Post Trip Recovery
The trip to Florida was a good one for a business trip. Got to learn some neat stuff about some equipment we use at work as well as about other things that work with it. I also got to meet several people from other companies that use the same stuff. Over all the conference was very good. The hotel was also very nice. It was right on the bay. Unfortunately i only had one chance for a quick walk along the beach. I basically had 45 minutes between events at the conference Thursday evening, so i took a quick walk. The food was very good as well.
Then yesterday was a long but good day. The substantive portion of the conference got done at noon. They had a cruise/social gather scheduled for the afternoon. But, Eric had a sales presentation to do at 2 in Orlando. So we drove to Orlando so he could do his dog and pony show for a TV station.
When he was done with that, we headed to Titusville, FL. This is a small city directly across the river from The Kennedy Space Center. Due to traffic the 1:30 drive took more like 2:30 hours. But, we found a parking space in the sears lot across the street from the river. We found a good vantage point that wasn't too crowded and waited about 1:30. We meet some very nice people while waiting, and had a very enjoyable time.
The launch was amazing!!! I don't think there could have been a better night launch. The moon was full and just a bit north of the launch pad. There was a few high wispy clouds, but the sky was mostly clear.
When the shuttle starts up, it is very clearly visible. Then it very abruptly leaps skyward. It took about 30 seconds for the loud rumble of the engines to reach us. We were only about 5-1/2 or 6 miles from the launch pad. Even if you go through the background check, and are able to get tickets, you are only allowed to get within 5 miles of the launch pad.
It was a very neat event to experience. I'm glad i did it. But, since our flights where in and out of Tampa, yesterday was a very long day. It took even longer to get back to Orlando. Then it is another 2 hours from Orlando to Tampa. So, we got to the hotel by the Tampa airport at 1 am. And our flight this morning was at 7:45. So we only got about 4 hours of sleep last night.
So, i havn't even gotten the pictures off of the camera yet. I'm going to try and get them downloaded, edited and posted tomorrow. Today has been catching up on sleep. Luckily i've got the week off.
I'll be posting more soon.
Then yesterday was a long but good day. The substantive portion of the conference got done at noon. They had a cruise/social gather scheduled for the afternoon. But, Eric had a sales presentation to do at 2 in Orlando. So we drove to Orlando so he could do his dog and pony show for a TV station.
When he was done with that, we headed to Titusville, FL. This is a small city directly across the river from The Kennedy Space Center. Due to traffic the 1:30 drive took more like 2:30 hours. But, we found a parking space in the sears lot across the street from the river. We found a good vantage point that wasn't too crowded and waited about 1:30. We meet some very nice people while waiting, and had a very enjoyable time.
The launch was amazing!!! I don't think there could have been a better night launch. The moon was full and just a bit north of the launch pad. There was a few high wispy clouds, but the sky was mostly clear.
When the shuttle starts up, it is very clearly visible. Then it very abruptly leaps skyward. It took about 30 seconds for the loud rumble of the engines to reach us. We were only about 5-1/2 or 6 miles from the launch pad. Even if you go through the background check, and are able to get tickets, you are only allowed to get within 5 miles of the launch pad.
It was a very neat event to experience. I'm glad i did it. But, since our flights where in and out of Tampa, yesterday was a very long day. It took even longer to get back to Orlando. Then it is another 2 hours from Orlando to Tampa. So, we got to the hotel by the Tampa airport at 1 am. And our flight this morning was at 7:45. So we only got about 4 hours of sleep last night.
So, i havn't even gotten the pictures off of the camera yet. I'm going to try and get them downloaded, edited and posted tomorrow. Today has been catching up on sleep. Luckily i've got the week off.
I'll be posting more soon.