scenery Archives - Page 2 of 3 -

Orion Launch!

December 5, 2014 Drew

We’re staying at a great campground this week situated right across from the Canaveral AFB. We saw the launch of the first Orion space vehicle, and it was awesome!

We got up at the crack of dawn on Thursday to watch the launch. You could just barely see the big Delta IV Heavy rocket across the lagoon – we set up our chairs and settled in for the view. The lagoon area is beautiful; the sunrise was amazing. While we waited, we saw a bunch of dolphins swim by, I saw a manatee or two, and the pelicans were fishing for the mullet that would periodically jump out of the water.

First we heard that a boat was delaying the launch… then the wind put it on hold again. The sun continued to rise, and we continued to wait. We heard that a valve issue was causing problems. At this point, I’m thinking how hard can this be? I mean, I got a 50 year old VW bus running with no valve issues… it’s not like this is rocket science… OK maybe it is.

They scrubbed the launch for Thursday morning, but we were back Friday. At 7:05AM, a bright light and a big cloud of smoke appeared. The rocket almost just sat there for a second, then accelerated up into the sky. It disappeared into the low hanging clouds within seconds – Noelle and I kind of glanced at each other with the same thought… that was it? We waited around two days to see a little bit of light take three seconds to disappear from view?

Then the sound hit us. It started as a low rumble, and crescendoed into a full blown roar. We couldn’t see the rocket anymore, but we felt that rumble all the way through our feet for what seemed like a long time. It slowly faded, the vibrations eased, and silenced ensued.

Well it wasn’t really silence because the nice lady with that lovely harsh, grating voice kept asking the little kid that was with her if he could hear the rocket. I’m sure if the kid was old enough to talk he would have said something like “Yes lady, I hear the damn rocket! It’s shaking my little boots off, now shut the hell up and just enjoy the experience!”

Here are my feeble attempts to take pictures – my lens is too small, my iso is too high, my skills are non-exsistent…

The launch was cool, and I’m really glad we were here to see it. I also broke out my fishing pole for the first time. I went to a bait shop just down the road, and got some great advice from the lady running the place. She got me some frozen mullet as bait, some hooks, and some 20lb line. I was honestly a little scared to catch some monster that my little cheap push button rod and reel couldn’t handle, but it all worked out. I caught a few big catfish, and some sea trout – success! Now I just need to graduate up to cleaning and eating them!

Florida, Road Trip

Daytona Beach

November 24, 2014 Drew

We made it to the beach! Honestly, there is a part of me that thinks this whole plan to quit my job and travel around was just a big elaborate excuse to go to the beach – well today we have officially achieved that goal – success!

The weather is finally warming up a bit (although they say it will cool down again in a couple days). To get the most out of the fleeting warm temps, we spent two great days hanging out at Daytona Beach and Ormond Beach.

The beaches were really pretty nice – not to crowded, nice and sandy, decent surf. We spent the $5 and drove out onto the beach at Daytona to park. At Ormond Beach, we decided to park for free at the Andy Romano beachfront park – they had a decent food stand there too.

Noelle and I both love the water – I want to eventually try surfing, she wants to eventually try scuba diving. Well we started with buying this sweet boogie board. I’m obviously writing this post after the fact, but we had a great time attempting to ride the waves with that thing – granted it is also already broken into two pieces, but hey it still works!

We hit up Joe’s Crab Shack for a really nice (and really expensive) seafood lunch – yumm!!!

One of the guys caught a huge fish right after I took this pic – his wife brought it up in a net, and he just smiled and walked the length of the jetty like a boss before putting it in his cooler – the other fisherpeople were so jealous.

At one point in the day, Noelle and I just looked at each other and said something like “Yep… this is what we are supposed to be doing.” We had a nice couple of days!

Road Trip, South Carolina

Congaree

November 17, 2014 Drew

The first stop on our route south is Congaree National Park. This place is beautiful, and adds another unexpected and awesome location to the list of great travel experiences that we are slowly but surely accruing.

