Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Spring Break--First Half

Well, spring break was a few weeks ago at this point, but I have been so busy with the last semester of senior year that I have not had much time to sit down and write. As you have probably noticed from the lack of posts in March. I am hoping to change that this month as I have a few topics for posts in mind! 

Anyways, spring break! Since I go to school in Florida I figure I should probably enjoy the sights and tourist destinations that Florida has to offer since I will soon be leaving the sunshine state. Most people come to Florida for their vacations and I have had the fantastic opportunity to live here for 4 years, might as well explore! My boyfriend (K) and I began on our way!

First stop: Orlando-2 days

Megacon: I have never been to a convention where cosplay is the norm. I have gone to board game conventions! Ahh the memories. Anyways, my best friend was going with of her old roommate and friends so K and I thought that it would be fun to go as well. We bought the tickets and reserved the hotel room! We both did not expect what would ensue that day. We left school at 7:30am and reached Orlando around 9 (hoping to eat brunch and get into the convention center at 11). We were not anticipating the traffic that would occur when we got off our exit! We were in traffic for probably an hour and a half and then combined with parking and waiting to sit down to eat! We got to the convention center at 12!


 The sights! There was so much to see that I would say I was slightly overwhelmed by it all. My boyfriend and I wandered around some went to a panel (I did not understand or have interest in, but he loved it!) and people watched. I could have spent all day people watching, the costumes were amazing and some so intricate! 



We finally met up with my friend around 3 went back to her siblings' hotel and then found a place to eat. When we came back we went to the rave, which was a whole other experience that I don't think I will forget anytime soon! K and I had to get up early to go to Disney so we left the convention around 10:30ish. And were sound asleep by 12.



Disney: One of my old friends from freshman year that transferred works at Disney. Her and I wanted to see each other and thought it would be cool to go to Disney (boyfriend has never been and we could get in for FREE) THANK YOU M!! We tried to get into Magic Kingdom, but it was a blackout day. Sad, but we decided to go to Epcot! Which is just as fun! I had so much fun catching up with M and meeting and getting to know her sister (whom I've heard so many wonderful things about)! We had a fantastic time traveling the world, I only wished I had taken more pictures! Either way when M and her sister had to leave, I was quite sad. I didn't know the next time I would see M (it had been 2 years since we had seen each other before this day). Either way K and I made good use of the free access to the park and got back to another hotel at 11ish. 



Second stop: Cape Canaveral

We stayed the night with an old high school friend of K and so we spent the night talking and laughing. The next morning we had breakfast with these lovely people who let us stay with them and had a wonderful conversation that encompassed a great many topics. Around 12pm K and I were on our way to Cape Canaveral. We had tickets to go to the Kennedy Center. We knew that we would not be able to fully explore the visitor center that day and so we made sure we could go the the Astronaut Hall of Fame (since you get that with you general admission to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex). 


We checked into our hotel and put our stuff away and headed on over to the Hall of Fame! This was amazing, we came at 4 so not many people were there, but when walking around the room with the names and the plaques, you could feel that you were surrounded by greatness! ,These people were brave and strong enough to leave our planet Earth. K and I had fun. We ended the day with store bought dinner on the beach ( it was kind of windy and cold, but we had fun)! 




Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex: This day was completely jam packed. We got to the Space Center at about 10am and stayed until about 5:30pm. 



We made the right choice to go to the information center first. The lady who assisted us was quite nice and told us where the priority places to see were. She told us that we would be extremely lucky if we saw all of the places in our one day. First, we breezed through the Early Space Explorers exhibit. We then headed over to Space Shuttle Atlantis. This was a completely amazing place. There was so much to look at and do that it was not possible to do it all! The Shuttle Launch Experience was amazing. You got to experience what it felt like to be an astronaut right before take off. The vertical seating, the bumpiness, and the lean of the shuttle at the 6 second mark. We then went over to the bus tour station. We got the chance to drive by the vehicle assembly building as well as some of the launch pads. Our tour guide told us that we were lucky because we got to see some of the human launch pads, usually that does not happen. We ended our tour at the Apollo/Saturn V center. We got to watch and feel a 4D experience of what the control room looked like during the Apollo launch. The control panel was the same one used that day. The buttons lit up and when someone was speaking a spotlight would show on their place at the control panel. As the count down happened, the windows behind us rattled and shook as they might have during the real Apollo launch. This was extremely awesome to watch. After that we went out into the hanger and looked at the displays. At this point K and I were hungry so we got back on the bus, went and got our food from the car and ate. Afterwards we went to an IMAX movie about the Hubble Telescope narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio. K almost fell asleep, but to me I thought that it movie was fascinating. The pictures that we got to see really blew my mind. The amount of details that we saw was incredible. After the movie, K and I went to the store. I really wanted to get a NASA mug, so that when I am working on a paper or something where I am supposed to be productive, I can have my NASA mug and pretend I am super important or working on an extremely sensitive project. :) 



Our day was ending and we finished at the rocket garden and took pictures. Overall, K and I agree that this day was probably our favorite. 



Tat is the first half of spring break. When I get another moment to sit down and write the rest, I will. Until next time.

Much Love,
Taylor


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