321...

something you might not have know about melbourne. the area code here is 321. well, i found out that is because we are on the space coast and they changed the area code to mimic the launch countdown.

speaking of countdowns, matt and i watched the first night launch in 4 years saturday night. he had never seen a launch, and i had only seen them from ocala - just a bright spot in the sky. seeing it up close was incredible.

in melbourne, we're just 20 miles away. on saturday night, we went to downtown melbourne to walk around the little shops. they were all lighted up and the parade was going on at the same time. at 8.30 we ran down to the causeway bridge and sat at the edge of the water and waited with our feet dangling over the bridge. it was a beautiful clear night, really dark. then suddenly, it looked like the sun was rising. the whole sky lit up with the shuttle Discovery. did you know the shuttle accelerates to over 17,000 miles per hour before it starts to orbit? i was so impressed. and i've never seen anything like that launch - it gave me chills.

this morning we took our car in for some maintenance and walked home. i wondered how funny we looked just walking out the parking lot and down the street! hopefully it gave the mechanics incentive to finish our car quickly knowing they were sending us out with only the shoes on our feet to get us around. ha! now i'm just dreading the call that the car is done, because it means another hike!