We also survived our first thunderstorm in the camper! Coming from the Midwest, I am definitely no stranger to some decent severe weather. While this storm really wasn’t all that severe, it was interesting to feel the thunderclaps rumble through the whole camper. We got boatloads of rain, and thankfully only one leak in the corner of one of the windows. I think I see where it is coming in, so I’ll be caulking that asap.

After the rain subsided, we headed out for Congaree. This National Park is the largest “old growth” cypress and hardwood forest in the US. The visitor center was closed today, and we didn’t see another person the entire time we wandered the boardwalk trail.

The trees are among the tallest in the world, and the park has a nice little self-guided tour that provides some information and context. The pictures don’t really do this place justice. Noelle and I were both left feeling a little bit in awe of nature after doing the 2 mile loop through the dense forest.

She is such a creep!

They say the polar vortex is coming and it is supposed to get freezing cold – hope we make it!

Road Trip, South Carolina

Ninety Six

November 6, 2014 Drew

Ninety Six is the name of the site we visited today. This Revolutionary War era National Historic Site is steeped in pretty a violent and bitter history. The place is basically just a bunch of earthen mounds (the remnants of a star shaped fort and attached town) with a visitor center at this point, but the story that they contain is pretty intense!

It was decently warm, but raining this afternoon, and there weren’t really any other visitors to the site. We checked out the little museum, watched a very well put together video, and went out to the site.

Ninety Six started as a popular Cherokee trading route. Some early pioneers built a trade post, and a town eventually formed. Then everything fell apart. The gist of the story pits one group of Americans (the Loyalists) vs. their former friends and neighbors (the Patriots) in a strikingly similar, mini precursor to the later Civil War. It’s a story about people fighting each other over a site that very soon afterwards lost any real significance, and is now essentially non-existent.

We felt the graveness of the battlefield, we imagined the struggles of the people that used to live there… then we found ourselves down the road shoving our faces full of greasy fried chicken and sweet tea. Such is life on the road in South Carolina!

We’re staying in the Greenwood State Rec area, and got a sweet site on the shores of Lake Greenwood.

Road Trip, South Carolina

Keowee Toxaway

November 2, 2014 Drew

We spent the last three nights at Keowee Toxaway State Park. They were by far the coldest, but also the best nights so far!

The drive down to Keowee Toxaway was really pretty. The steep and windy roads of the North Carolina Blue Ridge gradually straightened and stretched out into the Cherokee foothills. The leaves are in a wonderful sort of middle stage between fall and winter – some are still hard at work clinging to the branches, while many have fallen, covering the road in orange and red layers. The pictures (and my lack of any decent photo editing skills) don’t really do it justice.

The Jeep is certainly glad to be out of the mountains as well. I’ve noticed that it likes to drink a lot of gas while we tow this camper. I started the drive with a quarter tank thinking I would stop at the next station. That station never seemed to arrive; I was getting a little nervous as the needle crept lower, so Noelle checked the Google maps.

The Google said there was one location for gas a little way off our route. We made the turn, found the town, and found the station – except it wasn’t a gas station anymore. It was more just a decrepit old building and a decaying concrete lot… I went a little further down the road and spotted a nice modern gas station just in time – whew!

As we got back on the scenic highway 11, we passed not one but TWO gas stations right off the main highway – the moral of this story is that Google Maps sucks. Oh, and I should probably start looking for gas stations at a half tank from now on!

We eventually pulled into Keowee Toxaway State Park – this place is beautiful. It’s on a lake, it has hills, it has trees (watch out for falling walnuts, those things are deadly!), it has electrical and water hookups, and its only $16.50 a night – sweet!

Also, this campground was pretty empty, unlike most of the other “RV” places we stayed at. Most of the campers at those places looked more-or-less permanent. I kind of wanted to camp, not live in a trailer park…

We took it easy this weekend; got some work done, made some good camp food, hung out. We went and saw the lake, and did the 1.5 mile nature hike. At one point a deer came trotting down the path to say hello to Noelle. I got a decent picture of it too (I know I need to get one of those sun shade things for the stupid camera to fix the glare spots).

We had a great three days here, and this is the first place that we are honestly a little sad to say goodbye to – I hope we can find more places like this. It’s starting to get pretty damn cold at night, so we’d better be heading further south soon!