Epic Road Trip - Day 3

Twenty one years ago was the last time I was here. Maliea was 8, Chaiya was 5 and Quayde was a wee babe on my hip in a sling carrier. The International Space station had parts that were still being built here and we took a bus tour. Things have changed a bit and the facility is much, much larger. When we drove past to our hotel, Thayne started screaming with excitement! He loves all things NASA and was so happy that we were going to check this place out.

Computers have changed a lot in that time and all you have to do is touch a screen and up pops tons of information. Maliea and Lydia spent lots of time learning about the history of space exploration and various parts of rocket history. There was an exhibit of incredible space inspired jewelry but I failed to take any pictures of it because I was just in awe.

So the coolest part was that all the fun rides and things were included in the price. There was this great rock climbing wall. Thayne was so thrilled to make it to the top. He has never been able to climb to the top before. It was pretty high. His descent was kind of crash and burn but he was so happy he didn't care.

There are lots of  rockets outside. Along with the testing Space Shuttle PathFinder , missiles, military vehicles, jets and various other space exploration artifacts. Maliea, Michael and Thayne got to experience a 4 G centrifugal ride. They faces were bright red coming out.

This is a very small space that they are laying in. It was quite the task to crawl out of it but so much fun to pretend to be an astronaut in the Apollo command module.

Some of the other cool things were simulators where you got to fly an aircraft that you designed and this weird thing where you were a bird and had to flap your arms and move your body. It was to teach you the principles of drag, lift and flight. The computers monitored your movements and you were controlling the geese on the screen.

 I have a picture of the two older girls in front of this in 1996 so of course I wanted a picture of the kids now. We were only planning to spend two hours there and then get on the road again but we ended up spending 5 hours.

It was worth it and I have a ton load of pictures. Michael and Thayne were in NASA heaven. We girls had a great time too. They each got to pick a souvenir from the gift shop. There is a boy with a blow up space shuttle and a girl with space socks at the end of this universe based adventure.