Space Exploration

This week has gone really quickly but I'm not sure how, we've not actually done that much really. Well, we've done a fair amount but only bits and pieces, not many whole day activities. We have played golf at the driving range, gone to the mall, played baseball in the practice batting cages, gone to downtown West Palm Beach, been on Safari, been to Kennedy Space Center and filled the gaps watching Wimbledon and Euro 2008!

The baseball was pretty fun, hard at first to get used to but eventually we moved up from slow speed softballs (which, by the way, are in no way soft!) to medium speed baseballs. We were pretty happy with ourselves as we both managed to hit quite a few of them. It was definitely worth trying out one of America's favourite sports, if only to find out it's harder than it looks, giving us a new found respect for baseball players!!
On Wednesday we finally went to 'Lion Country Safari', the worlds first purpose built drive through safari park. It was a nice day (not raining for once) so the animals were all out in force. We got to see many animals up close including Emus, Zebras, Giraffes, Rhinos, lots of different deer, Lions (all sleeping!), Elephants, Chimps and a cool White-Handed Gibbon who was showing off on the monkey bars!
On Thursday we went to check out downtown West Palm Beach and visited the area called City Place. It was really nice with lots of shops, restaurants and cafés in a very nice setting. It really reminded me of Dubai as it was just off a big motorway, it was all very new and very clean and looked slightly out of place. Nothing wrong with it though as overall it was a really nice area to spend the afternoon. We also checked out West Palm Beach itself and it seemed really nice, we'll probably head down there today if the weather holds up.

The main attraction this week, however, was our visit to the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. This is only about 40 miles east of Orlando so we knew we were in for another long drive, luckily it was definitely worth the trip. The main part of our visit there was taken up by the bus tour. This has 3 stops around the huge site where you are dropped off to have a look around. Cape Canaveral itself is and island 8 times the size on Manhattan Island and it is also a wildlife reserve so it's pretty nice to drive around. We saw a few Alligators and even a Manatee whilst going between points of interest.
The first stop was at the Launch Pad Observation Gantry from where you can see Launch Pads 39A and 39B. It was pad 39A that every single Apollo mission was launched from along with most of the recent shuttle launches. The observation deck was about a mile away from the launch pad. The reason for this is safety, within 400 yards of liftoff you would be killed by the heat, within 800 yards you would still be killed . . . . by the sound! A mile is really the closest they can guarantee safety although all the family, press and V.I.P's watch from over 3 miles back.
The next stop was at the Apollo/Saturn V center where we saw some information about the original 'Space Race'. the failed attempts and how the Americans changed their mission to actually getting on the moon. Here we also saw the actual launch control room used in the Apollo missions. It wasn't even a mock up, they've actually left the original there! After watching a 'liftoff' from launch control we left and went into a big hangar containing the Saturn V rocket. It is HUUUUUUGGGGGGE, and even that is an understatement! In this room was the entire rocket, a lunar rover that they trained with and a lunar lander for moon landings. They also had information about every Apollo mission with a quote from each one including Apollo 11 - "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" and Apollo 13 - "Houston . . . . . . . We have a problem". But my favourite was from Apollo 17 as the astronaut stepped onto the moon - "Yippee, this is fun!!".
The last stop was at the International Space Station Center where anything and everything going up to the ISS is processed, sterilised and readied for its trip into space. We also got to walk through the habitation module and a laboratory that are exact replicas of what is in space right now.

Back at the visitors centre after a 4 and a bit hour tour we went on the 'Shuttle Launch Experience' which is apparently one of the most realistic simulators of a launch that you can go on without leaving the ground, pretty cool! We finished our trip off by going to the 3D IMAX and watching a film about going to and walking on the moon. This was really interesting and amazing to know that only 12 men have ever stepped foot on the moon and the most recent of these was over 30 years ago. NASA are planning to go back to the moon though in 2020 as part of their new program, the constellation program which will also involve trying to put man on Mars!

Fun Times In Orlando

On Monday we thought about going to the Lion Country Safari but then had second thoughts when we realised that this meant the kids sitting in the car for a couple of hours driving slowly and not fighting. We thought this might be a bit of a push and didn't really want to test our nerves too much so instead we went and played adventure golf again! We went on the hard course this time which was pretty fun but we were held up by a few bus loads of kids on 'summer camp' programs. There weren't too many shaded places either so we spent most of our time standing in the baking sun watching a load of kids randomly smacking golf balls about! The kids enjoyed it though and that's the main thing.

