Day 8

This was the perfect day to see the Johnson Space Center for many reasons. It was a cold, drizzly day so we didn’t mind being inside. But, for some reason, apparently not everyone saw it that way, and we had the place (relatively) to ourselves. The warnings of long waits and intricate rope patterns indicated that they are used to and prepared for very large groups of people. We were able to walk right into or onto every exhibit and peruse them to our hearts’ content and at our leisure. It was also an historic day in several ways. It was the 7^th anniversary of the Columbia explosion, which happened upon reentry over Texas. This was noted by at least one of the presenters. Also, today the Obama administration came out with their 2011 budget and it includes cutting the “Constellation” projects for manned flights to the moon, Mars and beyond, which had been highlighted as the future of NASA in many ways throughout the Center. The administration is calling for more research into faster and safer rockets and less on manned space trips in the near future. It will be interesting to see how that plays out in the years to come, but in the short term it will certainly mean some changes in the Center’s exhibits. We enjoyed the six hours we spent at the Space Center, which were packed full of movies, presentations, a cold and damp tram ride, and exhibits. It left us wondering how anyone could do it in less time or with the huge crowds that must often be present. As we arrived back at Lake View Resort we had a call from Betty and Herb asking if they could come and see the camper. They arrived about ten minutes later and Marv, especially, enjoyed demonstrating the clever engineering and how it closes up on the inside for an apparently curious and interested audience. We had hoped to end the day with a relaxing soak in the hot tub in the Rec. Hall but were disappointed to find, when we showed up at 9:30, that it closed at 9:00. We'll have to plan differently for tomorrow evening.