Tag Archives: science

Southern US--Spring 2014, United States

Kennedy Space Center

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3900 miles traveled.

I didn’t know what to expect from Kennedy Space Center.  Since the Space Shuttle no longer flies, I thought it might be a gigantic museum, or a ghost town.  I was surprised to find many projects underway, many of them run by private industry.  It seems NASA is taking a backseat, focusing on research, and helping private industry where it can.  For that reason, it just leased one of the Space Shuttle launch pads to Space X which plans to use it for many commercial purposes, including taking tourists into space.  At least 4 other companies have contracts to begin using the Space Shuttle runway (where the SS landed when it returned to Earth) for all kinds of commercial purposes, again, including taking tourists to space.  One company plans to open next year and offer a “vomit comet” experience to paying customers.  They, and others, will expand into space tourism and expect to be up and running in the next 2-3 years.

Space X is already way ahead of the game.  It is the company that has already launched three rockets carrying supplies for the International Space Station.  So far, its the only one that has a pod that returns safely to Earth, instead of burning up in the atmosphere.  This is critical if the astronauts want to return experiments to earth, or themselves for that matter.  Up to now, the only other option was hopping a ride on a Soviet Soyuz.

I was surprised by how much the whole Kennedy Space Center experience reminded me of a theme park.  There were rides, games, movies, 3D experiences, and food outlets everywhere we turned.  But they were really well done.  One of the highlights for me was the blast-off simulator.  We strapped into seats and counted down to lift off.  The whole thing was designed by astronauts and they claimed it was very realistic.  I have a feeling it was only about 10% of what they actually experienced, but it was really cool, none the less.  The other highlight for me was the simulated Space Shuttle launch.  The experience was from the view of those watching the launch. That one ended with really cool views of the Space Shuttle in space, but what we were actually looking at was the REAL Space Shuttle Atlantis (which was stationary) but because of the way the movie played around it, it looked like it was flying.  Ingenious effects.  I have lots of pictures here.  I thought it was very interesting that they put Atlantis on display without any changes.  What you see is what she looked like when she landed after her last flight.  That includes dirt, re-entry burns, and missing ceramic tiles.

Overall, the experience made me want to read Deception Point by Dan Brown again.  It was a great book. (Warning: in this book he does to NASA what he did to the Catholic Church in the DaVinci Code.  Don’t take anything he says as fact . . . IT”S ALL FICTION.) It’s a thriller about the politics behind commercializing space.  In real life, it seems NASA has yielded the field and fully supports (and actively helps) private industries headed for space.

Southern US--Spring 2014, United States

Edison and Ford Winter Estates

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3800 miles traveled so far.

We spent several hours exploring the winter homes of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford.  Did you know they were good friends and next door neighbors?  They often collaborated with their other friend Harvey Firestone (yes, the tires) on projects.  In fact, Edison spent so much time in Florida that he had an entire laboratory there and it was the primary location for all his efforts to develop a domestic source of rubber so the US wouldn’t be dependent on foreign imports.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself.  In 1885, Edison sailed down the river and saw a plant on the banks that he thought would be the answer to his search for a long lasting light bulb filament.  He bought the property that day and had a house built there within the year. It was quite a feat since it was wilderness at the time and everything had to arrive by boat.  There wasn’t even a road.  And it wasn’t just a simple house.  It was two stories with a couple sections and servants quarters and it was surrounded by a wide covered deck.  Then, he had a mirror image of the whole house built right beside the original as a guest house.  It’s very impressive, even by today’s standards.

It turned out Edison was right and the bamboo he saw growing on the banks of the river which did prove to be the perfect filament for his light bulb.  Years later, WWI inspired Edison to find a domestic source of rubber.  If our imports were cut off in another war, the US and its industries would be seriously hampered without a reliable source of rubber.  Of course, this project was very interesting to Ford and Firestone, for obvious reasons.

Toward that end, Edison imported plants from all over the world and planted them on the grounds of his home in Florida.  Many of these still exist and they make the grounds an incredibly beautiful garden.  We really enjoyed walking around because it was so peaceful and colorful.  My favorite was the Banyon Tree that Edison planted in 1927.  It was about 4 feet tall.  Today, the tree is enormous and because of the way it grows, it covers a little more than an acre of ground.  Another favorite is the bougainvillea his wife planted in the 19teens.  It’s now about 30 feet tall.  Pictures of everything are here.

Perhaps the most interesting thing is Edison’s forward thinking.  He wanted to develop a battery operated car (way ahead of his time!) and he was concerned about humanity using up its oil resources.  He thought our future was in the power of the sun.

After lunch, we drove to Orlando.  We wanted to do something interesting for dinner, so we walked over to City Walk, which is sort of the Universal Studios equivalent of Downtown Disney.  We ended up with ice-cream instead of dinner, but what are vacations for?

We also ended up at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  What a kick!  It’s an incredible place, I just wish it was bigger and there was more to explore.  We decided to try the main ride, which is a trip through Hogwarts.  We saw classrooms, the Great Hall, Dumbledore’s Study, the Room of Requirements, the sorting hat, the house points tally machines (I forget what they’re called), the greenhouses, and even the talking paintings, including the Fat Lady.  There was even an interesting discussion between the portraits of the four founders about letting in muggle-born students.  It’s all very well done.  The ride itself was fabulous and lots of fun.  Hermione casts a spell so you can fly and then you fly everywhere.  It was very well done.  More on all this tomorow!

