁

Hoping your return to health was imminent at this point 🤞🏽🤞🏽🤞🏽
 
walked over that bridge that terrifies me just looking at it, I forget the name of it.
:rotfl: Carrick-a-reed rope bridge. I have done it a couple of times when I was a lot younger. It scares the bejeepers out of me now so wild horses couldn’t get me on it! Last time was when I was about 20 and my aunt was behind me when she thought it would be funny to jump up and down to “rock” the bridge :scared1: I was sure I was going to die and she was lucky I was still speaking to her afterwards.
 

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