A Weekend in Orlando!

Since we live in Sunny Florida we thought we should do more exploring of the state! So, we headed to Orlando for the weekend to visit Sea World and Kennedy Space Center. I might add, that we also celebrated 8 years together on the 3rd, so it was a doubly special weekend! We headed over Friday afternoon to find our WONDERFUL hotel located in the Marriott Village in Lake Buena Vista. It had a lovely fountain out front, pool in the back and all you can eat breakfast buffet!! Why would you stay anywhere else??
We got all checked in and headed straight for the pool! After a refreshing dip we went to dinner at Landry's Seafood House, AMAZING!!!! After a completely satisfying dinner we made our way over to Old Town, a county fair type park with rows of shops, basically it's own little village.
After walking around for a bit we decided to have some fun and ride some rides!! They had the Tilt-a-Whirl and the Scrambler! Two of my absolute favorites from the fair!! Here we are on the Tilt-a-Whirl! All smiles, feeling great!! I tell you, this was the FASTEST, CRAZIEST Tilt-a-Whirl I've EVER ridden!! By the 30th spin, Brett and I were ready to jump off the ride. Needless to say, we never made it to the Scrambler. We decided we'd ride a less spinning ride and hold on to our dinner. So the Ferris Wheel was the most logical choice. After all this riding and spinning we headed straight to the gas station and bought ourselves a box of saltine crackers. We spent the rest of the evening eating that box of Saltines and trying not to relive spinning at top speeds.
The next morning we woke up completely cured of our crazy evening and headed over to Sea World!!! I could barely contain my excitement! Though it was a bitter reminder of what could have been, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. We started out the day at the dolphin show, Brett thought it'd be good to get this one over with first. :) It was actually the best show of the day!! Lots of flips, synchronized jumps, and high dives made this show quite entertaining. While I've always wanted to be part of this show and do the training, I would never be able to dive off these extremely tall platforms and trampolines!!
After the dolphin show we headed over to Dolphin Cove!! We stood forever waiting for the dolphins to swim up so we could touch them. Unfortunately we never got to and headed to the underground viewing area to see them.
After Discovery Cove we made our way over the Manatees!! Better known as Sea Cows!! All of the Manatees at Sea World were rescued and are in rehabilitation. One had quite the chunk missing from his tail fin. Quite the boring creatures, they move as slow as slugs and mostly just sit in one spot! Here we are in the underground viewing area. If you look closely, you can see one sitting behind Brett's head!


Next we went over the Penguin house!! Brett and I started our relationship years ago sitting at the Newport Aquarium watching the Penguins. Here at Sea World they have many varieties! We especially loved the Puffins!! We found one sitting on his rock that eventually jumped in the water to take a bath in front of us! So cute!!

After the penguins we went of the see the "Seamore and Clyde" show. This poor group had a terrible time with their show!! So many things went wrong it was hilarious!!
We left Seamore and Clyde and found the Shark Exhibit. We got to ride a moving track through a tunnel under the shark tank, very cool!! As you can see, Brett was about to be eaten by one! Back outside we found some blue-billed ducks!! The weirdest thing we've ever seen!! We also found the pink flamingos! Ma, I knew you'd appreciate some good Floridian Flamingos!!


Next we went over to the Dolphin Nursery!! There they had two baby dolphins only about 2-3 weeks old!! We couldn't get a good picture of one, but one of the bigger babies was putting on a show and sliding up onto the platform, what a ham! We also found the Clydesdale Barn sponsored by Anheiser Busch. Coincidently the horses were named Bud, Classic, and other beer and company related names, of course! Here is Classic, they were HUGE!!!
We headed to the Cat and Dog show next!! This was unreal! We've all seen dogs do tricks, but this show had cats walking on tight ropes, climbling ladders, opening doors! It was amazing!! They were all too quick to get any decent pictures of, but trust me, it was just unreal!

Shamu was up next!! He is of course the star of Sea World so we went early to get a good seat! And NOT in the splash zone! While the dolphin show was definitely more active, it's still amazing that these killer whales follow signals from their trainers and perform such shows. Shamu actually only made a short appearance, soaking everyone in the first 20 rows!! His group of Killer Whale friends actually did the rest of the show! It apparently pays to be the biggest!!

After seeing Shamu, we went to our last stop of the day, The Polar/Antarctic exhibit. We "rode" the helicopter over the Antarctic. Ok, so it was a simulation, but if you didn't know it, you'd really think you were on a very rocky ride over the cold ice!! After we got off of our helicopter we walked around the Antarctic seeing Beluga Whales, Polar Bears, and Walruses! Best of all, the place was AIR CONDITIONED!!
After spending the entire day watching dolphins, whales, penguins, cats, and flamingos, it was time to leave and find some dinner!! Much to our delight, we found a Giardonos Pizza Place!! Deep dish, Chicago style pizza hits the spot after a long, fun-filled day!! If you've never had it you're missing out! It's amazing!! Imagine crust, toppings, crust, cheese, then sauce on top! So thick you have to eat it with a fork!! Simply amazing!
On Sunday we headed over to the Kennedy Space Center!! Brett was very young when he went and I had never been there! So we thought it'd be a good idea to check it out!!









Walking around the center we saw several replicas of rockets used in years past, mock ups of engines, control panels and orbiters.









After walking around the grounds for awhile, we hopped on a tour bus that would take us around to various locations including the Apollo/Saturn V Space Center, near launch pads, and to the International Space Station Processing Center!! Very cool to actually see where orbiters and rockets are built/repaired, see actual control centers and an actual space shuttle ready for launch!!

On our bus tour we got to see where the rockets/shuttles are put together in preparation for flight! This building was HUGE! Apparently could put Yankee stadium on top and still have room to park! The flag is that largest painted flag ever! We also got to see the crawler that transports these shuttles from the building to the launch pad!! It was HUGE! Wouldn't want to get in the path of this!! Also gets 43 ft per gallon of diesel.

And this ladies and gentleman is the Space Shuttle Endeavour set to launch this Saturday, July 11th at 7:39pm!! It's headed toward the International Space Station to continue working and improving it. Pretty cool to see an actual shuttle just days before it launches! We got to see the stands where people get to watch the launch as well!




And here is the actual mission control center from Apollo 8!! We watched a video that walked us through the entire countdown and lift off, SO COOL!! All the lights were coming on in the computers as if it was happening. Pretty awesome to see the actual machines used that day!




Here we are in front of the engines on the Saturn V rocket. This is the rocket that was used to propel the Apollo space crafts into space. They are HUGE!!! It is still to this day the largest and most powerful rocket ever built. Also in this building with the Saturn V rocket is a moon rock that we got to touch. We ended the day at the International Space Station Processing Center where they assemble what will go up to the Space Station next. We got to see actual parts that were going up on the next launch!!

Sadly, our weekend getaway came to an end and we headed home. All in all, we had a entertaining and educational and RELAXING weekend!! What better way to spend the 4th of July!!