New Mexico--Spring 2012, United States

Bandera Volcano and Ice Cave

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What a fun place to visit! It’s an area owned by the same family for several generations and they are battling with the National Park Service for control of the site. I can see why the Park Service wants it, it is a treasure.

The first thing we noticed when we drove into the parking lot was the dead dog stretched out in the middle of the parking lot. It was a shocking and upsetting thing to see. It was also weird because ours was the only car in the lot. We weren’t sure if the site was open or if there was something wrong. With the dog, we wondered if this was the beginning of a horror movie.

Bob swerved so he wouldn’t hit the dog and it raised its head and yawned at us. What a relief! No horror movie–just a supremely lazy dog.  After we parked, I approached the dog carefully to see if it was ok. When I was about 10 feet away, she rolled onto her back and presented her belly for a good scratch.  As soon as I started scratching, she sighed deeply, flopped her head back down and didn’t move again.  She was a riot!  Apparently she is the owners pet and she takes it upon herself to patrol the grounds at night and keep all wildlife away.  During the day, she is comatose.

Anyway, after a chat with the owners, we learned about their battle with the National Park Service. The land has been in their family for generations. They’ve always operated it as a tourist attraction. Now they’re struggling to keep it in the face of much pressure from the National Park Service which wants to take over the operation. We also discovered we were a little early in the season for tourists. We had the place to ourselves!

We headed up the path to the Bandera Volcano. The whole area was covered in rough volcanic rock and the path was black from crushed lava rock.  The trail circled up the outside of the volcano until it reached the side where the the cone had collapsed and the lava flowed out.  It was a very windy day and the path was steep–probably the most strenuous thing we’ve done on this trip so far–but it was worth seeing. I’ve never been inside a volcano before. It was black and barren. Hardly anything grew inside. Eerie and other worldly.

After lots of pictures (and a mad dash by Bob to retrieve my new Solar Observatory hat when the wind blew it off), we returned to the little store and began the journey down the other path to the ice cave. Even in the middle of a burning New Mexico summer, the 20 foot thick ice sheet in this cave never melts. The cave is actually a collapsed lave tube where water naturally collected. Because of the prevailing winds, the shape of the cave, and the insulating properties of the lava, the cave never gets above 31 degrees, no matter how hot it is only 20 feet away.  We had to walk down an old wooden staircase to see the ice cave and that was an adventure in itself.  Of course, my healing calves weren’t happy, but what’s a vacation without sore legs?

You can see all our pictures here.

New Mexico--Spring 2012, United States

Solar Observatory and White Sands National Monument

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Sunday, April 15, 2012

We woke to a beautiful day, the winds had all died down.  However, I could barely walk because my muscles were so sore from our caving adventures.  I managed to hobble to the car and we headed up into the mountains to the National Solar Observatory on Sacramento Peak.

It was pretty quiet on a Sunday morning but we did take the self guided tour.  It was interesting to see the equipment used to map the sunspots (the town all the scientists live in is Sunspot, NM, by the way), monitor solar winds and the sun’s corona, etc.  This location is one of only a handful worldwide that keeps track of solar weather.  It was built in the 1950’s. Some of the pictures I took are here.

We found a really fun local bar and grill for lunch. We figured it was good because it was so crowded we had to park about a block away along the edge of the highway.  I hobbled in.  They were playing twangy Christain music and everyone was dressed up, probably just coming from church.  I loved it.  The food was great, too.   One thing about food in New Mexico, EVERYTHING has chilis or peppers in some form.  Even for a simple hamburger or eggs, you have to request “no peppers” when you order.  I never get to eat food like that because Bob can’t eat peppers.  While he struggled a bit on this trip, I got to really enjoy food I normally wouldn’t.

Next, we headed to White Sands National Monument.  The picture above is of some picnic tables there.  It is an area of NM where the winds blow gypsum down from the mountains, which is pulverized on the way.  By the time it arrives at the bottom, it is as fine and white as talcum powder.  There is just enough moisture there to anchor the sand, so it doesn’t blow away.  Over about 10,000 years, quite a bit of the white sand has accumulated over about 250 miles.  It is so distinct from the surrounding areas that it is visible from space.  It blows around in huge dunes that move a couple inches a day in some places.

It was really strange to see great white dunes that looked like snow, but there were people sunbathing everywhere.  To make it more visually confusing, people were also sledding down the dunes.  In fact, the visitors center rents disc sleds for that purpose.  Also, instead of evergreens, the sand was punctuated here and there with cactus and yuccas.  It was amazing and lots of fun.  We didn’t do any sledding, but we did walk over the dunes.  The sand was hard packed enough that it was like walking on sand at the waterline of a beach.

If you’re ever in the Southwest, add White Sands to the list of things you must do. It’s a unique and interesting place. What’s more, it’s a lot of fun. It’s definitely worth making a detour to see.  Take your kids, you’ll all love it!  See all our pictures here.