1st of 8 Mini Vacations- Florida

Me and Robby the Robot from

Forbidden Planet

Batman and Catwoman at MegaCon
Me and R2D2 replica from Star Wars of course


Magic Kingdom entrance at Disney World
Touring NASA at Launch Pad 39A Endeavour in background


I just returned from a wonderful and fun packed "Mini Vacation Getaway" in Florida. A friend and I jam packed 7 days worth of fun into our 4 day trip with 20 hour days! On Friday we visited another Robot builder in Clearwater near Tampa Bay. On Saturday morning we attended MegaCon Sci-Fi Convention. That afternoon we met up with another robot building friend who works for Disney and talked Droids. Sunday we spent 14 hours at Disney World and even got to be in the Magic Kingdom's main Street Parade! At 7:00am Monday morning we were Touring NASA Complex at Cape Canaveral. We got to see the Orbiter Atlantis up close (like standing right underneath the ship) while she was being prepared for her next mission. We walked the floor of International Space Station Complex where they preparing the scientific payloads of future missions. We were able to view the payload scheduled for the next mission in May. The Lab Module to Kibo, the Japanese contribution to the space station. We went to Launch Pad 39A to see Endeavour waiting for her Tuesday Morning lift off and the beginning of mission STS-123. After touring NASA we grabbed a bite to eat, caught 2 hours of sleep and prepared for the night-time launch of the Shuttle Endeavor which was the last night launch of the shuttles. We viewed the launch from the NASA VIP viewing area at the Banana Creek Site which is 3.2 miles from the pad, the closest place to view a launch! At 2:38am we experienced the magnificent launch of the Shuttle Endeavour, which was nothing less than spectacular! To view some additional pictures of this trip, please use the link to the United Robot Alliance, located in the right column.