Tuesday morning was spent staying out of the way as the final packing was done for Lisette and the boys' 2 weeks trip to England. Everything was OK and we got away on time to get the to the train station just before the heavens opened again! After dropping them off we headed for a quick stop at the mall for a haircut for Megan before coming back to an empty house for the next 2 weeks. As soon as we entered I thought something seemed odd and then I realised there was no dog about. I had a look around the house and eventually found him in the boys room wedged behind their bed and a toy chest. I have no idea how he got in there but he was facing the wall with not enough room to turn and it was too high behind him to back out! He'd gone in there probably because of the thunderstorm. He had also looked for other places to hide though as the computer had been knocked over and was subsequently not working. I spent the rest of the evening going around computer shops to try and fix it but to no avail. (Finally it is now working again but not all the time, stupid dog!)

Last Sunday I spoke to Mum and Dad (Fathers Day too, so good timing!) and had a good chat. I also told them about how we were thinking of going to Orlando but weren't sure because of cost. They then said that they would pay as a birthday present to me. That was awesome news and I got straight on the case trying to find the best bargains and deals. Eventually it was decided that we would go to Universal Studios and Universal's Islands of Adventure for 2 days and 1 night staying on-site at the fabulous 'Loews Royal Pacific Resort'. The hotel was a lot more expensive than some places but being on-site meant that our room key worked as an express pass for all the rides. We were going to buy some anyway so we ended up saving money by staying in a hotel more expensive and with more stars!!

We decided to go on Thursday and Friday so that we wouldn't miss any of our dancing classes (we're onto Level 3 now!). We arranged for neighbours to look after the dog, got up early and set off for Orlando at 7.30am on Thursday. The drive was about 200 miles and pretty boring but we got there sooner than we expected, arriving at just about 10am. The hotel itself was magnificent, decorated entirely as a south pacific tropical style resort. After checking in we walked through the statues, fountains and gardens down to the complimentary water taxi service to the theme parks. It was about a 5 minute ride or alternatively a 10 minute walk, proving how close we really were!

As Megan has been before we knew what we were doing and where we were going, for our first day we decided to go to 'Islands of Adventure', the more rides based of the two parks. We headed straight for 'Marvel Superhero Island' and went straight for one of the major attractions, 'The Incredible Hulk' roller coaster. We got straight on without queuing (with our room keys!) and it was fantastic, just so different from all the normal roller coasters, you're shot out at an incredible (get it?!) speed whilst you're still going up to the top, very unexpected and very cool! We were so happy with that ride that we ended up going another 4 times throughout the day. Also on the superhero island, apart from all the cool superhero shops, was 'The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman'. This was a really well done 3D ride following Spiderman around the streets of New York. In some points you really do feel like you're falling or flying, even though you're just sitting on a cart!

Onwards from here we headed through the funky looking 'Toon Lagoon', home to Betty Boop, Marmaduke and Popeye, to 'Jurassic Park'. The entrance to this area is excellent, just like the film with big arches and flames. As soon as you are in here everything changes, there are fossils and footprints on the floor, deep vegetation and animal noises all around you and of course the music playing! The actual ride is a log flume style water ride. You are taken on a ride through primeval dinosaur habitats on a nice gentle raft ride until suddenly you enter the velociraptor enclosure where the raptors have escaped and gone a bit mad. From there you go inside a building where more dinosaurs are on the loose until eventually with a T-Rex looming over you, you escape via a massive and really steep drop!

Again moving on we went to 'The Lost Continent' where the main attraction is the roller coaster called 'The Dueling Dragons'. This is two separate coasters that ride simultaneously and come within 12 inches of each other at some points, pretty scary seeing the other coaster right underneath you, especially with your feet hanging loose! After riding this one we got some lunch. It took us a long time to find somewhere that wasn't selling just hot-dogs, pizza, burgers and turkey legs. We eventually found a café in Jurassic Park where they sold some healthy stuff along with the usual crap! After lunch we thought it wouldn't be such a good idea to get straight on a ride so instead we went to a stunt show. It was aimed mainly at kids but was fairly amusing and let us sit in the shade for 45 minutes or so, always a welcome opportunity! Eventually we continued around and ended up back at the start ready to go round to the things we liked for a second time. One thing we saw that we had missed the first time was 'Popeye and Bluto's Bilge Rat Barges'. We thought it looked like a nice gentle raft ride but we were wrong . . . . . . . . very wrong! We ended up getting soaked through to the bone, lucky it was a nice hot day really!

