StenniSphere

So, where were we...
.
After wrapping up Hornucopia 2010, complete with t-shirts, we hit the road bound for home. But again, since it's a 700+ mile drive, we had to stop for some fun along the way.

First up, the NASA StenniSphere!

{crickets}

What, you've never heard of the StenniSphere???

Ok, neither had I and I'm usually one to know about these things. We actually discovered this place on the way to Florida - it's right on I-10, just inside Mississippi on the Louisiana border, Exit 2 to be exact. And the best part... it marked the halfway point in our drive that day and admission was FREE, so it was a win regardless of what they had to show us - it was either stop here or McDonald's - which bathrooms would you prefer?

.

This particular NASA center specialized in building and testing the rocket engines which have powered every Mercury, Gemini, Apollo & Shuttle mission over the last 50 years.
The visitor center itself was pretty big with tons of hands on exhibits and, with a little reading here and there, plenty of info about the space program and this center's role in it.
But the best part, according to the non readers in the group, was the rocket park outside. Always a hit - I remember digging similar parks at other NASA centers when I was a kid.
This unscheduled visit to NASA just happenned to come on the heels of a couple other shuttle events, which kinda worked out well. Naomi was prolly more into it than she would've been otherwise. We spent alot of time in the space station mockup, where I was happy to be referred to as Spaceguy (mainly because I'd grown tired of being Prince Eric by this point).
So, that's it.

.

Except not totally. A few days after we got home (and since we'd talked about anything having to with any of this), Naomi presented me with the following artwork of a space shuttle launch.

Not bad eh?

I think she gets it. :D