Cocoa Beach and Astronaut Hall of Fame

Cocoa Beach....... What a nice place, but a little humid the day we were there.

The beach had great warm Atlantic water and it reminded me of Pensacola beaches. We picked up a lot of sand shells to do some art work with Grandchildren.

The Astronaut Hall of Fame..... What a great place to learn all about the United States adventures into outer space and beyond. A real monument to our astronauts.

This is the entrance ....John with Alan Shepard. They are both pretty impressive don't you think???? What a great place to see the history of our Space Program. As President John Kennedy said in 1961...."It will not be one man going to the moon, it will be an entire nation, for each of us must work to put him there."

Look Grandpa in a space shuttle!!!!! WOW....and he barely fit. And he was quick to say that it was not comfortable.

Animal Kingdom - Disney

Now isn't this beautiful???? This is a bat flight. Wow, just live Batman!!!! How interesting to see them up close.

FLIGHTS OF WONDER..... They had several demonstrations of birds doing various things but this Eagle was very impressive to me. Isn't he beautiful.

HARAMBE WILD LIFE PRESERVE...

We took an African Safari ride thru this wonderfully kept preserve. We saw hippopotamus, elephants bathing, zebras, lions and more. You did not see any fences and the way they were contained was amazing. It was just like being on a real safari. These bulls have the longest horns I have ever seen.

ANIMAL KINGDOM PARADE...... It was great with many very colorful designed birds, great floats and dancers.

DINOLAND........ Yes, they even had a dinosaur land. Can you see the dino is wearing a Santa hat.......heeeeee

Animal Kingdom - Disney, Fl

DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM......What a place this was... we could not believe how beautifully it was done. And the truth be know, we thought we would see everything we wanted to see in a few hours. Right after the entrance we opened the map..... "Lordie, Lordie it is huge"...... And we stayed until the gates closed.

THE TREE OF LIFE.... and oh what a tree it is to you see all the gnarls? Well they are animals.

Know do you see??... See the hippo , monkey, alligator and snake?

Now have you ever see an live tree branch.... literally moving???? Can you see the face??????

This is Diana and Suriya..... remember them from Sacramento?? We had a nice but way to fast lunch with them & their 2 children in Orlando. How great to back in touch with good friends. They now live in Florida.

Animal Kingdom - Disney,

Epcot - Disney World

Crossing over to INTERNATIONAL LANDS......

CHINA...... We were thrilled to see the China area. It took us back to our China trip in 2007. They had the gardens, Terra Cotta Soldiers and as you see behind us "THE TEMPLE OF HEAVEN".....

Italy..... Note the two Italian Studs!!!!!!

AMERICA....... The entrance was grand and it had various stories of famous Americans--- George Washington, Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin, Jackie Robinson, and Tomas Edison, to just mention a few. Then we saw a show of America's growth and on the way out the building were famous quotes..... One I like was by Thomas Wolfe:

"I think the true discovery of America is before us. I think the true

fulfillment of our spirit, of our mighty and immortal land is yet

to come."

GOOD NIGHT EPCOT...................

Epcot Disney World, Florida

MISSION SPACE.... This shows the space shuttle simulator where we had our lesson. It was real neat.... I was the co-pilot and John was the commander.

GM TEST TRACK........ In this ride we were part of the program to test cars ability on bumpy roads, on turns and in hot and cold weather. What fun......

SOARIN....... This was the busiest of rides. It took us soaring over California vineyards, water and mountains. It was like flying in a hang glider.

LIVING WITH THE LAND...... I love this ride that took us to a land of growing plant using hydroponics.

All these plants are grown in sand.... Do you see the pumpkin, kale and sugar beets? They also had tomatoes trees, lemon trees and squash growing in large barrels. Then in pipes there was cucumbers and peppers growing. It was enlightening.....

Epcot, Disney World

Entrance of Walt Disney World - Epcot....... Do you know what Epcot stands for???? It was Walt Disney's dream to look into the future. Epcot stands for ...... Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow.

Us with Mickey and Minnie Mouse

WOW.... could not believe this.... SPACE SHIP EARTH....... It was a great tram ride from the beginning with early mankind that took you to the future. We actually created our own life style of the future. We went on this one twice. I loved it......

MISSION SPACE.......... This was just magic. We took space shuttle lessons from Gary Sineise (the actor in CSI New York)