Florida, Georgia, S. Carolina and now No. Carolina

We left at 9AM this morning...kicking and screaming...heading for home....(and there actually was kickin' & screamin')......Guy apparently has a pinched nerve and can barely move his left leg. Don't know what happened to cause it, but he's not feeling so swell! We shared the driving, stopping several times along the way....

We just checked into the Holiday Inn in Lumberton, N.C. and we'll be going for a walk shortly to see if we can't shake this out of him????

Spoke with a couple of Family members and they were both raving about the wonderful temps that they are (finally) experiencing....Hold onto that warm weather...we want to share it:)

Tomorrow we'll be staying in Fairfax, VA....

Visit to Coconuts

Enjoyed an evening meal at one of our favorite spots....

Coconuts at Cocoa Beach...


Silly pictures we couldn't resist...

After dinner, took a short walk on the beach

remembering our old stompin' grounds....

National Wildlife and Seashore Refuge

We took a ride up to the National Wildlife Refuge..

On our way, we stopped for lunch at a great little Sports Bar

Jim and Guy spotted this neat Ford Roadster outside in the parking lot...

Seeing the 2 Shuttles from the backside is quite a sight..

It's unbelievable that the public can get this close without security...

But I imagine someone was watching us at all times....

The beaches there are beautiful...white sand for miles and miles...

Love this scene...

Afterwards we took a ride on the back roads looking for gators!

Only spotted 7 of them today....

The water level is so low, you wonder how they can survive!

Another Trident Submarine spotting....

Guy lucked out on his morning walk on Thursday

when he saw a Trident Sub come into the basin for supplies...
It's quite a sight to see it

Our days in Florida are numbered.....

It's Wednesday and our Florida days are now numbered...

Jim and Pat left this morning to visit friends ,while

we continued our packing...

Guy said he had a knot in his stomach as he packed away his Palm Tree....

It's a job we're not enjoying doing...what to store here in Florida and

what to bring back with us to Maine????

We're trying to eat up everything in the freezer and cupboards, so

threw a quick meal together for dinner this evening....

Sea World

Tuesday we went to SeaWorld...one of my favorite parks....These orange Flamingos were gorgeous!
Wonderful shows to see....these dolphins are awesome....


lots of penguins......

My favorite show is "Believe"

It is so inspiring and these killer whales are unbelievable

These entertainers were certainly putting on a spectacular

performmance....take a closer look at those feet!

Wonderful day and we all enjoyed......

Jim and Pat's visit

Late Saturday afternoon, Jim and Pat arrived in sunny Florida..

It has been a long, cold Maine winter and they sure

had big smiles on their faces when they were able to step into

their summer clothes...

Pat sure was happy to slip those flip-flops on again:)

After cracking open a can of beer and bottle of wine,

they began their well deserved 2 week vacation....

the next day we rode down to the Locks and we watched

the boats come in and out.....

Monday Pat cooked us dinner....

It was a delicious red and white sauce Baked Ziti......It was delicious.....Thanks Pat....I need the recipe....

another "touristy" spot....where all the Peacocks hang out....
It must be mating season, because we must have seen at least 2 dozen male Peacocks,
with their feathers open, squawking at the top of their lungs.
(not an especially comforting sound)

Special Event at KSC

Saturday morning, Carolyn and Sid left for their journey back to Maine.

We left to meet friends at KSC to take part in Family Day for Employees Families at KSC..

Per usual, Guy had connections and we were Steve's Guests for the day.

Needless to say, we were thrilled!! Our first event was a driveby past Pad 39A & B Launch Pads.

It was extremely rare that there were 2 "birds" sitting in the gantrys at the same time.

Atlantis, scheduled to liftoff May 12th.

This is for the Hubble Telescope

If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see on the extreme right
Endeavor sitting there...can be used in an emergency to rescue Atlantis if need be.

Here is Discovery being refurbished after its recent flight.

Note underneath where engines were, tags for heat shield damage.

Each color represents work required.

Astronaut from Mission STS126

I'm holding a suit that an Astronaut wears underneath his Space Suit..

note the tubes inside that run cool water through to keep him cool during liftoff

Steve and Guy in front of one of the cones from Discovery's engine...

one of NASA's fork lifts

Diagram to ID each heat tile

It was an amazing day....so much to see and learn

If anyone is interested, we took over 200 pictures (surprise! surprise!)

and would be more than happy to share with you....

Open House

Thursday afternoon Carolyn and Sid arrived from No. Ft. Myers, on their way back home to Maine. We took them for a quick tour around the Port, watching the Cruise ships leave.....always one of our tourist stops!

Friday afternoon we hosted an Open House to say good-bye to some of our new friends....most of whom will be leaving end of April, middle of May..

Brian, Jim and Dave

Karen, Jim, Kathy and Bud

Brian, Paul and Dave

Tammy, Joan and Bud

Brian, Karen, Jim and Kathy

Joe and Pat

Bud and Joe

Me, holding Carolyn's Grandaughter Evelyn, Kathy and Grammie Carolyn

Walter, Carolyn and Marge

Joe, Walter, Carolyn, Sid, Brian (sitting)

Marge and Pat (standing)

There were about 25 of us in all and it was a great afternoon...

It will be so nice to come back in November and be able to see them all again!