I got to see the shuttle launch this AM, which was really cool. When I was a lot younger, I had gone to see one with my family but they scrubbed it at the last minute, so I’ve always wanted to see an actual launch live. Oddly enough, I watched it no more than 2 or 3 miles from the same spot I was at as a young lad.

The liftoff was scheduled for 10: 39am, so we planned to head out there at a decent time so we could at least get near the beach before liftoff, while not getting too near all the traffic (some of the people I went with had to be back @ class by 1pm). We actually only got within 10-15 miles of the actual liftoff, but it was still amazing to see how quickly that sucker got off the ground and out of our vision. As a matter of fact, we just got out of our cars on the beeline and walked to a bridge to watch the actual lift off. Most estimates I read had anywhere from a quarter to half a million people converging for the launch today.

Having a 2-lane expressway just wasn’t enough to handle all that traffic from Orlando. Ever since I was a little kid, I have been infatuated with space flight – that interest has waned a bit in my old age, but I still am very interested with the shuttle and the space program in general. After a long hiatus, it’s good to actually get a shuttle back in the sky.

Hopefully they don’t run into any issues and land safely as well. As many bad things there are about Orlando, every few weeks I get reminded of the few things that do make it a really neat place. The weather and the beach usually are the ones doing it, but this time it was the shuttle launch.

I won’t miss much of this place, but things like that make Florida unique.