Sunday - Nov 9, 2008 - Went to church with Mandy and Christian. Spent the day with them - played with their children ( Kylee andRaegan) - They don't get to see their grandparents too often so we filled in. We rested and prepared to head back on the road on Monday.

Monday - Nov 10, 2008 - Spent the whole day driving east towards Orlando. We made it almost to Mobile, Alabama.

Tuesday - Another long travel day - but we made it to Orlando! Thank heavens for our GPS. It can find anything! Had a nice hotel - so tired we slept like babies.

Wed - Nov 12 - Took a bus over to Epcot. We have $300 in Disney money to spend. It cost $150 just to get in - but still had lots to spend. We found the Germany exhibit where they had a buffet and show. We had a great time eating schnitzel, strudel, red cabbage and bratwurst. It was all you can eat - we ate our share. The show was delightful and brought back many great memories of Bavaria. We then walked and walked and walked taking in the exhibits and shops of all the countries. Towards evening we attended the American exhibit which had a patriotic theme. As we came out of the theater it was raining. We stood there for a while because we didn't have a rain coat or umbrella. After a few minutes it let up to a drizzle so we began to walk. Decided it was a good time to get some dinner so we hit the China exhibit and had some great sweet and sour pork. By that time we had spent over $100 on food without any guilt. We still had some money left and had less than an hour to spend it. Karen found a glass flower arrangement that was beautiful and still had money left to but a spoon. We ended up with just 3 cents left. We were so tired and full of food we collapsed into bed.

Thursday - Nov 13 - Left Orlando and headed for the Kennedy Space Center. Spent the whole day seeing the preparations that were being made for the launch of STS-126. We also enjoyed a whole building of exhibits from the apollo missions. Check out the photos.

Friday - Nov 14 - Launch day at last. We couldn't get into the Kennedy Space Center because it was closed down on launch days. Instead we went to the Astronaut Hall of Fame which is located just outside the entrance of the space center. It was an interesting place that looked at the human side of the space program - telling the personal stories of many of the high profile astronauts - and not forgetting any and all who have contributed. By early afternoon we decided we had better get a spot to view the launch and hunker down. People were already congregating by early afternoon. I had researched online and found a great viewing spot. We found a parking space in the shade of a building and had a picnic lunch. We then set up our chairs on a grassy beach front and spent the afternoon talking to people and enjoying the warm sunshine. We met some fun people and built a relationship. One of the guys was an entertainer whose stage name is Golf Brooks. He does comedy and country singing. He had his guitar and had us all singing and having a good time. People began to pack the place by evening. Some had fancy scopes and cameras. TV news people set up close by with their satellite trucks. The wind was blowing off the water which made it a bit chilly but the clouds were clearing which made the launch a "go".
The anticipation grew as we approached 7:55 PM. I started the countdown not knowing if there were any holds on the pad. All of a sudden their was a huge flash of light. I clicked my camera to the on position to take a movie of the launch. I didn't want to miss anything so I pointed the camera without really holding it in front of my face. I glance at the finder window and noticed the burst of light caused a streak in the picture - Then the camera froze - it turned off and wouldn't move. I disregarded the camera so I wouldn't miss anything - The rocket began to rise slowly and the fireball became smaller. It then began to pick up speed and head northward - high in the sky. The irony was that it passed in front of an almost full moon and headed for the stars - almost like a starwars movie. The ball of flame became a bright white light as Endeavor reached miles in the sky. We following the light for a couple of moments and then it was gone. It was kind of quiet on the beach and people just began to leave. I paused in awe of what I had just seen with the understanding of what a miracle the whole event was. We picked up our gear and headed for the van. We can put a man on the moon but we can't figure out how to prevent a traffic jam. We didn't realize how many people had witnessed the launch. There were thousands of people all the way down the coast who all wanted to drive at once. It took over an hour to drive ten miles. We were glad out motel was close. I felt let down - kind of like when Christmas Day ends. I noted that Karen was very excited by the event - what a good sport to go through such an ordeal for 5 minutes of excitment.

Saturday - Nov15 - Headed north to Charleston, SC. The rains came today - glad it didn't rain yesterday. Found a Costco to gas up and had dinner then went to explore the town. Couldn't see much because it was dark and rainy.