rpmdfw
<font color=red>I feel similarly about the cha-cha
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2007
- Messages
- 6,872
I've got to tell you about my day today. You see, today was a Bucket List Day.
Not that I have a Bucket List per se, but there are definitely things I've got in the back of my mind that I want to do "someday". Happily that list isn't as long as it used to be. Things like "fall in love" and "live happily ever after" were crossed off the list when I met Scott; and together we've accomplished a few other items such as "attend High School reunion with same-sex partner and watch the reactions" (to the credit of my classmates, the reactions were overwhelmingly positive), "visit Paris", and "stand on a Broadway Stage" (sadly as a guest not as a performer, but you take what you can get).
So one of my "someday" things has been to see a space shuttle launch. Since we moved to Florida six years ago, we've seen several launches from our house. But that's just the bright rocket glare at night, or the smoke trail during the day. I wanted to actually SEE the shuttle itself at the top of that flame and smoke as it blasted itself free from the Earth's gravity and took astronauts to the stars (well, if not the stars, at least the space station). The scheduling was always off for us to head east and watch the launches, though.
Until today.
Last night, Scott picked me up from work and we drove out to Titusville and checked into our hotel. Then we drove along the waterfront part of town checking things out. We found a house with a bunch of signs offering reserved parking spaces for shuttle launch viewing with the proceeds going to charity. It sounded like a great deal to us, so we forked over some cash and reserved a spot for the morning, and went off to dinner.
This morning we got up WAY too early, had breakfast and headed back to our reserved spot. We got there right at 8:00 am (for the 2:20pm launch time) and grabbed the last spot right on the water. Looking across at the space center, we could see the launch pad! All we had to do was wait.
It was hot, it got crowded, and I got midly sunburnt. But at 2:20pm today, I crossed an item off my bucket list.
Atlantis lifted on on her final mission and it was a beautiful thing to see! Pictures just don't do it justice. I was giddily laughing and crying at the same time. The shuttle arced to the left as it began to track toward it's orbit to meet the international space station and then the sound hit us. And the rumble. We could FEEL it! It was amazing. The crowd began to clap and cheer, and I was transfixed. It was SO FREAKING COOL!
Eventually the shuttle was no longer visible, and the crowd slowly dispersed (we were finally able to leave our parking space two hours later) and the normally hour long drive home took nearly three hours.
We're sunburt, we're exhausted, we're punchy, and we're in agreement that it was TOTALLY WORTH IT!
So that's where I'm at. One less thing on the bucket list. Not sure what I'll tackle next . . .
I'll post some more info and pictures tomorrow.
In the meantime, what things do you have on your "bucket list"?
Not that I have a Bucket List per se, but there are definitely things I've got in the back of my mind that I want to do "someday". Happily that list isn't as long as it used to be. Things like "fall in love" and "live happily ever after" were crossed off the list when I met Scott; and together we've accomplished a few other items such as "attend High School reunion with same-sex partner and watch the reactions" (to the credit of my classmates, the reactions were overwhelmingly positive), "visit Paris", and "stand on a Broadway Stage" (sadly as a guest not as a performer, but you take what you can get).
So one of my "someday" things has been to see a space shuttle launch. Since we moved to Florida six years ago, we've seen several launches from our house. But that's just the bright rocket glare at night, or the smoke trail during the day. I wanted to actually SEE the shuttle itself at the top of that flame and smoke as it blasted itself free from the Earth's gravity and took astronauts to the stars (well, if not the stars, at least the space station). The scheduling was always off for us to head east and watch the launches, though.
Until today.
Last night, Scott picked me up from work and we drove out to Titusville and checked into our hotel. Then we drove along the waterfront part of town checking things out. We found a house with a bunch of signs offering reserved parking spaces for shuttle launch viewing with the proceeds going to charity. It sounded like a great deal to us, so we forked over some cash and reserved a spot for the morning, and went off to dinner.
This morning we got up WAY too early, had breakfast and headed back to our reserved spot. We got there right at 8:00 am (for the 2:20pm launch time) and grabbed the last spot right on the water. Looking across at the space center, we could see the launch pad! All we had to do was wait.
It was hot, it got crowded, and I got midly sunburnt. But at 2:20pm today, I crossed an item off my bucket list.
Atlantis lifted on on her final mission and it was a beautiful thing to see! Pictures just don't do it justice. I was giddily laughing and crying at the same time. The shuttle arced to the left as it began to track toward it's orbit to meet the international space station and then the sound hit us. And the rumble. We could FEEL it! It was amazing. The crowd began to clap and cheer, and I was transfixed. It was SO FREAKING COOL!
Eventually the shuttle was no longer visible, and the crowd slowly dispersed (we were finally able to leave our parking space two hours later) and the normally hour long drive home took nearly three hours.
We're sunburt, we're exhausted, we're punchy, and we're in agreement that it was TOTALLY WORTH IT!
So that's where I'm at. One less thing on the bucket list. Not sure what I'll tackle next . . .
I'll post some more info and pictures tomorrow.
In the meantime, what things do you have on your "bucket list"?
