Road Trip 2009 - Part Dos

We woke up bright and early Monday morning and we were on the road to the Space Center by 8:00. It opened at 9:00 and we wanted to be sure we had time to see as much as possible. We were meeting up with Cindy around lunch time for our 'behind the scenes' tour.




I had been to the center before, but that was in 1987. A lot had changed since then! ;) It really is a neat place, even if you don't think you're "into" science/the space program/history/etc. One of the coolest things is that many of the displays are actual size. These pictures were taken inside the Davidson Center for Space Exploration. The building is HUGE, and is has to be to display the restored Saturn V.




Look! It's Darth Vader!

The museum is going to be getting a Star Wars exhibit later this year, and Cindy said they are trying to get the Harry Potter Exhibition too. That would be A.MAZ.ING.

This is a recreation of the Apollo 11 landing site.



Next we saw an IMAX movie that was called Magnificent Desolation, which was produced and narrarated by Tom Hanks. It was a very cool movie, but it *was* a little weird to hear Neil Armstrong's voice being played by Morgan Freeman.

Leaving the theatre, we saw these banners hanging from the balcony:




I seriously considered stealing one to hang outside my house. ;) We had considered sticking around long enough to see Star Trek in the IMAX theatre, but we decided not to. After seeing *just* the preview, we knew we had made the right choice. Talk about motion sickness! Sheesh!

After the movie, it was time for us to get some lunch and then we headed over to the rock wall. I was seriously impressed! The girls have some freakishly strong upper body strength!




We didn't know untiil after they were done that they had gone up the "Advanced" side of the wall!

Cindy met up with us at the rock wall, and it was time for our very, very cool tour. As a kid (and teenager, and heck even as an adult) I had a burning desire to go to Space Camp. For an hour and a half, Cindy showed us some of the super awesome stuff that only the campers get to see and do. As icing on the cake, the kids were able to do some of it too!

This is an actual simulator where the campers get to run missions.





Then she took us outside to go to another building, and this is what we saw on the way:

It's a life size replica of the Space Shuttle, and it is GINORMOUS. I mean, I always knew the thing was big, but it's HUGE. The fuel tank alone is bigger than my house. Truly amazing.

Cindy then let the kids try out this little baby:


Hee! Luckily no one threw up, although at one point Jed was decidedly cross-eyed and more than a little green!
Jed

Bella

Madeline


Cindy had to go back to work after that, so we went outside and did the G Force ride, where we subjected ourselves to 4 G! Again, no vomitting! YAY! Madeline road the Space Shot...



We decided it was time to head off to Atlanta if we wanted to make it to The Cannegieters by a half-way decent hour. We drove up through Chattanooga, where we made one pit stop at the Fireworks Super Store. Twenty minutes and $58 later (with James a *VERY* happy man!) we were on our way again...