On leaving the park at 5.30pm (just as a storm started) we went back to the hotel, checked into our gorgeous and massive room, sorted ourselves out and headed straight back out to 'City Walk', the bar/club/restaurant area of Universal. Megan took me for dinner at the Hard Rock Café which is always good, and then we found a bar called 'Rising Star', which is a karaoke bar. It sounds dodgy but this is karaoke with a difference, mainly the full live band and backing singers! It was a fun night but we were absolutely shattered after a long day, eventually getting back at about 11.30pm, full to the brim with food, drink and happiness!

Yesterday we were off to Universal Studios, the main park. We thought we'd get breakfast at about 9am and get to the parks for 9.30ish, earlier than previously. This plan backfired when it took the restaurant about 45 minutes to pour a single bowl of cereal, shocking service, we were really disappointed, this was the only bad thing about the whole hotel experience which was otherwise amazing. Eventually we got to Universal Studios for about 10.30am to start our second day of adventure! Here there are more shows and smaller rides rather than big roller coasters. The first thing we did here was go to the Shrek 4-D show which continues the story from the original Shrek film. It was pretty good with 3-D vision along with wind, water and vibration effects. From here we went to 'New York' which was really cool, you really feel like you are in old style New York streets. It was here that we stopped and watched a 'Blues Brothers' performance live on the streets. It is in New York that the 'Revenge of the Mummy' ride is located. This was a great ride, not at all what you expect, started very sedately then launching into a full on, blacked out, backwards, forwards, sideways, everywhichway roller coaster! Just a short walk from here was San Fransisco and the town of Amity where the main draw is the 'Jaws' ride . This is really old but it's a classic and quite funny to see the old and slightly rusty Jaws come and try to attack you!

The big draw at Universal Studios at the moment, at least the one they are advertising most heavily, is the new 'Simpson's Ride'. Unfortunately it didn't really live up to all the hype. It was a 'Motion Simulator' ride, ie: you sit in a car that shakes around a bit whilst you watch a big screen. It was OK but definitely not as good as we had hoped. It replaced the 'Back To The Future' ride and Megan (who has now been on both) says it was exactly the same ride, just re-themed. The outside of the ride was pretty cool though, they even had a Kwik-E-Mart and a Squishee stand!

We finished our rides off on the E.T. ride, like Jaws it is really old but pretty funny so we enjoyed that! After walking through 'Hollywood' and 'Rodeo Drive' we went to the giant 'Universal Studios Store', had a look around, waited out a 45 minute down pour and then headed back home, eventually back at 9.30pm. A good two days had by both of us, a great birthday present!

P.S. Sorry it's such a long blog!

Stormy Weather

I can't believe we've been in America for almost 2 weeks now, it's gone so quickly but I guess that's what happens when you're looking after kids! The American way of life isn't too different from the English and therefore pretty easy to adapt to. The main difference here is in terms of money and also different names for things. Everything here is so cheap for us compared to the UK, the food, the clothes, even activities and attractions. It;s great but to start with I kept forgetting about the exchange rate and assuming everything was the same as sterling. The depressing thing was that most things are the same price in dollars as they would be in pounds (ie: something that's 10 pounds in the UK is probably around $10 over here!). This has been good for us as we haven't had to worry too much about what we do or buy.

As I mentioned, the other major difference is the different names for things. We played a game with Réné where we tried to come up with as many as possible and there are quite a few everyday words that change. It's pretty bad but both of us are already using some of them as it;s just easier than explaining ourselves to the kids every time! One of the best ones though happened on Friday as we were driving with Lisette. As they're going away soon I wanted to make sure I knew where the nearest petrol station was, so I asked. She told us where it was but Réné shouted that there was one just by the house. He was adamant that there was a petrol station by the house. Lisette laughed and asked him if he knew what a petrol station was and he eventually admitted that he didn't. When I asked him what he thought petrol might be the answer was a classic; "A type of dog??", not quite!

Since I last wrote, the weather has been very unpredictable making it hard to plan stuff to do. On Wednesday we were just going to stay home and play but Lisette needed the car on Thursday so we decided to change plans and go to the Lion Country Safari. We got most of the way there and hit a massive storm, the rain was so hard I had windscreen wipers on full and I had slowed right down but still couldn't see a lot. We made the executive decision that the animals wouldn't be out in that sort of weather so we'd be better off going another day. We headed back home (where it wasn't raining) and stuck with our original plan of staying there all day.

