Ryan & Jaclyn's World

Honeymoon Day 8: Kennedy Space Center

Ready for an IMAX about the space station.

After seeing that show and then seeing the shuttle/capsules for launches, you can understand why astronauts feel like its so spacious!

The building where the shuttle is prepared for launch. Each stripe on the flag is 8 feet across.

This machine carries the shuttle down the tracks to the launch pad at 1 mph taking almost all night! It can get the shuttle within 1 inch of its intended resting place.

The shuttle is taken up those tracks to the launch site. The white towers on either side hold helium and nitrogen? I think? to fuel the rocket boosters. The taller water tower has water in it which is used to deaden the sound of launch.

Me with a massive rocket used in the early days to blast people into space

The shuttle looks big until you see how little the space is for the people! To the right of this, there was a ride that was supposed to feel very similar to a shuttle launch. It was pretty neat!

Ryan was getting pretty hungry...

This is the size of the capsule that held the astronauts for the Apollo missions.

Can you believe they were this confined for so long?

Again, we got to the car just in time! We saw this water spout across the waterway.

Papaw & Gramma took us out to a wonderful Italian meal and then dropped us off at the Holiday Inn next to the airport.

Our last king sized luxury

Honeymoon Day 7: Lazy day at the beach

I was thankful we didn't have anything specific planned this day because I started feeling pretty sick and worn out. I got a terrible sore throat and was getting hot and cold and achy all over. So I took several naps while Ryan watched some sports. Ryan and I also watched Amistad and The Terminal as well as a Red Sox game that went into 13 innings (shown below)! By the evening I was feeling well enough to go out on the beach and go play some putt putt - we tied!

Honeymoon Day 6: Blue Springs State Park and Daytona Beach

Gramma let us borrow her Seabring convertible for a few days so we could get around Florida!

We went to Blue Springs State Park - winter home of the manatee - to spend our Sabbath.

This spider was getting a tasty snack. It was huge with a body about the size of a quarter!

Hmmm... maybe we could find ourselves a house like this

Yep, we like the porch

Getting hot and ready to jump in

The source of the spring
The water was chilly but it was fun to float and let the current pull you out toward the ocean.

We got back to the car just in time for a deluge! After a quick snack at a table outside a Subway, we headed for Daytona to the condo the Kretchmars so generously let us use.

Our wonderful wrap around balcony!

A very competitive shuffle board match - we're practiced and ready to take the title away from Stanley and Valeri in a few weeks!

Our condo was in the middle building on the 12th floor

This is life at its best!
One of my favorites from the honeymoon - taken by setting the camera on a sign sitting on the beach.

Honeymoon Day 5: Miami to Orlando

We took a taxi back to the airport where we picked up our rental car!

We got upgraded to a Toyota Corolla since they took so long finding us a car. We both liked it a lot.

We stopped at a gas station to get some hydration - this is quite possibly the biggest drink I've ever seen

Shock and horror

Drivin' along in our automobile...
I decided south Florida is way too FLAT. I was so glad to return to the mountains!

We met Gramma Johnson at the airport in Orlando, dropped of our car, and headed to their house for supper.

Papaw finding something to read for sundown worship

Somebody is telling a knee-slapper

Looking at pictures from the good ol' days

Honeymoon Day 4: Key West, FL

Back in the USA, we had to go through customs... which was really quite a joke. We walked in a line up to a customs official in the theater who glanced at our passports and said, "Thank-you, have a nice day" and walked right on through.

Our ship was always the tallest thing anywhere we went which made it easy to get back to the boat!

Since we hadn't been able to go snorkeling in CocoCay, we decided we'd try our luck in Key West.

Ryan found some spear guns at a water gear store along with some great water shoes that he would have loved to have later in the trip.

Key West reminded me of New England - the natives look like they've been outside on a fishing boat all day and the harbor is just beautiful and quaint. The water was not quite as beautiful as the Bahamas but still beautiful.

A man was sitting by the dock throwing pieces of hotdog to the tarpin. Ryan threw in a few pieces. They are HUGE!

A place to get out of the sun on the catamaran

See what I mean about the ship being tall?

Hoisting the sail

We were very glad we weren't on one of the cruise affiliated trips - they looked awfully crowded.

Your nose gets sore after an hour of wearing this contraption

One of my favorites of the whole trip - there are 4 more of these if you ever want a smile!

Ryan ready to take the plunge

We don't have any pictures of us in the water because neither of us got back in the boat in time to snap one! We were enjoying the fish over the ship wreck below us so much that we were almost the last people back on the boat. It was like being in an aquarium. We even saw a few tiny jelly fish and I caught a glimpse of an eel.