Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Visit to Huntsville, Alabama, 10.19.15

It is not as cold today. 51° when I got up, plus some daylight already at 6:30. All good. The American flag tells me that the wind is coming from the southeast, and weather.com confirmed it. Looks like we have a couple of weeks of beautiful weather ahead to get us down the Tenn-Tom waterway.

Brian gets home - or maybe I mean boat - this evening. I have 30 minutes of housework - or maybe boatwork - to get done before he arrives, and I’m going to post things onto the blog today. I have made progress on it by selecting the pictures and the paragraphs I want to post, and most important, we (cross your fingers) have good internet service in this marina. At some point we’re going to the grocery store, but mainly it’s a quiet day.

We visited the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center yesterday, spending about seven hours there. We saw two IMAX movies - "Living in the Age of Airplanes" and "Journey to Space”. Having just seen “The Martian”, the “Journey to Space” movie was interesting because it encourages us to continue to try to reach Mars. It would be a three-year trip: six months to get there, two years on the planet, then six months to get back. We saw how the Space Station was built in pre-fab modules that were launched separately and attached when they arrived. There was an exhibit of patented inventions created by Huntsville people - some who worked at the Center and at least one who was simply born there, the guy who started Wikipedia.

Outside, there are 20 or 30 rockets set up, enormous things that point to the sky. The Saturn V rocket that was used to send men to the moon was designed in Huntsville. There’s a large second building that is a tribute to landing on the moon. I liked seeing the solar panels, how they unfold and how big they are, and I learned the difference between combustion engines and jet-fueled engines.

We had lunch at the center’s cafeteria, where there is a great salad bar, and finished the day by having supper at a Greek restaurant, Taziki. Our friends Bob and Melinda from the “Melinda B” have been taking good care of me while Brian has been in Chicago, plus Rod and Julie from “Tuscobia" joined us for supper. Brian and I met them in Milwaukee while they were still packing to leave on the Loop.

We have thoroughly enjoyed both Huntsville and Chattanooga. Both cities are clean and vibrant, and offer tourists plenty to see. The best thing to see, however, is the beautiful Tennessee River, and we are eager to get back to it.

Today I have a two-year old granddaughter. That’s the best thing yet.



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