Thursday morning we got the news that my Aunt, Martine had finally succumbed to the cancer she had been fighting for the last few months and had dies overnight at the age of 44. This obviously meant an emotional day and left us not wanting to do anything at all. Lisette had taken the car to work anyway and luckily we didn't have any plans.
To cheer ourselves up on Friday we took the boys to a waterpark near here, 'Rapids Waterpark'. We arrived at about 11am and we could see huge amounts of rain in the distance as we went on our first slide. We hoped it wouldn't come our way but it did just that, with a couple of lightning bolts just as we got to the front of the queue for our first big ride. All water attractions were closed meaning pretty much everyone went and got lunch at the same time. Just as we finished our meals we heard that staff were watching the storm on radar and had to wait until it was 5 miles away but that would be in 10 minutes time. We decided that was a good time to head to the rides and they all opened just as we put our towels back on the beds, perfect timing! The rest of the day until about 5pm was spent enjoying all the rides and the sunshine. We had a really good day and 2 very tired boys by the end!

Yesterday we planned to go to the beach but once again the weather had plans of its own, raining hard from about 8am right through to the afternoon. The boys were both off with their "Mentors" (kind of like adult friends, someone to talk to and hang out with that isn't a parent or teacher) so the house was quiet and we enjoyed some time off. Megan by reading and me by watching Euro 2008 on ESPN!!

Another relatively quiet day is planned today as they're all getting ready to go to the UK on Tuesday but tomorrow we're going to try the Lion Country Safari again! We're also now trying to think of things to do whilst we're on our own here. We're thinking of visiting the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral and we're also toying with the idea of a visit to a theme park in Orlando. A long way for a day trip but I think it could be worth it. (Just after writing this Mum and Dad have said that they will reimburse me for a trip to Orlando, 2 days theme parks and an overnight stay as my birthday present!! YAY!!! Thanks!!!)

Florida

For the second time in 2 days, Wednesday saw us cross a country from West to East, in fact it is the second time in 2 days that we have actually crossed a continent! We got up nice and early to get to the airport in time to get through all the rigorous security checks that are now commonplace in America. We got through with plenty of time and went to 'Chili's' for breakfast. Only in America could I have a choice of burritos or tacos for breakfast! The 5 hour flight was pretty turbulent but passed easily enough, we're so used to long journeys now! On arriving early at Miami we eventually managed to find my Aunt Lisette and her two boys (Lucien, 11 and Réné, 8) outside and drove to their place near West Palm Beach which is about an hour or so north of Miami itself. Wednesday evening Lisette took us for a little drive around the local area of Lake Worth, showing us the lake, shops and the beach where we were just in time for a nice sunset, complete with cool pink clouds!

For the next 2 days we had some time to ourselves as the boys were still at school and Lisette was working. We took the opportunity to chill out after all our travelling and check out the local mall and cinema ("Sex and the City" if you must know!!). On Saturday Lisette had a wedding to go to so we had our first day looking after the boys and I had my first time driving a car in America! Lisette has a massive Ford 4x4 which is automatic and real easy to drive so I was pretty happy driving around. We went off to a local swimming pool where some of Lucien's friends were celebrating the end of school for summer. It was a nice day, the sun was out in force and the kids enjoyed the pool, we ended up getting back at about 3pm when the heat got a little bit too much for itself and the clouds started to look ominous as is typical for Florida!

Exactly the same happened the next day when we were at the beach, the clouds started to build up out at see and you can see them moving in. We got off the beach just as they came overhead but this wasn't until about 4pm so we still had a pretty long day of sun, sand and sea!

On Monday Lucien and Lisette were visiting Lucien's new middle school, a specialised (ridiculously hard to get into) performing arts school where Lucien is part of the "Band School" playing the flute. This meant that we looked after Réné, spending most of the day playing games, throwing a ball about and going for a ride around the lake which he didn't want to do because it's "boring" but he actually enjoyed in the end!

When Lisette got back we took the car and took Réné to the cinema, the only possible way to shut him up talking about "Kung Fu Panda"! It wasn't too bad actually but I'm sure he enjoyed it more than us. In the evening we went and joined Lisette on a night of dancing, one of her hobbies. It was a salsa class, Cuban style, which we both really enjoyed passing our Level 1. There are 10 levels (which Lisette has completed!) so now we can go back and continue up the ladder which hopefully we'll do over the next couple of weeks.

Today we took the boys to play mini-golf just up the road which was pretty fun. Megan and I drew with joint top scores of 1 over par. Today has been the worst weather-wise and we are currently sitting in a tornado-warning! This came on pretty suddenly as only 30 minutes ago I was outside in the sun playing basketball with Réné! I'm not sure what we're doing tomorrow but hopefully Thursday we'll go to the Lion Country Safari which is a drive through safari park and on Friday we're going to the local water park which the boys love and are very excited about!

