{"id":20670,"date":"2019-12-04T22:46:23","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T22:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/?p=20670"},"modified":"2019-12-30T09:41:08","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T09:41:08","slug":"cape-canaveral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thesojournseries.com\/bavaria\/cape-canaveral\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Canaveral"},"content":{"rendered":"

I feel like I am neglecting this space at the moment, it’s not intentional, it’s just that time of year… Although, having said that, I don’t want to start talking about all things Christmas just yet (despite my previous totally over the top Christmassy picture.\u00a0 \u00a0More on that amazing weekend soon enough!)…\u00a0 \u00a0Here’s a little post on our Summer adventures, and something you really don’t get to see every day…<\/p>\n

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After bidding a fond farewell to our Floridian Family, we moved on to our next destination – still in Florida, but a good 2.5 drive to Cape Canaveral in Bravard County.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Deciding against the theme parks of the Mickey Mouse variety, our offspring had expressed a clear interest in exploring the space center, so having opted for this slightly more educational “theme park” instead we thought we should explore the area properly.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Cape Canaveral itself, but given that the boom years (literally) were in the fifties when the US’s space program first took off (!), I thought it had a distinctive fifties vibe about it.\u00a0 \u00a0There’s obviously still plenty of nature to be seen though,\u00a0 there are huge areas that cannot be built upon for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n

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We chose to stay in a Villa at the Cape Crossing Resort and Marina for a few days, as it often makes for a more relaxing stay over a hotel as there are five of us.\u00a0 Plus – washing machine!!\u00a0 Cape Crossing is just on the Northwest side of Merritt island nestled between the creatively named Banana River, and Indian River, it’s a great location for so many different Cape Canavarel attractions and proved to be a good home from home for our stay.\u00a0 The Villas are spotless and very quiet despite the proximity to the marina and the freeway…<\/p>\n

When we first arrived, we were busy unpacking when I absent-mindedly picked up a local paper and noticed the headline about an impending rocket launch.\u00a0 I quickly scanned the date and realised that weather permitting, the Delta IV rocket launch would be taking place the next morning!\u00a0 \u00a0We had absolutely no idea that anything remotely space “launchey” was taking place while we were there so it was a really happy coincidence.<\/p>\n

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Once the obligatory “wear the four-year-old\u00a0 out” in the (lovely and empty at the time) pool session was out of the way for the evening, we started to research best places to watch the launch.\u00a0 \u00a0You can of course book tickets at NASA at ridiculous o’clock in the morning for the official arena which is about as close as you are actually allowed to get.\u00a0 We might have considered this option had we not been with our 3 sleep loving children (getting them out of bed isn’t always that easy before 6am at the very least!)<\/p>\n

Instead, having read up on a few local pages, we decided to get up and head to the beach with every other Cape Canaveral resident.<\/p>\n

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As the launch was due at 9.30 am and we wanted to be on the beach by 8.30, we had plenty of time for an American breakfast beforehand, so headed to Cosy Corner Diner for pancakes (with bacon and maple syrup naturally)…\u00a0 As the walls are covered in photos of space rockets and all things NASA, we figured they might have a decent beach recommendation, which is how we ended up at Jetty Park.\u00a0 \u00a0This national park also has a campsite if you want to be super prepared for a launch, and cost us $10 for a day’s parking (and we could leave and come back again with that too).<\/p>\n

It wasn’t as busy as I thought it might have been, and we had plenty of shelter from the strengthening sun underneath a little covered picnic shelter, until lift off…<\/p>\n

Joining another family, thanks to the wonders of technology we were able to listen to all the count down happenings in the control room.\u00a0 \u00a0For a while we wondered whether anything might happen at all as there were definitely mumblings about some technical difficulty, but in the end it was confirmed that it was all systems go.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 A little word of warning should you find yourself awaiting the launch of a space rocket and use such an app to listen in –\u00a0 there was definitely a slight delay in what we were hearing and what was actually happening, which is how I almost missed the rocket taking off directly in front of us when lift-off was finally announced.\u00a0 \u00a0 I\u00a0 happened to be scanning completely the wrong horizon as the rocket ascended into space, but luckily my Eagle-Eyed family) were facing in the right direction and quickly righted that wrong.\u00a0 \u00a0I would only have missed it for a few seconds anyway as when the sound breaks through, it’s the kind of noise that shakes you to the very core, you couldn’t really miss that!<\/p>\n

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I have to say I found all really very moving in a weird old world that feels full of negativity and inept idiots more often than not right now.\u00a0 To know that we are actually capable of doing something incredible like this as a race, and witnessing it first hand gave me a massive sense of hope.\u00a0 Maybe all is not lost.\u00a0 \u00a0Maybe it’s just a bit of a blip…<\/p>\n

If you happen to be interested in visiting this part of Florida.\u00a0 I really recommend you time your visit with a rocket launch if at all possible.\u00a0 The next one now is scheduled to be\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0It’s really not something you see every day!\u00a0 \u00a0 Just make sure you are facing in the right direction!!<\/p>\n

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