Goodbye Australia, Hello America!!

To say goodbye to Perth and Australia in general, Megan decided she wanted to take me out for an 'Australian Meal'. After looking around for a while we decided there was nowhere really typically Australian so we went for a 'Swedish' instead! It was a really good restaurant and I was happy to see that they offered a 'Smorgasbord', buffet style meal. We both wholeheartedly took them up on this offer, it's not everyday that you leave Australia! After dinner, a few drinks and a chat about what we liked in Australia, we headed back to the hostel and set the alarm for the stupid hour of 1.45am and went to sleep.

Not too many hours later we were woken up ready for our marathon day of journeying across continents. As we were connecting from our Perth-Sydney flight straight onto a Sydney-L.A. flight we had to check in internationally to begin with in Perth. This meant us arriving 2 hours before the flight (as instructed by Qantas only a couple of days ago), but when we turned up no-one had even got to work yet! We were left sitting around for a while wondering why exactly it is that you have to check in earlier for internationals than domestics . . . . . . we still haven't come up with a good answer. We both managed to fill our time though, Megan by labelling every single one of our bags and me by helping a lady download files from her laptop to her phone. She'd been trying for 6 hours and I did it in about 10 minutes!

The flight itself was fairly short at just over 4 hours, 3 of which Megan slept soundly through whilst I sat and watched films . . . . . again! On arrival in Sydney we were lucky enough to be on the correct side (again!) to see a good view out the window. We flew in with a spectacular view of Sydney Harbour and the city. The weather was crap but at least there was a good (final) view of Australia. We didn't have to wait long at Sydney Airport before we boarded the jumbo that would be hauling us across to America.

One of the strangest things about our trip was that we crossed the International Date Line going from west to east. This meant that we were transported back in time to start the day all over again. We were in the strange scenario of simultaneously having the shortest and the longest day of our lives! It was the shortest because we boarded and took off from Perth in the dark and saw sunrise well on our way to Sydney, then promptly jumped on an even faster plane to try and get back to the darkness as quickly as possible (for us on Perth time it was dark by about 1pm!). And it was the longest day because we crossed the International Date Line therefore making us start over again pretty much. In theory (sorry if this confuses you, I'm incredibly tired and jet lagged writing this, it might not be true but it's how I'm seeing it at the moment!!!) we left the comfort of our beds at 2am 3rd June and are now going to bed at 9pm 3rd June (not such a long day) but in reality it is now 10am, maybe even later, 4th June for us. A confusingly long day!

The best thing about our flight was the people watching opportunity. People watching is great normally but in a confined space for 13 hours it can be pretty funny. For example the guy across the aisle from me who went for the tactic of sleeping for the entire journey aided by no less than 6 mini bottles of wine (they have almost 2 glasses in each!). This made it quite comical when the girl sitting next to him needed to go to the loo which, unfortunately for her, was quite often. He wouldn't wake up and she had to use immense gymnastic skills to get past without booting him in the face. The guy next to Megan slept the whole way but with really loud jazz music playing through his headphones, plus he looked dead. But the real winners were the 2 in the row behind us. They didn't know each other at the start of the journey but boy did they by the end!! There was a spare seat between them but that didn't last for long as they got chatting and the guy invited the girl across for a drink. Long story short, the both got incredibly pissed and snogged the rest of the flight away in a very unattractive, noisy manner. Most amusing!

When we had arrived in L.A. and cleared security we got to our airport hotel, the Radisson LAX and checked in. It;s a bit special here. We have an amazing room with 2 double beds, en-suite obviously and loads of space. Not quite like the rooms we're used to, it got us imagining how our trip would have been if we stayed somewhere like that the whole time! We decided that we had time to do one thing whilst in L.A. so we made that a trip to Hollywood! A taxi there cost us $50, it wasn't as close as we had thought, but it was worth it. We walked up and down Hollywood Boulevard, saw the "Walk of Fame" stars and the sign on the Hollywood Hills. We even got in a bit of shopping. For our trip back we decided against the $50 cab and instead got $2.50 train tickets! It took ages longer but it was definitely worth it to save the money. We're up early again tomorrow as our flight has been moved 45 minutes earlier and also because LAX are so fussy we have to check in 90 minutes before a domestic flight. The alarm is set for 5am, fun times!!